BY 
 
 A. C. TRUE, Ph. 13., 
 
 Director of the Office of Experimen t Stations. 
 
 Reprint from Yearbook of Department of Agriculture for 1897. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Introduction...... 279 
 
 Education through the publications of the Department and the experiment 
 
 Siiat&tafe ! Tr < H 6 o Cl IV n f rr r dfq 
 
 The f arnaers’ institute-^the adult farmers’ school i _ ; . 280 
 
 Short and special courses in agriculture-____ ____ r 281 
 
 Home reading in agriculture_________ 282 
 
 The New York plan for university extension in agriculture_ 283 
 
 Nature teaching in the rural schools___.___ 285 
 
 Nature teaching should be introduced in common schools..... 286 
 
 High-school courses in agriculture....... ...... ___ ... _ _ 287 
 
 Conclusion..._ ...... ______ 289 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Plate II. Fig. 1. —Dairy building, University of Minnesota. Fig. 2. —Girls’ 
 Home building, School of Agriculture, Minnesota. 
 
 u 
 
 288 
 
[Reprint from Yearbook of Department of Agriculture for 1897.] 
 
 POPULAR EDUCATION FOR THE FARMER IN THE 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 By A. C. True, Ph. D., 
 
 Director of the Office of Experiment Stations. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 § 
 
 If a farmer’s boy lias obtained a good common-school education and 
 can command the means to spend four years at school away from 
 home, he can have a thorough course in agricultural science and prac¬ 
 tice free of charge for tuition and at comparatively small expense for 
 living, for agricultural colleges are now in operation in every State 
 and Territory. A considerable number of students are now pursuing 
 such courses, and undoubtedly many more might profitably under¬ 
 take them. The importance of thorough technical training in the 
 industrial arts is increasingly recognized. Agriculture is no excep¬ 
 tion to the rule, and we may expect to see our agricultural colleges 
 growing stronger in resources and students year by year. But it is 
 also much clearer now than when these colleges were established that 
 their chief functions must necessarily be to train the leaders in agri¬ 
 cultural progress, and that they are and will be unable to meet the 
 needs of the masses of farmers’ children. From the colleges are to 
 come the investigators, teachers, journalists, and managers of agricul¬ 
 tural enterprises and industries requiring a relatively high degree of 
 scientific knowledge and expert training for their successful operation. 
 
 The length and expense of a four-years’ college course will remain 
 indefinitely as a barrier over which the average farmer’s son can not 
 climb. The recognition of this fundamental fact, and the rapidly 
 increasing evidence that the farmer, as well as the business man and 
 artisan, needs special training for his occupation, have combined to 
 create a strong demand for other agencies besides the colleges for the 
 farmer’s education. The first responses to this demand have been 
 attempts to meet the educational needs of adult farmers. These 
 attempts have been largely made in connection with the agricultural 
 colleges. 
 
 EDUCATION THROUGH THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT AND 
 
 THE EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 
 
 The most important and wide-reaching effort for the popular edu¬ 
 cation of the masses of our farmers thus far made has been through 
 the agricultural experiment stations and the Department of Agricul- 
 
 279 . 
 
280 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
 
 ture. In one sense these stations are the crowning feature of our 
 agricultural colleges. They are departments of original research, 
 whose primary object is to search for new truth in order that the 
 boundaries of human knowledge regarding agricultural science and 
 practice may be enlarged. But under the law the stations have been 
 compelled to issue frequent bulletins for distribution among the 
 farmers, and it was soon discovered that the only way by which the sta¬ 
 tions could clearly set forth the results of their original in vestigations 
 so that the masses of the farmers might understand and utilize them 
 was to furnish a large amount of preliminary information explaining 
 the progress made in various lines of agricultural theory and practice 
 prior to the establishment of our stations. Hence, a great deal of the 
 time and energy of our station workers has thus far been spent in 
 educating the farmers through bulletins of information. Indeed, 
 so popular has this kind of publications proved that the pressure 
 upon station officers to prepare them has often compelled them to 
 defer other important work, and this task is still a serious hindrance 
 to the progress of our stations along the lines of research for which 
 they Avere established. Some idea of the extent of this work may be 
 obtained from the fact that during the past year the stations issued 
 ^"'"'407 bulletins, which Avere mailed to 506,100 addresses. The total num¬ 
 ber of pages in these publications Avas 15,785. The United States 
 Department of Agriculture has aided in this movement through 
 numerous publications, especially the Farmers’ Bulletins, of which 
 over 2,000,000 copies Avere distributed last year, and the Yearbook, of 
 which 500,000 copies are annually printed. 
 
