1912. 
AGRICULTURE IN HIGH SCHOOLS. 
At the last session of the Connecticut legislature a 
bill was introduced providing for compulsory instruc¬ 
tion in agriculture in the high schools of the State. 
The bill was defeated, and yet why, since Connecticut 
is an agricultural State, should not the bill have been 
passed? I will not discuss this question now, for I 
hope it is obviously clear that since “scientific farm¬ 
ing" is the only “farming" the high schools would 
have been the places for such instruction in the sci¬ 
entific side. 
So far as I know there is but one Connecticut high 
school providing education in agriculture. Bac,on 
Academy in Colchester has taken the initiative and it 
is for others to follow. Bacon Academy is singularly 
situated; it is in the center of a farming community, 
and not one of the seven townships surrounding Col¬ 
chester provides a high school. The course in agri¬ 
culture at Bacon Academy is known as Science V and 
is taught by Mr. R. A. Moore, the principal. The 
study is elective, but about fifteen boys have taken 
it up and work with great enthusiasm. The text-book 
used is Warren’s “Elements of Agriculture,” edited by 
Prof. Bailey, of Cornell. It is an excellent publica¬ 
tion. The library contains several standard works on 
agriculture, all the Farmer’ Bulletins of the U. S. 
Dept, of Agriculture, and in addition a copy of cer¬ 
tain bulletins for each member of the class. Samples 
of the different commercial fertilizers have been fur¬ 
nished by Bradley’s Boston representatives, and the 
boys have collected samples of soils, etc. 
The why and how of agriculture explains best, per¬ 
haps, just what the course covers; a little botany and 
chemistry is brought in, 
but the work is very 
easy. The students have 
carried on many experi¬ 
ments in their labora¬ 
tory, and expect in the 
Spring to have a few 
acres of land near the 
school for good, prac¬ 
tical work. Arrange¬ 
ments are being made to 
have prominent agricul¬ 
turists speak on various 
subjects, not for the 
boys alone but for all 
the farmers of the town. 
Thus far the work has 
been very satisfactory, 
and it is hoped that the 
results will be such as 
to continue the course 
permanently. Work of 
this kind must be done, 
the sooner the better, 
and I, for one, am glad 
to see such a good start 
made in my home town. 
Such a course must be 
developed along the lines 
most valuable in its lo¬ 
cality, though the same 
underlying principles ap¬ 
ply generally. It is a matter that should be consid- 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
THE FARM PLAYGROUND. 
The following words were spoken by a very suc¬ 
cessful farmer, who brought up a fine family of boys 
on the farm: 
I brought up seven boys on the farm. Every one wanted 
to stay on the farm until they grew to manhood. They 
are successful business men with good habits of life. 
Some are farmers, and some in other occupations for 
which their gifts best fitted them. The boys stayed at 
home and worked with me, because there were more at¬ 
tractions and enjoyments for them there than in any other 
place. We all worked together. We paid for one farm 
and then bought another and paid for it, and when one 
of the boys went into business for himself, his training, 
habits of life, and a little capital we had for him, as¬ 
sured his success. One of the main reasons why my boys 
loved the farm life and home so well that they never 
wanted any of the dissipations that are demoralizing, and 
which the young people on the farm engage in because 
there is nothing that satisfies their natural love for play 
and recreation, was that I spent $30 to build a play¬ 
ground where they could play baseball, tennis or croquet, 
and I played with them. I have stopped work right in 
haying time to play with the boys and then we all worked 
better for the change. 
The above is the testimony of a man who was suc¬ 
cessful in both making the farm pay, and in bringing 
out the best qualities of manhood in boys, so that they 
made men of such intelligence and vitality and char¬ 
acter that they were prepared to overcome difficulties 
and win the battle in the struggle of life. 
One reason why the farmer and his boys do not 
always work together as partners and co-workers, feel¬ 
ing that they have mutual interest, is that the hard¬ 
working farmer does not understand his boy and his 
viewpoint. He sees only the business side of life and 
the necessity to work, and does not see the boy is 
not ready for the stern realities of life, and all the 
time he is hungry for play; that is, through play that 
THE PLAYGROUND ON A NEW YORK FARM. Fig. 290 . 
ered in all rural communities. 
Connecticut. 
J. R. CASE. 
BACK TO THE LAND IN ILLINOIS. 
Husband died more than a decade ago, leaving me 
and seven children on a rented farm, but we had 
bought 80 acres of poor brush land which we paid 
$1,000 for on the installment plan, and intended to 
make it our home when we got it paid for. He was 
called to his reward one week after the last payment 
was made. Five years ago I built a small house, barn 
and the necessary buildings and moved on it. My faith 
was greater than, I think, I could ever have again. 
Suffice it to say that I am here yet with four of my 
children, one boy nearly 17 years old, two girls older, 
and one younger. We have worked and burned brush, 
grubbed out stumps and gone without more of the 
necessaries than we got. Let me tell the sisters who 
read this that pioneering doesn’t mean pie, as we have 
not seen much pie yet. But still it is home, and it is 
a joy to eat grapes, currants and other small fruit 
of our own raising. Now, in this month of May, I 
get up at four every morning and go to bed when 
the chickens go to»roost. Some of my friends ad¬ 
vised me to move to a city, as they thought I could 
live with less hard work. But I could not imagine a 
woman 52 years old who knew how to do all kinds 
of farm work and liked to milk and care for cows, 
and had nearly all her life lived on a farm, trying to 
fit herself to any kind of city life. A. W. 
