The means and methods of agricultural education

Front matter

J)art, H>cl)affner & JHary J)t#e ©conamtc ©agape

THE CAUSE AND EXTENT OF THE RECENT INDUS¬ TRIAL PROGRESS OF GERMANY. By Earl D. Howard.

JHE CAUSES OF THE PANIC OF 1893. By William J. Lauck.

Preface

This series of books owes its existence to the generosity of Messrs. Hart, Schaffner & Marx, of Chicago, who have shown a special interest in trying to draw the attention of American youth to the study of economic and commercial subjects. For this purpose they have delegated to the un¬ dersigned committee the task of selecting or approving of topics, making announcements, and awarding prizes an¬ nually for those who wish to compete.

For the year ending June 1, 1913, there were offered: —

In Class A, which included any American without re¬ striction, a first prize of $1000, and a second prize of $500.

In Class B, which included any who were at the time undergraduates of an American college, a first prize of $300, and a second prize of $200.

Any essay submitted in Class B, if deemed of sufficient merit, could receive a prize in Class A.

The present volume, submitted in Class A, was awarded second prize in that class.

J. Laurence Laughlin, Chairman, University of Chicago.

J. B. Clark,

Columbia University.

Henry C. Adams,

Horace White,

New York City.

Edwin F. Gay,

Harvard University.

Importance of education. — Change in educational methods and theories. — Agricultural education not an isolated ques¬ tion. — The economic value of the products of agriculture. —

The number of persons engaged in agriculture. — Agriculture the basic industry. — Consumption is rapidly overtaking pro¬ duction. — The part education must play in the development of agriculture. — The main problem. — Subordinate prob¬ lems . xiii-xxi

Chapter I. An Historical, Review of the Develop¬ ment of Agricultural Education

Some ancient records and early developments. — The con¬ tribution of agricultural societies in America. — The develop¬ ment of agricultural teaching in the United States. — The growth of the movement in Canada. — National legislative enactments in the United States: the Morrill Acts; the es¬ tablishment of the Department of Agriculture; the Experiment Station Acts; the Smith-Lever Bill. — Work for the future 1-16

Chapter H. Some Conditions of Rural Life

The decline in rural population in Canada and the United States. — The shift in rural population. — The witness of the country church. — Some contributing causes of the decline in population: the number of men required on the land less than formerly; lack of social opportunities; lack of educational op¬ portunities; lack of opportunities for amusement and recreation; the popular estimation of the farmer; the boy on the farm as an unpaid hand; the decay of village industries; the increase of tenancy throughout the country; lack of adequate facilities for transportation . . 17-31

Chapter HI. The Rural Elementary School

The problem of enrollment in the United States and Canada.

— The character, tenure, and remuneration of teachers: the sex of teachers; the preparation of teachers. — The problem of material equipment. — The length of session in rural districts. —

The problem of supervision; the lack of adequate supervision;

Vlll inadequate qualifications for appointment of superintendents; industrial supervisors in rural schools. — The administration and organization of rural schools: the district system; the town¬ ship-unit system; the county-unit system. — Advantages of the rural school. — Object of pointing out defects .... 32-47

Chapter IV. The Improvement of the Rural School

The school survey. — Energizing the community. — The question of funds. — The county as the administrative unit. —

The need for male teachers in the rural schools. - — Adapting the rural school to rural conditions. — Demonstration, or model, schools. — The need for better buildings. — The one-room school. — The arrangement of community buildings. — The need for compulsory attendance. — Some notable examples of rural school improvement: rural schools in Iowa; scoring rural schools in Arkansas; rural school score card; rural schools in Denmark . 48-64

Chapter V. Teaching Agriculture in the Rural School

The demand for instruction in agriculture. — The correlation of agriculture with other subjects in the curriculum : agriculture applied to the teaching of English; agriculture applied to the teaching of arithmetic; agriculture applied to the teaching of geography. — Nature study: its place, purpose, and character; nature study through collections of natural objects. — The school garden: care of the garden during the summer holidays; school gardening in towns and cities.- — The home garden. — How time may be obtained for nature study and agriculture. — Hindrances to the introduction of nature study and agriculture: the nature of the subject; the overcrowded curriculum; imma¬ turity of pupils; the employment of women as teachers; the limited time available; the conservatism of school officials.

