The importance of the vocational element in education "^as come to be generally recognized. In response to popular demand guided by professional advice, state and national K governments are back of this new educational development. J-^E ducators are urging its wider adoption and its more intimate application to the environment of the child. If vocational courses are properly adapted to community needs, U5 their educative value is not only highly utilitarian but is 2 also mentally disciplinary in the best sense of that phrase, o The most widespread and most pronounced demand for vocational education is in our rural schools. Here the call J^i s for the teaching of the principles of agriculture. Farming as a vocation is subject to the same high requirements of present-day efiSciency as are other vocations. This is >", necessary economically so that we may be able to meet ;/ world competition. It is necessary socially so that eacĥ may produce the materials of food and clothing to the }g greatest capacity of his farm. Agriculture is not hapo hazard farming. It is a science whose principles must be 3 mastered before they can be intelligently applied. The place to begin that mastery is in our rural schools. Even the teacher with little technical knowledge of the subject and with limited experience can direct her pupils into the ways of understanding if she is provided with a proper textbook. This book should deal with fundamental principles in a simple and an interesting way. Thus it 3 234G12 4 PREFACE serves as a safe guide to the teacher; and to the pupils it is an inspiration to experiment, to inquire of practical farmers, and to read and study further. Fortunately an abundance of supplemental reading matter is readily obtainable from the Department of Agriculture, at Washington, D. C, and State Experiment Stations. A notable demonstration of the value of the study of agriculture in the rural school course may be cited from the experience of one of the northwestern states. This state passed a law requiring that elementary agriculture be taught in the rural schools. The law had been in force for a period of ten years, so that the boys and girls who had had this instruction were then the men and women managing or working on the farms of the state. The results of this instruction are reflected by the statistics furnished by the United States Government. During this decade the state raised more flax to the acre than any other state. It stood first in the yield to the acre of oats, barley, spring wheat, and sugar beets. It stood second in acre yield in potatoes, exceeded only by a state using many tons of commercial fertilizer. It stood fifth in acre yield of com, being exceeded only by the highest yielding state by 2.5 bushels. Such a record over a ten-year period can be explained in no other way than through the influence of the instruction given in agriculture in the rural schools of the state. Other states have adopted similar laws, and through the influence of the Federal Government and the demand for greater efficie...

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