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 Rural school agriculture; the Boys' and g 
 
 3 1924 001 182 488 
 
TUniversity Bulletin. Series 4, Number 22, 
 
 RURAL SCHOOL AGRICULTURE 
 
 The Boys' and Girls' Experiment Club and the 
 Agricultural Student Union of Ohio 
 
 ...by.. 
 
 THOMAS F. HUNT 
 
 f.H, 
 Dean of the College of Agriculture and Domestic S.ci^nce i 
 
 Ohio State University f . 
 
 1903 ^ :• 
 
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 Map Showing Location of Tests in the Division of Soils and 
 
 the Division of Agriculture of the ©hio Student 
 
 Union, June 22, 1903. 
 
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 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924001182488 
 
The Agricultural Student Union of Ohio 
 
 Some ten years ago, a number of earnest and de- 
 voted students and ex-students of the Department of 
 Agriculture of the Ohio State University formed the Ag- 
 riculture Student Union of Ohio, having obtained their 
 inspiration from a similar and very successful organi- 
 zation at the Ontario Agricultural College, Canada. 
 The purpose of this organiization is, briefly, to conduct 
 co-operative experiments and to promote the cause of 
 agricultural education in Ohio. While the Union is 
 under the control of the students, ex-students and of- 
 ficers of the Ohio State University and the officers of 
 the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, there is 
 nothing in its rules to prevent others from taking part 
 in the work and promoting the objects of the Union. 
 As 'a matter of fact, a larger part of those- who have 
 assisted in conducting cooperative experiments have 
 been persons never in any way connected with the 
 University. 
 
 With a small appropriation from the Ohio Agri- 
 cultural Experiment Station and from the Ohio State 
 University, never aggregating in a single year moTe 
 than iour hundred dollars, and usually less, the Union 
 has quietly grown, in influence and usefulness with the 
 growth'-'ofithe College of Agriculture of the Ohio State 
 University. The Union is now divided into six divis- 
 ions — agriculture, horticulture, dairying, apiculture, ! 
 soils and economic botany — and if means permitted, | 
 would add at once a seventh — extension work. The 1 
 two divisions of agriculture and soils have at the pres- i 
 ent time eight hundred tests in progress. The map on ■ 
 page 2, shows the location by counties of 698 of these 
 tests. 
 
 Something of the nature of the work of the Union 
 is indicated by the list of experiments offered by the 
 Division of Agriculture: 
 
 LIST OF EXPERIMENTS 
 
 (1) Testing four varieties of oats. (2) Testing four va- 
 rieties of corn. (3) Testing four varieties of wheat. (4) Test- 
 ing spring 'barley and hulless harley. (5) Testing cow peas 
 and soy beans — two varieties each, the influence of inoculated 
 soil on soy beans. (6) Testing sugar beets and mangels for 
 stock feeding. (7) Testing alfalfa and the influence of inocula- 
 ted soil and of fertilizers. (8) Testing three varieties of clover. 
 (9) Testing three varieties of grasses. (10) Testing three va- 
 rieties of sorghum. <11) Testing two varieties each cow peas 
 and soy 'beans. (12) Testing corn, sorghum, soy beans and cow 
 
peas. (13) Testing field peas and spring vetch. (14^ Test- 
 ing Dwarf Essex rape and Victoria rape. (15) J^^^'jj'f ^°^ 
 -two, three and four stalks per hill, and in drills. 16) Com- 
 parison of shallow with deep cultivation of corn. (17) les^- 
 ing fertilizers with various grains. (18) Detenninmg the cost 
 of ibeef, pork or mutton on feed and pasture. (19) Plant Breea- 
 ing. (20) Rain gauges. Materials for any one of these tests, 
 will be sent free to any citizen of Ohio who will report the 
 results. . !,,_,._ 
 
 Boys', and Girls' Experiment Club 
 
 Early in January of this year, 1903, the Dean of 
 the College of Agriculture and Domestic Science of the 
 Ohio State University received a letter from Professor 
 A. B. Graham, Superintendent of the Springfield Town- 
 ship Schools, Clark County, Ohio, inquiring what as- 
 sistance could be rendered by the University an organi- 
 
 Sacks of seed corn (1) Clarage, (2) Reid's Yellow Dent, (3) 
 Boone County White, (4) Riley's Favorite, just before b«ing 
 distributed to boys of Boys' and Girls' Experiment Club, Spring- 
 field Township Schools, 'Clark County, Ohio, May 6th and 7th.* 
 
 zing a Boys' and Girls' Experiment Club among the 
 pupils of his rural schools.** This letter was at once re- 
 ferred to the Director of the Division of Agriculture of 
 the Agricultural Student Union, Mr. L. H. Goddard, 
 Washington C..H., Ohio, with the request that all the 
 resources of the Union be placed at the disposal of 
 
 *A11 photographs used in this circular were taken by Mr. Jos. 
 H. Hartman, Springfield, Ohio. 
 
 **The first club was organized in January, 1902, but no outside 
 help was sought. 
 
 4 
 
Superintendent Graham in the organization of such a 
 club. 
 