— Benefits to be derived from the teaching of nature study and agriculture. — School agriculture as a means of keeping the boy on the farm . 65-83

Chapter VI. The Consolidation of Schools

The inception of the consolidation idea. — The present status of the consolidation movement in Canada and the United States. Notable examples of consolidation: the John Swaney Consoli¬ dated School; the Mays Lick School. — The expense and the efficiency of the consolidated school. — Some of the difficulties in the way: the condition of the roads; the greater cost of con¬ solidation. — How shall consolidation be accomplished? . 84-98 ix

Chapter VII. Rural School Extension

School credit for home projects. — Forms of rural school ex¬ tension service. — Boys’ and girls’ agricultural clubs: club work in the United States; club contests in Canada. — School fairs: school fairs in Ontario; method of organization and manage¬ ment. — Young people’s institutes: objects of institutes for young people; officers and their duties; boys’ encampments; sep¬ arate institutes for girls; teachers of institutes for young peo¬ ple. — Short courses in agriculture. — Rural evening schools: the Moonlight schools; what shall be taught in evening schools ? 99* U8

Chapter VIII. Secondary Education in Agriculture

Monetary value of education in agriculture. — The type of high school to be developed. — Advantages of existing high schools. — Advantages of separate agricultural high schools. — ■ Both types of schools are needed. — Readjustment of the course of study : the question of textbooks. — The modified course of study. — Two examples of the reorganization of the existing high school : Colebrook Academy; the Farragut school.

— The organization of the specialized agricultural high school: the county agricultural high schools; congressional district high schools; an example of the specialized county high school. —

The need for specially trained teachers; teachers as county representatives of the Department of Agriculture. — The use of land in connection with schools: home projects; the Massachu¬ setts home-project plan . . . 1 19 — B 15

Chapter EX. The Agricultural College

The purpose of the land grant colleges. — The struggles of the land grant colleges. — The report of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. — The facts in the case: the influence of the old arts colleges ; engineering is not the dominant factor; taking the youth from the farm; low standards of ad¬ mission; the desire for numbers; lack of agreement among pro¬ fessors; has agriculture no vocational value? The future of the agricultural colleges: courses of collegiate grade; short spe¬ cial courses; training teachers; extension service; investigation and research; dissemination of existing knowledge. — The broader problems awaiting the college: problems of transporta¬ tion; problems of distribution; application of correct business methods to the*farm; the training of leaders. The place of the agricultural college in the educational system . . . 146-166

Chapter X. Some Forms of Extension Service

The scope of agricultural college extension service. — The question of organization. — Phases of extension service: reading

X courses; movable schools; county experts; farmers’ cooperative demonstration work; bulletin service; demonstration trains. —

The outlook for future development . 167-180

Chapter XI. Institutes and Other Helps for the Adult Farmer

The rise of the institute movement. — The extent of the in¬ stitute movement. — The nature and organization of farmers’ institutes. — The farmers’ institute lecturer: reputation in his own community; scientific training; ability to teach; tact; gen¬ eral qualities. — Method of choosing institute lecturers. — Lo¬ calization of institute work. — The character of the program: the organization of the forces; the length of the institute session; the methods of teaching to be adopted. — Farmers’ clubs. —

The ’‘Grange: the early history of the grange; the organization of the grange; the work of the grange. — The dangers to be guarded against in rural organizations. — The federation of forces: the need for federation; the form that federation may take; a state plan of federation. — In general . . . 181-200

Chapter XII. The Woman on the Farm

Importance of the work of the farmer’s wife. — The exodus of girls from rural districts. — The kind of education required by the rural girl. — The work for the farm girl in the rural ele¬ mentary school. — Household science in the home. — Home helps for the girls not attending school. — Special high-school work for farm girls. — College courses for women. — Women’s institutes: women’s institutes in Ontario; the functions of wo¬ men’s institutes; specific instruction given by women’s insti¬ tutes; typical contract between women’s institutes and the De¬ partment of Agriculture. — Domestic-science trains . 201-218

