Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 138, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 June 1911 — TO TEACH FARMING [ARTICLE]

TO TEACH FARMING

Commissioner of Massachusetts Board of Education Approves. Hoped to Disseminate Principles Broadcast Throughout Commonwealth and Bring About, Reclamation of Abandoned Farms. Boston.—After many years of discussion a definite program, arranged by David Snedden, commissioner of the state board of education, has been submitted to the legislature whereby it is proposed to have scientific farming taught in the public schools and its principles disseminated broadcast throughout the entire state. By his program the commissioner hopes to bring about the reclamation of abandoned farms and a general development of agriculture along expert lines. His recommendations call for the establishment of six state agrlcul- ’ tural schools and an agricultural department in every high school in the state. Not only Is this sweeping addition to the system of the state approved by the educational authorities, but it is supported as a thoroughly practical measure by Secretary J. Lewis Ellsworth, of the state board of agriculture, whose knowledge of farming conditions and possibilities is unquestioned. That the farming population will be increased and that the “back to the land” Impulse will be gratified with a certainty of success by the city bred high school graduates of the next few years are results to be expected. Also, it is the most practical step toward utilizing small plots of land in intensive farming. On this point Secretary Ellsworth says: “From the agricultural standpoint the recommendations of the state board of education are very welcome, and they bear out the conclusions that progressive farmers have arrived at. The scientific instruction in farming as a life work is needed just as much as the vocational Instruction in other lines. “The farmer today knows this, and with the teaching of boys in high schools or separate agricultural schools we will receive recruits for the farm work of the future. “General instruction in agriculture will be of special value in fitting the students for working profitably small plots near our large cities where there is a ready market This calls for intensive fanning to achieve the fullest profits, and the graduates of these schools will be fitted for such work.” The importance of his recommendations is dwelt upon by Dr. Snedden, who has spent the last year in investigating the special needs of agricultural education. One of the most important of these as It is set forth in the carefully considered report of the board, is: “The growing commercial and industrial school facilities open to boys and girls fourteen years of age and older tend to lure away from the land and into congested centers, in the absence of competent and attractive agricultural education, many young people whose natural aptitude would make them. If properly trained, better and more prosperous citizens In the country. X • "Financial aid for agricultural education suitable for adults and for college students has for a half century been furnished by the commonwealth and by the federal government. State aid for vocational training of the secondary grade in agriculture is, moreover, entirely in keeping with state aid for Independent Industrial school work and to some extent bar been provided for. "The slow development of secondary agricultural schools, the testimony of farmers throughout the state, and the demand for the Investigation which was made hy the legislature of

1910 are evidence of the need of additional legislation providing for this kind of agricultural education.”