Kankakee Co., Ill. 
his boy enters into actual work. The parent who 
wants to get at the heart of his boy must enter into 
his play with the spirit of a boy, then the boy will 
want to work with him and will he interested in the 
farm work. I have in mind a neighbor who spent 
some time and money in making a little park all for 
his two boys. It was a piece of’land the boys felt 
was their own. In the shade of some large trees is 
a hammock and swing seat. There is a lawn and 
flowerbeds that the boys attend to, and at one corner 
there is a tent in which the boys can keep their things 
and play camp, life, and sleep in on hot nights. There 
is a place for out-of-door games, and many of the 
things are there that rightly appeal to boy nature. 
The result of all this is that the boys take greater 
interest in the real work of the farm and work with 
their father better and more cheerfully. 
In providing recreations and amusements for chil¬ 
dren, parents should select only those which rightly 
educate; for instance, I do not buy the boy a gun and 
fishing tackle, but a camera, a field glass and a bicycle 
and some tools. Encourage him in manly athletic 
sports that develop alertness and concentration of his 
faculties. The camera will not only develop the artis¬ 
tic sense if rightly used, but from a business point of 
view is a good investment on the farm in photograph¬ 
ing livestock, etc., to be sold. With some good books 
739 
up a bench and vise, get a few of the most commonly 
used carpenter’s tools. See that the boy has a place 
for each one, and that the tool is put back in its 
place after being used. All I have mentioned will 
help the boy through play or work which he loves, 
to a kind of education he does not usually get in 
public schools. If your boy wants to join the school 
or a local baseball team, don’t tell him there is no 
time for ball playing on the farm, but help to get 
his outfit, and go out with him a few minutes at noon 
or night and help him practice. If possible, take two 
or three hours off to see a game played, and use your 
influence toward having the players conduct them¬ 
selves like gentlemen. Athletic sports in the cauntry 
are often demoralizing because older people do not 
attend and insist on the elimination of all that does 
not belong to the manly sport that develops mind and 
muscle. 
The writer has tried to give much of his own ex¬ 
perience in trying to make the farm the best place 
in the world for two children, and he wants to say 
that making a playground not only for the children 
but for the whole family is not expensive on the 
farm, for there are all the farm tools at hand with 
which to do the work, the plow, harrow, and roller. 
You have some fairly level piece of land not too far 
from the house, perhaps 100 or 200 feet long and 
half as wide, that you can spare. When the early 
crops are in, the boy would like to fit it up for a 
playground. Because interested yourself and telling 
them how first to plow it nicely, harrow it finely, then 
with a shovel or garden rake fill the deepest hollows, 
and remove the stones on the surface, the boys will 
enjoy doing the work. If 
a grass sod is preferred, 
sow with one of the 
hard turf lawn mixtures 
and roll firmly, and in 
a few weeks the ground 
can be used, or if no 
grass seed is sown the 
ground can be used at 
once. 
Now I want to say a 
good word for the girls 
on the farm who cannot 
well play ball or the too 
strenuous sport, and 
plan for a tennis court 
on the playground, and 
perhaps a croquet 
ground. In fact, much 
that I have suggested 
for the boys on the farm 
will be enjoyed by the 
girls on the farm, as the 
camera, bicycle, field 
glass, etc. I have writ¬ 
ten more about the boys 
because the girls natur¬ 
ally are not so easily 
drawn away from the 
farm as the boys, arid 
their taste is for flori¬ 
culture, sewing, reading, 
etc. I speak of the tennis court because it can be 
equally enjoyed by both boys and girls, in fact, by all 
the family, and the expense is not large. The cash 
outlay for the writer’s outfit, bought at wholesale 
price, including grass seed for seeding the ground, was 
but little more than $10. The young people on the 
farm will especially appreciate the playground because 
they can invite their friends in the neighborhood to 
play with them. The young man who can play with 
his brother or sister, or perhaps someone else’s brother 
or sister in the neighborhood, will not want to go to 
the village for amusement, as too many do after the 
day’s work, and be drawn into dissipation. I do not 
believe the farmers and their children should neglect 
their farm work to play. Ten hours or less of efficient 
work with labor-saving machinery is enough the most 
of the Summer. First do the work in hand on the 
farm well, but plan to get through early during the 
long Summer days, then after supper or perhaps in 
the afternoon when the haying is done, take your 
vacation if you must at home, and play and read 
with your children and keep young in mind and body. 
Rightly using and dividing the day, we have time 
for all good things. w. H. jenkins. 
A parcels post convention has been established between 
the United States and Panama, the rate being 12 cents a 
pound, the limit 11 pounds. This is the same as the ex¬ 
on birds, insects, botany, etc., the bird glass and 4sting rate with 44 other foreign countries, and negotia- 
microscope, even if cheap glasses, will induce the 
boy and girl to begin nature study, and valuable 
knowledge will be acquired. In some outbuilding fix 
tions are now under way for similar arrangements with 
Portugal, French Guinea, Martinique and Guadaloupe. 
Adjacent States in this Union are still outside these con¬ 
ventions. 