Chapter XIII. The Training of Teachers

The training of teachers for rural schools. — The need of special training for rural school-teachers. — The character of the training needed. — Training for persons preparing to teach: the methods in Ontario; rural teachers’ conferences; methods in the United States; teacher- training in high schools; county normal schools; state normal schools. — Training teachers already in service: summer schools; teachers’ institutes; corre¬ spondence courses; itinerant teachers. — The training of teach¬ ers for higher schools. — The graduate school of agricul¬ ture . 219-235 xi

Chapter XIV. The Example of Denmark

The agricultural situation in Denmark. — The cooperative movement. — The kinds of cooperative organizations. — The people’s high schools. — The Royal Agricultural and Veterinary Institute. — Rural organization in Denmark: Danish Agricul¬ tural Society; the State Department of Agriculture; farmers’ associations; small-holders’ associations; special organizations; agricultural credits associations; essentials of agricultural progress . .' . 236-248

Appendix. List of Authorities consulted . . 251-265

267-273

ILLUSTRATIONS

Model Rural School on the Campus of New York State College of Agriculture .... Frontispiece

Cardboard Models of Approved Rural School-Build¬ ings . 40

A Kentucky Log Schoolhouse . 54

A Country Community-Center . 58

The Montague (Mass.) High and Consolidated School 84

The John Swaney Consolidated School .... 86

Van used for Transportation of Pupils .... 88

A Consolidated School and Transportation Wagons 94

Facsimile of Field Notes on Potato Plot . . .102

Night School’s Aid to eliminate Illiteracy . . . 114

Colebrook Academy . 130

Home Economics Exhibit Car, Cornell University . 216

Education is the most important question in American country life; and, indeed, a distinguishing mark of pres¬ ent-day discussions is the prominence that is given to edu¬ cational problems. Education lies at the foundation of democracy, and its progress is a vital concern of the com¬ mon people. The layman to-day is taking a part in the dis¬ cussion of educational matters second only to that of the man who has made them a life study. The schools are being submitted to the test of producing results, and are being required, as never before, to show returns commen¬ surate with the money invested.

Educational methods and theories are undergoing change. Both the popular and the professional concep¬ tions of education — that culture could be attained only through the gateway of an intimate knowledge of classical languages and literature — were long unquestioned. Edu¬ cators themselves were largely responsible for this rigid conception. Consciously and unconsciously they estab¬ lished the idea that education consisted of the acquisition of a knowledge of Latin and Greek, and those things which had relation only to the intellectual and introspective life, with the result that people came to look upon the posses¬ sion of such knowledge as the only means of giving to their children a better training for life than they had received themselves. We are now engaged in the process of modify¬ ing this conception — and, indeed, extremists are almost rejecting it — by recognizing the educational values that are received from a training in the science and art of modern industries and professions.

The goal in education to-day is doubtless but little changed from the past, but a new interpretation is being

XVI given to the term “culture,” and pathways to education that are easier for the common people to follow are being opened. The new conception is based on a fuller under¬ standing of the end to be attained, on the one hand, and of the people to be educated, on the other. This is making imperative a reconsideration of the content and method of a rational scheme of education.

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION NOT AN ISOLATED QUESTION

Agricultural education is a phase of the broader prob¬ lem of industrial education. In current educational dis¬ cussions, however, the term “industrial education” has been interpreted to mean almost exclusively that form of training which will fit for participation in the mechanical pursuits of the factory and the workshop. In the discus¬ sions of education for industrial purposes agriculture has held a subordinate place, but the time has come when this basic human industry must receive adequate considera¬ tion. This is especially true because the influence of tradi¬ tion is greater in agricultural processes than it is in other industries, and practical knowledge has been transmitted, with a modicum of theory, from father to son, resulting, too often, in bad farming, low ideals of living, and un¬ sound business management. Governor Harmon of Ohio says, “While all other lines of our industries have received a great impetus from intelligent thought, agriculture seems to have been largely passed by. Too widely the idea pre¬ vails that all a man has to do is to scratch the ground, sow some seed into it, plough it once in a while, and trust the Lord to do the rest.”