 THE FARMERS’ INSTITUTE—THE ADULT FARMERS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 Meantime the farmers’ institutes have been extending their Avork. 
 These have been an outgrowth or extension of the “open ” or “public” 
 meetings held by State or local agricultural societies. While they 
 haA T e not displaced such meetings, they iioav exceed them in number 
 and popularity, and ha\ T e become important agents in the education 
 of the farmer in a number of States. 
 
 The institute is the adult farmers’ school. Here they may learn 
 from scientists and investigators the principles Avhich underlie the 
 art of agriculture, and from successful farmers the best methods of 
 applying those principles. The scientist at the same time learns the 
 needs of the farmer and finds out from the results of actual practice 
 the truth or falsity of theories and deductions made from experi¬ 
 ments on a limited scale. The views of both farmer and experi¬ 
 menter are broadened, and sympathetic relations are established by 
 the close social contact which marks the institute in its most per¬ 
 fect form. 
 
 The institutes are carried on under various auspices and are sup¬ 
 ported in very different Avays in different sections, but the character 
 
POPULAR EDUCATION FOR THE FARMER. 
 
 281 
 
 of the meetings themselves is everywhere essentially the same. They 
 may last for hut half a day, as in Louisiana, where the farmers 
 assemble once a month at the experiment station, or may continue 
 three or four days. The tendency, however, seems to be toward 
 shortening the duration and increasing the number of the meetings, 
 thus distributing them among a greater number of localities. They 
 are usually held during the winter, when the stress of the farm work 
 is somewhat lessened, but in some States very valuable meetings have 
 been held at other seasons of the year, the character of the work 
 being adapted to some need specially felt at the time. 
 
 The programmes are planned to promote the interchange of ideas, 
 a full and free discussion being sought upon topics introduced in an 
 address or paper by some specialist. Speakers upon scientific sub¬ 
 jects and successful farmers who have attained more than local 
 reputations are usually selected as institute workers by those who 
 have charge of the system of institutes for the State, or they may be 
 chosen by the local authorities from lists of such workers prepared by 
 the central bureau. The local committee invites successful farmers 
 of the neighboring districts to explain their methods and provides 
 music'and literary or other general exercises. All persons in attend¬ 
 ance, the humblest as well as the most prominent, are urged to ask 
 questions upon points suggested in the addresses and to present 
 related facts gained from personal experience. A “question box” is 
 frequently made use of, answers being given by the conductor of the 
 institute or by some one specially fitted to supply the information 
 asked. 
 
 For the evening sessions the usual plan is to have a popular lecture 
 upon some subject of general agricultural interest. This address is 
 made somewhat more elaborate and complete than those of the day 
 sessions, and less opportunity is given for discussion. 
 
 The institutes have been so successful and so popular in States 
 where they are carefully and systematically conducted that there is 
 a growing demand for increase in their number and frequency in 
 these States and for the extension of similar systems to States which 
 now hold institutes at irregular and infrequent intervals. 
 
 In nearly all the States and Territories institutes or meetings of 
 similar character are now held with more or less frequency and 
 regularity. 
 
 SHORT AND SPECIAL COURSES IN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 The agricultural colleges have further sought to meet the demand 
 for more elementary and practical education in agriculture by estab¬ 
 lishing short courses. These may either cover agriculture in general 
 or be confined to some special line, as dairying. The courses offered 
 by the University of Wisconsin may serve to illustrate this feature 
 of the American system for agricultural education. “The short 
 
