The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-03-03
FARM LESSONS FOR CHILDREN.

Undera new law in Nebraska all
teachers in the primary and secondary
grades must be able to impart the
rudiments of agriculture to their pu-
pills, to tell them something of the
soil, its constituents, its culture, how
it is seeded and how the crops are
harvested. 1t is not supposed that
every teacher will be able to farm,
neither is it proposed to make of every
pupil a practical agriculturist. The
aim is to instill into the mind of the
children love and respect for agri-
culture, to make plain its possibilities,
and in the end to make more farmers.
This new departure has come rath-
er from the farmers than from the
educators, although the latter have
been quick to see the advantage of
the new system. Scattered through
the West are thousands of men who
have made comfortable fortunes at
farming. They like their vocation
and they believe more men ought to
be pursuing it. They believe also
that there will never be much else in
the West than farming, and that the
thing to do is to shape the education
al policy of this section SO as to pro-
duce more farmers and fewer pro-
fesSional men.
Some Western States have estab-
lished experimental high schools
where agriculture is taught to advan-
ced pupils. These have not been
very successful. The error lay in
not beginning the instruction in the
lower grades. That mistake is now
to be remedied. The advocates of
the new plan insist that the present
educational system has turned out
too many trained thinkers, aud that
it is high time that its product be
trained doers.
Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska uni
versities have been offering for sever
al years normal courses in agriculture
for teachers who desire to or must
give such instruction. This step has
received the recognition of State sup
erintendents, who award certificates
on the agreement to accept satisfac-
tory work in agriculture III lieu Of
any science. The result has been to
interest many teachers aud to give
rise to chairs of agriculture in the
State normal schools. Other nearby
States are following suit.
In Colorado Senator Patterson has
offered 81, 500 in gold as prizes to be
distributed among the children of
the State for the best cereal seed rails
ed within the next three years. The
competition is open to every boy or
girl under eighteen.
aIn Nebraska and Kansas, two great
corn States, corn improvement is the
end sought. Back of the movement
is the influence of the State College
of Agriculture, the farmers insti-
tutes, the Corn Improvers' Associa
ton and the agricultural shows. In
forty-two counties competitions have
been held, the object of which is to
induce the boys and girls to study the
principles and conditions Of plant
growth. The public schools have in
many instances taken up the work of
corn growing under the direction of
the county superintendent. In some
the Farmers Institute Association of
the neighborhood or of the county
has organized corn growing contests
and arranged for list of prizes. In
others the teachers have urged the
boys to grow patch of corn of their
own ard prepare to exhibit it at the
school when harvested the next fall.
The merchants and business men gen.
orally of the small towns have caught
the spirit and offered prizes.