The education of the farmer is a matter that concerns the urban population as well as the rural population. Town and country are mutually dependent. The threads of our national life are now so interwoven that the prob¬ lems of the country and the city cannot be wholly sepa¬ rated. The high cost of living is forcing city dwellers to

XVII investigate more closely the origin and the values of the products bought for the family table, and is inducing the farmer and the gardener to study the city market quota¬ tions, the cost of transportation, the influence of good roads, and related problems.

The city is dependent upon the country for new life blood and vigor to maintain its population and its indus¬ trial progress, while, on the other hand, the country con¬ stantly looks to the city for its markets, and largely, also, for its educational facilities and its amusements. Until recently the interests of town and country have been fre¬ quently regarded as antagonistic; but “the well-being of a people is like a tree : agriculture is its root, manufactures and commerce are its branches and its life; if the root is injured the leaves fall, the branches break away, and the tree dies.”1

Agricultural prosperity is one of the most important factors in financial stability. This is shown by the fluctua¬ tions in the money market according to good or bad har¬ vests. Business men must be brought to an active recog¬ nition of the fact that the success of farming operations means increased trade, and that farming determines more largely the general prosperity of the country than the suc¬ cess of any other industry.

It is sometimes said that the farmer should be able to look after himself, and it is assumed that aid given to agriculture will benefit the farmer alone. This is not the case; but even if it were, have not many other industries been subsidized? Witness the aid given to railroads, the granting of patents, and the establishment of tariffs in va¬ rious forms, all of which may fairly be regarded as direct financial aids to industry.

The development of agriculture is a national question, not a local or individual one; and the reasons for so re¬ garding it may be considered under the following heads : —

1 Plunkett, Sir Horace. The Rural Life Problem in the United, States. Quoted, p. 44.

xvm

1. The economic value of the products of agriculture.

2. The number of persons engaged in the practice of agriculture.

3. Agriculture is the basic industry.

4. The consumption of agricultural products is rapidly overtaking the production.

THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE PRODUCTS OF AGRICULTURE

The Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, in his Report for 1904, says: “An occupation that is producing such unthinkable values as one aggregat¬ ing nearly $5,000,000,000 within a year may be better measured by some comparisons. All of the gold mines of the entire world have not produced, since Columbus dis¬ covered America, a greater value of gold than the farmers of this country have produced in wealth in two years. This year’s produce [1904] is over six times the amount of capital stock of the national banks. It comes within three quarters of a billion dollars of equating the value of the manufactures of 1900 less the cost of the materials used. It is twice the sum of our imports and exports for the year. It is two and a half times the gross earnings from the rail¬ roads. It is three and a half times the value of all minerals produced in this country, including coal, iron ore, gold, silver, lead, and quarried stone.”

According to the latest available Canadian statistics, the products of agriculture in Canada amount to over $400,- 000,000, which is three times as great as the combined values of the products from forests, mines, and fisheries.

THE NUMBER OF PERSONS ENGAGED IN THE PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE

The last census returns give the number of persons en¬ gaged in gainful occupations in the United States as 29,- 300,000, of which number thirty -six per cent are engaged in xix agricultural operations. This is the largest number en¬ gaged in any single group into which the industries are divided. Notwithstanding the remarkable growth of manu¬ factures during the past twenty years, agriculture em¬ ploys more people than any of the other industrial groups. In the United States, 53.7 per cent and, in Canada, 54.4 per cent of the population is classed as rural; and while it is not fair to assume that all the rural population are en¬ gaged in agriculture, or that all the urban population are engaged in the manufacturing industries, the proportions of the two afford an indication of the relative importance of the two types of industry.

AGRICULTURE IS THE BASIC INDUSTRY

Agriculture is not only the basic industry, but it is so closely related to the commercial and business enterprises that it cannot be wholly separated from them. Manu¬ facturers are concerned with the supply of raw material, and they strive both to increase the supply and to provide substitutes when it threatens to fail. For example, the National Association of Paint Manufacturers is taking steps to secure greater production of flax seed, from which linseed oil is made.