282 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
 
 course in agriculture,” it is stated, “is designed to meet the wants 
 of young farmers who desire practical, helpful instruction in agricul¬ 
 ture before taking up their chosen vocation. This course covers two 
 terms of twelve weeks each, beginning the first of January each year.” 
 It includes lectures on feeds and feeding, breeds of live stock, agri¬ 
 cultural chemistry, agricultural physics and meteorology, plant life, 
 veterinary science, dairying, farih bookkeeping, horticulture, agri¬ 
 cultural economics, and bacteriology. Laboratory practice is given 
 in dairying, physics, plant life, stock judging, and horticulture, and 
 practical work in carpentry and blacksmithing. The dairy course 
 occupies one term and includes theoretical and practical instruction 
 in the science and practice of dairying and dairy farming. It is 
 definitely planned to meet the needs of persons intending “to operate 
 creameries and cheese factories,” and has been very successful in 
 training men competent for work of this kind. The students engage 
 in milk testing, operate separators and butter extractors, and attend 
 to the ripening of the cream, churning and packing butter, and all 
 the operations of a creamery and cheese factory. 
 
 HOME READING IN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 Various plans for extending the influence of the agricultural col¬ 
 leges among the farmers by what is known as university extension 
 work have been tried during the past five or six years. One of the 
 most interesting of these movements was inaugurated by the State 
 College of Pennsylvania. In 1892 this college offered a course desig¬ 
 nated as “ Home reading in agriculture,” the main features of which 
 were as follows: 
 
 (1) A carefully prepared course of reading designed to cover the most important 
 branches of agricultural science and practice. 
 
 (2) A reduction of price upon the books needed, all of which were standard 
 works. 
 
 (3) Personal advice and assistance through correspondence. 
 
 (4) Examinations upon subjects read, with certificates and diplomas for those 
 attaining certain grades of excellence. 
 
 This course attracted considerable attention at home and abroad 
 and received numerous applications for admission from students, a 
 number of whom did excellent work, completed their prescribed 
 course, and received diplomas. 
 
 During the following years the number of students was largely 
 increased, and a demand was made by them for more extended work 
 and more individual aid from the college. To meet this demand the 
 list of books has been largely increased, now constituting five divi¬ 
 sions of five books each upon the subjects of crop production, animal 
 production, horticulture, dairying, and domestic economy. In addi¬ 
 tion to these twenty-five books, a supplementary list of fifteen books 
 is added, from which students may select books to form additional 
 courses if they desire. 
 
POPULAR EDUCATION FOR THE FARMER. 
 
 283 
 
 The course consists of thorough study of ten books and a satisfac¬ 
 tory examination upon the same. 
 
 To meet the demand made by the students for greater aid from the 
 college, lessons have been provided on various books in the course. 
 These are sent to students free of cost. These lessons aim to give 
 
 new matter, or, in other words, to bring the book up to date, to make 
 suggestions for study, observation, and experiment, and to give page 
 references to the book. Each lesson is accompanied by an examina¬ 
 tion paper covering the subject of the lesson. Students are required 
 to satisfactorily answer these examination questions or discuss the 
 topics there mentioned before they can receive a second lesson. 
 
 THE NEW YORK PLAN FOR UNIVERSITY EXTENSION IN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 In 1894 the legislature of New York passed a bill out of which has 
 grown a movement in behalf of agricultural education, which bids 
 fair to make a deep and lasting impression, especially upon the com¬ 
 mon schools. The Nixon bill, as it is popularly called, grew out of 
 a desire on the part of certain persons in Chautauqua County, N. Y., 
 to have the experiment station connected with the College of Agri¬ 
 culture of Cornell University undertake some cooperative experiments 
 in their vineyards. As finally passed, the act gave $8,000 to the sta¬ 
 tion “for the purpose of horticultural experiments, investigations, 
 instruction, and information in western New York.” The work was 
 organized under Prof. L. H. Bailey, and consisted of investigations in 
 horticulture, plant diseases, and entomology; teaching by means of 
 itinerant schools and lectures, and the publication of bulletins of 
 information. So successful was the first year’s operations that the 
 appropriation was increased to $16,000 for the next two years. The 
 educational features of the enterprise were extended, with the effect 
 that the legislature of 1897 made an appropriation of $25,000 for “the 
 promotion of agricultural knowledge in the State,” and put this in 
 charge of the College of Agriculture instead of the experiment station. 
 The work now in progress is much wider in scope and more thor¬ 
 oughly organized than that hitherto attempted. It retains, however, 
 the main features of the previous enterprise. These are— 
 
 (1) The itinerant or local experiment as a means of teaching. 
 
