VoL, LX. No. 2678. 
NEW YORK, MAY 25, 1901. 
*1 PER YEAR. 
BENEFITS OF THE CENTRALIZED SCHOOL 
CHILDREN CARRIED TO THE TOWN CENTER. 
How H Works in Ohio. 
It was an early Spring morning. A cold, misty rain 
was falling, interspersed with snow squalls; the wind 
was strong from the northwest; under foot, the mud 
and water were having a “spat” for supremacy, and 
all nature seemed to be having a spell of “outs.” Yet 
jp the midst of it came the school wagonette drawn 
by a span of stout horses; while inside, protected 
from storm, wind, and mud, were 19 children bound 
school ward, and all singing “Coming Thro’ the Rye”; 
two youngsters were added to the load, the boot was 
again buckled up, and the song went on as the happy, 
dry little company finished their trip of a mile to the 
centralized school. When they had passed out of 
sight, I recalled reading last night an address de¬ 
livered by a man who spoke of “hauling down the flag 
from the little red schoolhouse,” of “children carted 
tc school like calves, and pigs,” of “children in a 
wagonette, and in the big schools, losing their indi¬ 
viduality,” of “increased expense,” of “thousands of 
teachers being thrown out of work?” of “poor chil¬ 
dren being unable to attend schools because of poor 
clothing as compared with that of the village chil¬ 
dren,” and lastly, “centralized children never came 
back to the land.” All this in opposi¬ 
tion to the plan of centralized schools. 
What are the facts in practice? Our 
township has had centralized schools on 
trial, and as a permanency now for over 
five years, and none of the things al¬ 
leged above has been detected, and we 
believe never will be in a well-conduct¬ 
ed system of rural schools. The idea of 
“taking down the flag,” etc., is all sen¬ 
timent. The flag waves just as protect- 
ingly over our centralized schoolhouse, 
the flags and emblems in the school 
rooms are as educational, and the patri¬ 
otic songs sung by the children have the 
same inspiring ring, only deepened in 
volume, that they did in the little red 
schoolhouse. As to the children losing 
their individuality more by being taken 
to school in a warm, comfortable wagon, 
with order and decorum maintained— 
if needs be—than by children in groups 
tramping through mud, snow, cold and 
storm, as well as sunshine, to a school 
often to two miles away, it is hard 
to see. So far as good clothes are in evidence, the 
centralized school recognizes merit and proficiency 
for promotion, rather than clothes, and it is a fact 
that in this school referred to, it is the children of 
the poorer class of parents who stand, as a rule, in 
the highest lines of promotion for attainment and 
intelligence. I know that calico dresses and patched 
pants, if coupled with cleanliness and good behavior, 
work no detriment to any scholar. The idea that chil¬ 
dren are “carted to school like calves” is only to in¬ 
voke the retort whether it is not as applicable to the 
children that parents send on foot through all kinds 
of weather to the rural school, where often the com¬ 
forts and “conveniences” are as primitive as about 
an Indian tepee. 
As to the centralized children not coming back to 
the farm, it is on trial, but they are as likely to re¬ 
main in the country, as they would be to return to it 
after an education acquired in city or some educa¬ 
tional center away from the influences of country 
life. Where the education of mind and hand goes to¬ 
gether, as it does in the country in centralized educa¬ 
tion, and the education grows apace with the partici¬ 
pation in farm work, and rural life, and its independ¬ 
ence of shop rules, and freedom from dependence up¬ 
on the turns of the labor market, we think the land 
will claim its full share of the centralized education. 
To my mind one of the greatest benefits of the cen¬ 
tralized school, is in abolishing the clanship incident 
to the division of the rural schools; each neighbor¬ 
hood thus becomes a clan, with but little interest in 
community at large, and the matters of acquaintance 
of children in different parts of a town are slight. 
Often the pupils of the school at the center of the 
town—for there is, nine times out of ten, an embryo 
village in each town center in Ohio—are regarded by 
the rest of the children of the town at large, as of 
quite another race, and appointing themselves aristo¬ 
cratic prerogatives, which the brief association for 
an hour in the Sunday school does not wholly elimi¬ 
nate. Now all children of the town are of our com¬ 
munity, and merit wins, not the parental possession 
of dollars, or being a factor in some “sphere of influ¬ 
ence.” One scholar is as good as another, and talent 
and deportment are the only avenues to merit, and 
in our school, the scholar from the back district Is as 
often recognized as those to the “manor born.” 
It is not here contended that the centralized school 
is as yet perfect. It is in a state of evolution, but each 
step seems the better move towards solving the ques¬ 
tion of a better education for the rural boy and girl. 