An increase of only one bushel of grain per acre through¬ out the United States would require 12,500 extra trains of fifty cars each for transportation.1 The great railway com¬ panies are fully aware that agricultural prosperity means increased business. This conviction is shown by their ef¬ forts to attract settlers, to develop the farm lands along their routes, and their practice of running well-equipped agricul¬ tural demonstration trains for the benefit of their patrons.

CONSUMPTION IS RAPIDLY OVERTAKING PRODUCTION

The President of the Michigan Agricultural College estimates that the population of the United States fifty

i New York State Department of Agriculture. Bulletin 35, p. 955.

xx

years hence will be 200,000,000. 1 The annual yield in staple crops is not keeping pace with the increase in popu¬ lation. For example, while the corn crop of 1906 was the largest ever produced in the United States, the yield per acre was less than in 1872; and the same is true of wheat and other important cereals.2 It is evident, therefore, that the additional food required to feed the increasing popula¬ tion can no longer be obtained by increasing the acreage under cultivation. It must now be procured by increasing the amount raised per acre.

The same condition holds in respect to all kinds of live¬ stock, both in the United States and in Canada. In the former country, from 1900 to 1910 all branches of live¬ stock breeding were diminished, and in Canada during the same period the number of horned stock exported was decreased by 80,000, and of sheep by more than 400,000; and whereas Canada used to export some twelve millions of poultry, it now exports none; it no longer exports eggs, although it once exported 11,000,000 dozens.3

THE PART EDUCATION MUST PLAY

The welfare of the nation depends much on the character and the extent of the means of agricultural betterment. It has been well said that agricultural returns are the barometer of national prosperity. It is now time that na¬ tional and state legislatures, municipal organizations, and local societies of farmers and business men joined their forces to assist in giving to agriculture the assistance, encouragement, and direction which its importance war¬ rants. As a national business investment, the expenditure of much larger sums in agricultural investigation, educa¬ tion, and demonstration could be made not only to give adequate returns in increased production, but to materially

1 Michigan Agricultural College. Bulletin, October, 1908, p. 10.

* Jules Meline at Tenth International Congress of Agriculture.

rxi

raise the standards of rural living and strengthen the nation as a world power.

Education by means of agricultural subjects, adapted to the needs of rural communities, is a much larger and more difficult problem than the education of the mechanic or the artisan. Agriculture is not one occupation but many complicated occupations, depending on many sciences and demanding many kinds of skill. It is a complex problem, involving, in the process of education, not only the primary consideration of making the farm pay, but also the rev¬ olutionizing of the business methods of farmers and the development of a higher social welfare.

The farmer is strongly conservative, owing largely to his individualistic training, and it is no small task to over¬ come his strong attachment to old and well-established practices. The first, and sometimes the hardest, of the educational problems is to lead him to see that the educa¬ tion of his children is at least as important as the fattening of his hogs. The task of arousing the farmer to this con¬ ception is not peculiar to any one country or generation. This is well illustrated by the fact that Sir Horace Plunkett found it necessary to address fifty meetings in order to persuade a single Irish community to start a cooperative creamery; and it was another twelve months before he succeeded in establishing a second.1

Owing to the complexity of the problem, many features not usually looked upon as pertinent to an educational discussion must enter into its consideration. Agriculture differs from most vocations in that it determines both the location of the home and the manner of living. For this reason, the study of vocational agriculture must include, in addition to technical training, the rights and duties of citizenship, the essentials of home-making and of com¬ munity building, inasmuch as the country has a type of organization somewhat different from that of the towns.

1 Plunkett, Sir Horace. The Rural Life Problem in the United States.

XXII

The prosperity of the rural districts is dependent almost as much upon the social advantages as upon the ability of the individual to grow crops and to raise stock. The prob¬ lem to be considered is how the agricultural land may be made to produce an adequate food-supply for the rapidly growing population, while at the same time provision is made for such social and educational advantages as will induce the best of our country people to remain in the open country.

This main problem involves a number of subordinate yet closely related considerations, the chief of which are as follows: — ■

1. A system of education suited to local conditions and to the everyday experiences of country children, thus re¬ lating them to the opportunities surrounding them and developing their intellects through a reasonable agricul¬ tural and natural history outlook.