 (2) The readable expository bulletin. 
 
 (3) The itinerant school. 
 
 (4) Elementary nature teaching in the rural school. 
 
 (5) Instruction by means of correspondence and reading courses. 
 
 Several hundred simple field experiments with fertilizers, potatoes, 
 and sugar beets have been conducted the past season in different 
 parts of the State. Several bulletins, with numerous illustrations, 
 have been widely circulated. Numerous itinerant schools have been 
 held. “These are meetings which last two or more days, at which 
 time certain instructors take up definite lines of instruction, giving 
 
284 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
 
 by far the greater part of tlieir attention to underlying principles and 
 not to mere facts or methods.” The attempt to introduce nature 
 teaching into the rural schools has aroused much popular interest. 
 The purpose and method of this work have been fully set forth in a 
 recent bulletin and are here summarized. It was conceived that the 
 fundamental difficulty with our agricultural condition was that there 
 was no attempt to instruct the children in matters which will awaken 
 an interest in country life, and therefore that the place in which to 
 begin to correct the agricultural status was with the children and the 
 rural schools. For the purpose of determining what should be done 
 many rural and village schools were visited during the past year and 
 simple lessons were given on natural objects. The result was that 
 all the instructors were impressed with the readiness with which 
 the children imbibed the information, their keen desire for it and 
 appreciation of it, and the almost universal interest which teachers 
 took in this kind of work. It was clear that the greatest good which 
 could be rendered to the agricultural communities was to awaken an 
 interest in nature study on the part of teachers and children. In 
 order to facilitate teaching in this direction, leaflets were issued to 
 show teachers how nature study may be presented to the pupils, and 
 these have been received with the greatest enthusiasm by educators 
 and many others who have examined them. 
 
 The outgrowth of this work with the schools is that it seems certain 
 that the best way in which to reach the pupils and the teachers is by 
 short and sharp observations upon plants, insects, and other natural 
 objects, and not by means of definite lectures of stated lengths. This 
 work has already been presented to the leachers at some of their insti¬ 
 tutes, where ib has also met with favor, and it has received the com¬ 
 mendation of the superintendent of public instruction and other 
 persons in authority. So far as the present outlook is concerned, it 
 is, perhaps, not too much to say that many believe that this move¬ 
 ment, directed toward the young people of the rural communities, is 
 the most important one which has developed in agriculture since the 
 consummation of the experiment-station idea. 
 
 Instruction by means of correspondence has been an outgrowth of 
 the last year. There were about 1,600 readers upon the lists at the 
 close of the first three months. It is the plan in this reading course 
 to set the farmers to reading upon certain definite subjects, and then 
 to make them think upon those subjects by periodical questioning. 
 
 Some months ago the College of Agriculture had enrolled under the 
 head of “University extension work ” 15,000 pupils and 10,000 teachers 
 of the public schools and 1,600^young farmers. The pupils and farmers 
 receive guidance by means of printed circulars, and the farmers report 
 progress and difficulties upon special blanks, which are furnished. 
 Six instructors are employed throughout the State in conducting 
 university extension work, and special teachers are employed from 
 
POPULAR EDUCATION FOR THE FARMER. 
 
 285 
 
 time to time as occasion requires. These instructors meet the 
 teachers of the public schools in the presence of their pupils and at 
 teachers’ associations and institutes for the purpose of illustrating 
 methods for teaching nature studies directly or indirectly related to 
 agriculture. The leaflets furnished serve as texts for the subjects 
 taught. 
 
 'The result of pushing this educational motive into the rural com¬ 
 munities has been a most decided waking up of those communities, 
 which, even if the work were to stop at the present time,will continue 
 to exert an influence for a generation and more. 
 