In average attendance, the new plan far exceeds the 
old. In some towns the attendance is 25 per cent bet- 
CHILDREN CARRIED TO AN OHIO CENTRALIZED SCHOOL. Fio. 147. 
ter on the average. It is fully that in our township. 
Then it promises to add at least two years more 
schooling to the school life of the pupil. To be taught 
along ever unfolding and new lines in study inspires, 
where the ever going back to retraverse old study 
byways, causes listless and lifeless ways, even to de¬ 
sertion of school life. The cost is less in most in¬ 
stances. The transportation of a school district to a 
central point is less than the cost of its separate 
maintenance. In some towns the centralized plan 
saves hundreds of dollars. In some the cost is about 
the same. In a few, where causes have been beyond 
the board’s control, the cost is more, but In all cases, 
the instruction vastly compensates for the slightly in¬ 
creased cost. Granted that the cost is the same as 
by old methods, the ease and comfort in attending 
school, the increased attendance, the system of study 
and promotion, the increase in total months of school 
life, the actual participation in what actually amounts 
to manual training, rural education and life together, 
is not the centralized school a plan and a possibility 
worth striving to attain for the country, making rural 
life more worth the living? Shall this car of educa¬ 
tional progress be helped forward, or its movement 
hindered ? john gould. 
Portage Co., O. 
CORN-GROWING IN THE CENTRAL WEST. 
Thick Planting for Shredded Fodder. 
Part II. 
SEED AND PLANTING.—It is not enough for seed 
corn to grow. It will often grow when its vitality is 
quite weak. Investigation shows that the crop is 
lessened more than commonly thought by lack of vi¬ 
tality in seed that grows fairly well. Experiments 
in peas where large and small sizes are planted show 
remarkable advantage in size alone. The greater 
abundance of starch stored in the seed gives the tiny 
plant a rapid, vigorous growth that is an advantage 
over weeds and weather that it never loses. In se¬ 
lecting seed corn how seldom one pays attention to 
size of grain, or to large vitality! With weak vitality 
corn will often start, especially if the weather is fa¬ 
vorable, and if cold, damp weather comes. Insects will 
destroy it and the soft grain sour. Nature covers the 
ear with shucks, and beds the germ in a cob with a 
layer of silk between the grains as high as the germ. 
Man ruthlessly strips off all protection and cords the 
ears on a brace in the barn, subject to every change of 
temperature and moisture. 
VITALITY OF SEED.—A seedsman once said to me 
that he did not keep a fire in his corn crib in cold 
weather, but in muggy weather; that the moisture 
that is deposited on a rock will be ab¬ 
sorbed by seeds, and that a sudden cold 
snap following such dampness is sure to 
injure the vitality of seed. On this ac¬ 
count he keeps a fire in his crib in 
warm, damp weather to keep his corn 
dry, instead of in cold weather to keep 
corn warm. I have written far and near 
to learn definitely of the effect of cold 
on the vitality of seed corn, but from 
stations I have failed to learn of any ex¬ 
periments to test this effect of cold. This 
is passing strange to me, since the corn 
plant has been studied from every other 
standpoint. One station replied that it 
was so well-known that moisture and 
cold injured seed, that it was not 
thought worth while to test it. Another 
said that corn kept in cribs with no 
shuck on would not absorb moisture 
enough to weaken its vitality. They 
had not experimented any at all, and I 
do not know how they obtained infor¬ 
mation. It is decidedly contrary to ex¬ 
perience. One experimenter said that 
he thought its vitality was damaged more by fungus 
attacks than by subjection to cold and dampness. 
CARE OF SEED CORN.—This whole subject of 
care of seed corn has been woefully neglected. It is 
claimed that farmers lose 10 per cent of the oat crop 
each year from smut, and that often this is hidden in 
the plant, so as to not attract attention. Who is pre¬ 
pared to say that farmers do not lose 10 per cent or 
more in an average of 10 years by reduced vitality of 
seed corn by exposure? My own estimate is that the 
only safe way to keep seed corn is to get it air-dry 
before cold weather, and then never let it be exposed 
to a freezing temperature. I once bought some seed 
kept in a dry cellar. It was against the ceiling, and 
yet it was very tight on the cob. The bottom of the 
cellar was dusty, but there is danger of fungus growth 
and damage to vitality. This grew very well, how¬ 
ever. I have dwelt much on vitality, because so reck¬ 
lessly neglected. It is of far more value than the 
question of selecting from ears near the butt or top 
of stalks or even the general shape of the ear or grain. 
A typical ear should be not less than eight Inches 
long for central Indiana. The diameter should be 
one-quarter the length. I like the grains to be so 
built as not to leave a groove between their rows, and 
also like them to be wide and fiat, instead of roundish 
