The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1913-02-28

q
important pleasure to him to write
a composition on some plant or ami
NAL which he is familiar. He should
be trained to find out or himself the
facts that he uses in this work.
A very valuable asset for fourth
fifth or sixth grade children is to. be
able to completely give the life his
tory of some plant, peculiar to their
community, binding it neatly and ar
tistically with clear and simple
sketches of the plant in different
stages.
In the seventh and eighth grades
all of the practice work may be
along the natural science lines. Here
great mistake too often made is
the attempt to cover too many phas-
es of the science. If the teacher sell
ects some one phase of farming adj
apted to the community, ample sub
stance will be found for work along
all lines. Such subjects as the fol-
lowing are recommended as the best
to be taught in the last two years of
the grammer schools; Potato Gull
ture," Alfalfa, clover, peas, timothy,
the apple, the stone fruits. berries,
lard hogs, bacon hogs, beef cattle,
dairy cattle, milk, the farm horse,
and the art of preserving foods"
In selecting one of the above sub
jects, be governed by the conditions
of the locality of the school. Amy
one of them is broad enough for a
five years course, and can be taught
in connection with Mathematics,
reading, spelling, writing, grammar,
geography, physiology, history, and
drawing.
In Mathematics, give such work
as; the laying off of fields, the num-
Der of plants or animals per acre,
the number of rows. hills, or beds in
plots of various sizes and shapes,
the minimum maximum and average
yields, the vitality, per cent of pure,
impure, fertile or inferior seed, cost
of production per pound, per seed,
value per pound, per ton as food for
a nj T1ao Ic nf hNy ri
enemies, the value in figures of var
ious insects, birds or other agencies,
and the economic problems of labor
production, consumption, etc.
The laboratory for such work is
the home and all experiments should
be encouraged School gardens are
beneficial only in the hands of spec
tally trained people, and in the hands
of an unframed teacher they are an
expensive and dangerous fad.
A question which often confronts
the, teacher is: How can | get the
literature which will enable me TO
carry on such work." This is easily
done, by keeping in close touch with
the county and state superintendent,
and by cooperation with the Extern
sion Department, the studying of a,
few select periodicals, having the
scholars obtain the bulletins on the
subject treated from the United
States Experiment station; the state
experiment station; and the expert
ment stations of the various other
states, by the accumulation and
study of a concrete library of we'll
and authentic works
and by consulting successful farmers
or the state experiment station on
any question which cannot easily be
solved by the teacher
The following statement made by
the head of the Department of Edu-
cation is one of the prominent in
situations of the Northwest shows
the value and Importance of the av-
ailable literature. Amy wide-awake
teacher can teach physical geogra-
ply from the publications of the
various agricultural periodicals