 All this work lias been experimental—an attempt to discover the 
 best method of teaching the people in agriculture. The promoters of 
 this movement believe that the most efficient means of elevating the 
 ideals and practice of the rural communities are as follows, in approxi¬ 
 mately the order of fundamental importance: (1) The establishment 
 of nature study or object-lesson study, combined with field walks and 
 incidental instruction in the principles of farm practice, in the rural 
 schools; (2) the establishment of correspondence instruction in con¬ 
 nection with reading courses, binding together the university, the 
 rural schools, and all rural literaiy or social societies; (3) itinerant 
 or local experiment and investigation, made chiefly as object lessons 
 to farmers, and not for the purpose, primarily, of discovering scien¬ 
 tific facts; (4) the publication of reading bulletins which shall inspire 
 a quickened appreciation of rural life, and which may be used as 
 texts in rural societies and in the reading courses, and which shall 
 prepare the way for the reading of the more extended literature in 
 books; (5) the sending out of special agents as lecturers or teachers or 
 as investigators of special local difficulties or as itinerant instructors 
 in the normal schools and before the training classes of the teachers’ 
 institutes; (6) the itinerant agricultural school, which shall be 
 equipped with the very best teachers, and which shall be given as 
 rewards to the most intelligent and energetic communities. 
 
 NATURE TEACHING IN THE RURAL SCHOOLS. 
 
 There are many interesting points in the scheme of university 
 extension work for agriculture thus outlined, but particular attention 
 should be given to that part of it which relates to the introduction of 
 nature teaching in the common schools. For more than a hundred 
 years schemes for the teaching of agriculture in the common schools 
 have from time to time been put forward and have attracted more or 
 less public notice. None of them, however, has been found practi¬ 
 cable. This is largely because they have ignored the conditions 
 existing in our common schools, as well as the nature of the subjects 
 with which the theory and practice of agriculture deal. The great 
 object of teaching agriculture in school courses must ever be to 
 acquaint students with the principles on which sound practice should 
 
YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
 
 286 
 
 be based and show the direction in which agricultural progress is 
 going. The art of agriculture is best learned on the farm. That is 
 the place where the boy learns how to plow, plant, and reap, and how 
 to feed and care for stock. It is true that at an agricultural college 
 or other school where the farmer’s boy may reside for a considerable 
 period he may learn new and better ways of doing these things than 
 on his father’s farm, but what chance is there that he can ever learn 
 such things as a child in a common rural school where most of his 
 time must necessarily be given to acquiring the rudiments of a gen¬ 
 eral education J) If he is to be taught agriculture at all in the com¬ 
 mon school, the course must consist very largely of the principles 
 underlying agricultural practice, that is, he must be taught why 
 he plants and plows and reaps in one way rather than another and 
 what laws of nature he violates in the bad management of his crops, 
 stock, or dairy, and the penalties which will surely result. But agri¬ 
 cultural principles are complex affairs, having their foundation in 
 several sciences and only imperfectly understood even by the most 
 advanced investigators. They are matters which the mature mind 
 may profitably consider, but which are out of place in elementary 
 schools. For this reason most of the experiments in teaching agri¬ 
 culture in the lower schools have proved failures. It is true that 
 something has been done in Europe, but it is only here and there 
 where unusually gifted teachers have been found that even a meas¬ 
 ure of success has been attained. In our rural elementary schools 
 there is much less prospect that any useful work of this kind can be 
 done. 
 
 NATURE TEACHING SHOULD BE INTRODUCED IN COMMON SCHOOLS. 
 
 There is every reason to believe that the plan of “nature teaching,” 
 as proposed by Cornell University, may prove a grand success and be 
 of very great benefit to farmers’ children// The element of education 
 which is at present most lacking in our common schools is the train¬ 
 ing of the powers of observation. The children need above all things 
 else to be taught to observe carefully and correctly and to state their 
 observations in clear and terse language. The ordinary child, whether 
 on the farm or in the town, actually sees comparatively little in the 
 world about him. The wonders of the trees and plants in park or 
 meadow, of birds and insects flying about the house, float like shadowy 
 visions before his eyes. “ Seeing, he sees not.” He needs a teacher 
 who can open his eyes and fix his mind on the realities among which 
 his daily life is passed. This accurate observation of natural objects 
 and facts is the only foundation on which scientific attainments can 
 rest. The scientist is chiefly a man who sees better than his fellow 
 men. But it is also a great help in practical life. Many farmers 
 acquire much of this power by their own unaided efforts. And these 
 are the very men who most regret that they did not have in early life 
 
POPULAR EDUCATION FOR THE FARMER. 
 