2. The adaptation of the education of the boy and girl, from fourteen to nineteen years of age, toward productive efficiency along agricultural and home-making lines.

3. The training of the adult farmer in methods of soil cultivation and farm management according to scientific principles, and the proper dissemination of the available knowledge on these subjects.

4. A serious consideration of the conditions of the farm home and the work that is carried on therein. Agriculture is a home industry, and the work of the woman plays a more important part than in any other industry. The drift from the country to the city is influenced greatly by the condi¬ tions of the farm home.

5. The development of sound business methods in all farming operations and the establishment of cooperative methods of farming, distribution of products, and buying of supplies. This entails consideration of the means by which the farmer may fairly obtain money for the extension of his operations.

xxm

6. An understanding of the social and economic advan¬ tages of good roads and other methods of transportation.

7. A re-vitalization and re-direction of country life in order that the higher aspirations of farmers may find their satisfaction in the richer life that the country may be made to offer.

The following pages will attempt, in some measure, to deal with the above problems.

CHAPTER I

AN HISTORICAL REVIEW OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 1

In the advocacy of new schemes of education we are likely to forget the debt we owe to the pioneer workers who by their labors have made educational progress possible. Agri¬ cultural education owes much to the educators of the past, out of whose work it has grown, and its present status can¬ not well be understood without a brief review of its history.

SOME ANCIENT RECORDS AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 2

Formal instruction in agriculture probably began with what may be considered a type of school-garden move¬ ment. In 1015 b.c., Solomon possessed extensive gardens in which all kinds of plants, “from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall,” were kept, probably for purposes of instruction and example as well as for adornment.

King Cyrus (559-529 b.c.) laid out in Persia the first school garden, in which the sons of noblemen were in¬ structed in agriculture.

Aristotle (82-22 b.c.) understood the importance of agriculture and wrote as follows : —

The first attention should be paid to that which is in ac¬ cordance with nature: for by nature agriculture is first; next come all those things which are derived from the earth, such as mining and other arts of like kind.

1 Bailey, L. H. Cyclopedia of American Agriculture, vol. 4. Consulted freely.

2 Commissioner of Education of the United States. Report, 1898-99.

But agriculture should be ranked first because it is just: for it does not derive its profits from men, either with their consent, like petty traffic, and the mercenary arts, or without their consent, like the arts which pertain to war.

Further, also, agriculture is natural, for naturally every existing thing derives its nourishment from its mother, and so consequently men derive it from the earth.

Moreover, it contributes much towards fortitude: for it does not make the body unserviceable, like the illiberal arts, but renders it fit to live and labour in the open air, and to run the risks of war against assailants. For husbandmen are the only persons whose possessions lie outside city walls.1

There is a legend that King Alfred established a school where farm boys were to be taught, and that this school was the beginning of Oxford University; but this lacks historical confirmation.

Many of the older European universities had gardens, which most likely were used for purposes of instruction. In 1525 a.d., Gaspar de Gabriel, a wealthy Italian noble¬ man, laid out the first garden of which there is record, in Tuscany, and this example was followed by many Italian cities, notably Venice, Milan, and Naples. Toward the end of the sixteenth century a botanical garden was estab¬ lished in Paris, “because the embroiderers of the court dresses needed new floral designs.”

In 1534, the Jesuits established the principle of “inter¬ est” in education, and argued that learning should have some relation to living. Early in the sixteenth century, Rabelais taught that the individuality of the pupil should be considered, and that the materials for his education should not be drawn from books alone, but from the ex¬ ternal world, from the heavens, the trees, and even from the usual occupations of men.

In 1651, there was published in London a small pam¬ phlet, by Samuel Hartlib, entitled “An Essay for the Ad¬ vancement of Husbandry -Learning: or Propositions for 1 Economics, book 1, chap. 2.

the Erecting a Colledge of Husbandry: and, in order there¬ unto, for the taking in of Pupills or Apprentices. And also Friends of Fellowes of the same Colledge or Society.” The author proposed that such a college should have four pro¬ fessors, one of whom should be sent to Asia, one to Europe, one to Africa, and one to America to study, and that they should retract whenever they taught anything that should be proved erroneous.