 287 
 
 the help of a trained teacher. The farmer’s child lives where lie has 
 
 the best opportunity for such training. It would benefit him in the 
 
 practice of his art, and it would add an interest to his life which would 
 
 do much to wean him from a desire to leave the farm for the turmoil 
 
 and uncertain struggles of the town. With proper provision for the 
 
 training of teachers in normal and other schools, it would be entirely 
 
 feasible to have this nature teaching in all our common schools 
 
 within a few years. It is such teaching that the child mind craves. 
 
 With it the school becomes a delightful place and the teacher an 
 
 angel of light. The leaflets which the College of Agriculture of Cornell 
 
 * 
 
 University is issuing show how vitally this nature teaching may be 
 made to affect agriculture, though it is not in itself the teaching of 
 agriculture. In one leaflet the teacher is instructed to have the chil¬ 
 dren plant squash seeds, dig some of them up at intervals to learn 
 how the seeds germinate, and watch what happens to the little plants 
 as they push their way up through the soil and unfold their stems 
 and leaves in the air. Four apple twigs form the subject of some 
 other lessons, and it is wonderful how much a child can learn about 
 the way trees grow from such simple materials. At another time the 
 children are encouraged to plant little gardens and carefully watch 
 some of the things which grow in them. Or they study some insect 
 which preys upon fruit or make collections of the insects about their 
 homes, or watch them to see whether they are doing things good or 
 bad for the farmer. 
 
 Is it not likely that a child who is thus taught will soon begin to 
 
 see a new value and dignity in farm life and to be less envious of the 
 boy or girl who is shut up within the narrow confines of city streets 
 most of the year? And if the farmer’s boy learns how to accurately 
 observe the processes of nature with which farm practice deals and 
 the foes with which agriculture lias to contend, are not the chances 
 vastly increased that he will be successful in managing nature so as to 
 get the greatest favors from this coy mistress of his life and fortune? 
 
 HIGH-SCHOOL COURSES IN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 With nature teaching in our common schools and training in the 
 science of agriculture in our colleges, there would yet remain one 
 vacant place in our scheme for a system of agricultural education 
 suited to the varied needs of all our people. Between the college and 
 the common school is the high school, normal school, or academy. 
 Large numbers of farmers’ boys and girls go to these schools, com¬ 
 monly located near their homes, who are unable to attend the longer 
 and more expensive college courses. Surely some provision for 
 agricultural instruction ought to be made in such schools. Thus far 
 only a few attempts have been made in this country to provide agri¬ 
 cultural instruction of the higli-school grade. It is true that some of 
 the agricultural colleges receive students directly from the common 
 
288 
 
 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
 
 schools, hut the constant tendency is to raise the grade of instruction 
 in these institutions to a college basis and, under any conditions, they 
 very imperfectly perform the duties of secondary schools of agricul¬ 
 ture. The University of Minnesota lias in recent years maintained 
 a school of agriculture (see PI. 11) in which instruction in agricul 
 ture of a lower grade than that given in the college of agriculture has 
 been successfully imparted. This school has proved quite popular. 
 Some 300 students were in attendance last year, and it lias been found 
 desirable to offer courses for girls as well as boys. The State of 
 Alabama lias recently provided for the maintenance of a school of 
 agriculture of secondary grade in each of the nine Congressional 
 districts of the State. 
 
 The establishment of such special schools of agriculture of high- 
 scliooi grade is greatly to be commended. One of the best effects of 
 such schools at the present time is to show the people what distinc¬ 
 tions should be drawn between colleges and high schools for agricul¬ 
 tural education. By the separation of these grades of instruction the 
 colleges will be enabled to do their proper work more efficiently, and 
 better opportunities will be secured for those students whose previous 
 training only fits them for high-school work in agriculture. But it is 
 not believed that these special agricultural high schools will fully 
 meet the needs of our farmers for agricultural instruction of this 
 grade. Any school so distant from the farmer’s home as to necessi¬ 
 tate long journeys and residence at the school for two or more years 
 must necessarily be too expensive for most-of the farmers’ children, 
 especially after they have reached an age when their services maybe 
 more or less utilized on the farm. What is needed is courses in agri¬ 
 culture in numerous schools to which farmers’ children resort, near 
 their homes, to “finish” their education after they are through with 
 the common schools. 
 
 It is believed that some such plan as the following would be practi¬ 
 cable and beneficial for a large number of schools and students: 
 Many of the rural high schools, normal schools, and academies (that is, 
 any schools of higher grade than the common or district schools) now 
 employ at least one teacher qualified to give elementary instruction 
 in one or more natural sciences. As compared with the more thorough 
 courses given in the colleges the instruction in many branches, such 
 as rhetoric, history, botany, and chemistry, which is given in the high 
 schools, consists of an outline or skeleton course, presenting in a 
 systematic way the main features of the science. In this way the 
 pupil learns some of the most important principles and, what is of 
 more consequence, gets an idea of the course and tendency of modern 
 progress in these lines of knowledge. This may form the basis for 
 more thorough training afterwards, but even if it goes no further than 
 the high school, the mental horizon of the student has at least been 
 broadened for all his life, and the chances are that he will prove a 
 
Yearbook U. S. Dept, of Agriculture, 1897. 
 
 Plate II 
 
 Fig. 1.—Dairy Building, University of Minnesota. 
 
 Fig. 2.—Girls’ Home Building, School of Agriculture, Minnesota 
 
POPULAR EDUCATION FOR THE FARMER, 
 
 289 
 
 more progressive and successful man than if lie had confined his 
 education to the common school. 
 
 Now, what is being already done in other subjects in the high schools 
 may easily be done in agriculture. When a teacher of natural science 
 is being selected for such a school located in or near a rural com¬ 
 munity, let one requisite be that he shall have had training in the 
 science and practice of agriculture, preferably at an agricultural col¬ 
 lege. Such a teacher will be able to offer, it may be as an optional 
 study, an outline course in the theory and practice of agriculture. 
 The farmer’s boy or girl may then take this course in agriculture in 
 connection with other courses at the high school without going far or 
 long from home. If he lias had nature teaching in the common school 
 lie will be all the better prepared for this secondary course in agricul¬ 
 ture, and the more practice he has had on the farm the better able 
 he is likely to be to appreciate and profit by a systematic course in 
 agriculture in the high school. It is of course not pretended that this 
 outline course can take the place of the longer and more thorough 
 courses at colleges and special schools of agriculture, but it will be 
 far better than no course at all. It will open the mind of the pupil 
 to the wonderful progress which is being made in agricultural science 
 and practice. It will enable him to take more thorough advantage of 
 the information furnished through books, bulletins of experiment 
 stations, farmers’ institutes, home reading clubs, etc. It will come 
 to him at a time of life when he is making choice of his life occupa¬ 
 tion, and it is believed it wilL be a powerful incentive to keep those 
 boys on the farm who are fitted to get the most in every way out of a 
 farmer’s life. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 In 1896, out of a total population of some 70,000,000 in the United 
 States, 16,000,000 young persons were enrolled in the schools and col¬ 
 leges, of whom three-fourths, or 12,000,000, were in places of less than 
 8,000 inhabitants. In schools having secondary grades, that is, high 
 schools, normal schools, and academies, it is estimated, from somewhat 
 imperfect statistics, that there were 600,000 pupils in 7,000 schools. 
 Probably 400,000 of these secondary-school students were in 5,000 
 schools, located in places having less than 8,000 inhabitants. If agri¬ 
 culture could be generally taught in schools of secondary grade, it is 
 obvious that the effect would be widespread. How much more widely 
 such instruction might be diffused than it is at present may be inferred 
 from the fact that in 1897 there were in all only 64 colleges having 
 courses in agriculture, which were taken by 3,930 students. 
 
 It is evident we are making much progress in devising and carrying 
 out wise plans for the education of the farmer. With nature teach¬ 
 ing in the common schools, high and normal school courses in agricul¬ 
 ture, colleges of agriculture, experiment stations, farmers’ institutes, 
 
290 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
 
 liome reading circles, and the agricultural press, the farmer would 
 have a quite complete system of education in his art. This would 
 bring agriculture well into line with the great commercial and manu¬ 
 facturing enterprises of our day, which owe so much to technical edu¬ 
 cation, and would greatly help to take away from agriculture the 
 reproach of being a “belated industry.” 
 
 C 
 
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