 This resulted in the organization of a class of 
 eighty-five, which has taken up what is known to the 
 Union as test No. 2. This is the test of four selected 
 varieties of corn. Mr. Goddard writing about this 
 work says: "I hope to have them take up other work 
 also this year, such as collecting samples of weed seeds, 
 etc. Next year, they will, I hope, take up more diffi- 
 cult work. In fact I am trying to plan a special set of 
 graded experiments for this very purpose and am hop- 
 ing that in the end, we may have a few come through 
 equal to the task of undertaking very difficult and deli- 
 
 Corn plots of Charles and Roy Kohl of the Boys' and Girls' Experi- 
 ment Club, Springfield Township Schools, Clark County, Ohio. 
 They were members of the club organized in January, 1902. 
 
 cate work. We are planning to hold a corn exhibit there 
 next winter at which there will be prizes for in- 
 dividuals and also for schools. At this meeting we 
 shall hope to have the assistance of some of the faculty 
 of the Ohio State University." 
 
 Concerning the work of the Club, Superintendent 
 Graham writes (June 20th) in part as follows: 
 
 If what our boys and girls are doing in agricultural work 
 will prove helpful to others, I shall with pleasure tell you some- 
 thing about their work. 
 
For some time I have had some knowledge of what, has been 
 done for the young people of New York state under the direction 
 of Professor Bailey, of Cornell. After some correspondence witn 
 him he sent me a large number of Junior Naturalist leaflets 
 Farmers' and Housewife Club bulletins. Something ot narare 
 work has been done for ten years in country schools with wnicn 
 I :have been connected, and it seemed to me that Prof, bailey 
 is giving such work as would do our children and parents the, 
 most good along the way of becoming acquainted witii 
 their -natural surroundings. Professor Bailey informed me 
 through an under professor that the law of New York would not 
 permit tlxem to furnish us the instruction and leaflets but we 
 were assured that if we organized a Junior Naturalist Club .it 
 
 Garden of Emma and Jessie Swaidner of Boys' and Girls' Experi- 
 ment 'Club, Springfield Township Schools Clark County, Ohio. 
 They were members of the club organized in January, 1902. 
 
 would ibe cared for and the exjjense would 'be defrayed from the 
 pockets of the professor in charge. The offer was declined be- 
 cause professors in a State University of practically a neighbor- 
 ing state should not defray the expense of conducting such work 
 for which the state of Ohio or the people of our township should 
 pay. 
 
 In 1897, there worked with me in Mad Iliver Tp., Champaign 
 Co., a teacher, A. C. Neff_ who was able to have his pupils do 
 some manual work with to'ols. This work was successful and I 
 had about decided to take up this work in Springfield Tp. with a 
 
lew who are aWe to conduct it. But I still believed that some-i 
 thing of agriculture was the natural manual work for boys and 
 girls of the rural districts. Something was known about school 
 garden work for boys in Illinois. 
 
 The Secretary of Agriculture was written to for information 
 on the use of School Gardens for rural schools. He called my 
 alitention to three or four counties in Illinois where work is 
 being done at schools by boys under the direction of the Dean 
 of the College of Agriculture of Illinois. Inquiry was made 
 of you, some time the last of January as to what might be done- 
 for our boys; you referred me to L. H. Qoddard, of the Agricul- 
 tural Student Union; he suggested that experimenting with four 
 .varieties of corn — Eeid's Yellow Dent, Riley's Favorite, Clarage 
 
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 and Boone County White — ^would be -very interesting work for 
 boys. 
 
 I thought if 25 boys could be secured our teachers would 'be 
 ■doing well. When the list was completed on the first of March 
 it had eighty-one names, eight of -.whom are boys at the Ohio Ma- 
 sonic Home; there is now in this list the names of four girls. Each 
 sub-district in our township was represented. The most of the 
 teachers showed much interest in the work. 
 
 On the first of May a diagram showing the size of the plots 
 and hills to the row was mimeographed so. that leach pupil could 
 have a copy. On the eleventh of May the small sacks of seed 
 com were received from the Ohio Experiment Station. Each var- 
 iety is shown in the photograph sent you. I drove to each school 
 house where the diagrams, ■suggestion sheet, and seed corn were 
 distributed. Three or four on the original list thought they 
 could not carry out the work as planned. They were not urged 
 to make the effort for more than enough were ready to take 
 their places. 
 
 It is unnecessary to say that parents are interested in this 
 work; it is the manual work for farmers' sons. The fathers and 
 mothers take great pride in showing and talking about the corn 
 plots. One mother so impressed upon her son the necessity for 
 doing this work that he wrote me after declining to do the work 
 when the seed was distributed that if I had one set of the four va- 
 
rieties for him he would escape punishment for having dropped 
 his name from the list without instruction from ^^'^^^^ P^'^j^; 
 This boy is now as proud as can he of his corn, 
 moved from the township between February and May wrote tnat 
 they desired to carry out .the experiments. j„ =o„,f. 
 
 Early in April about twenty girls volunteered to ^o -- 
 independent gardening on a small scale. They raisea rau , 
 
 ^inach, peas, beets, beans and tomatoes from seeds i^^'f'^^Jl 
 the federal government. These gardens are m very good condi- 
 tion and are giving the small children a profitable experience in 
 something they can call theirs. The products from a tew ol 
 
 Some of the membets of the Boys' and Girls' Experiment Club, 
 Springfield Township Schools, Clark County, Ohio, on a visit to 
 the Ohio State University. 
 
 these gardens have already been found on the city market. 
 
 The interest throughout the township is such that this work 
 can be heard of among the parents as well as among the chil- 
 dren. It is especially interesting to them to know that agricul- 
 tural work is looked upon with favor 'by our own university 
 faculty and all well informed persons. To have boys and girls 
 believe and know that agricultural pursuits are looked u;pon with 
 favor elevates such pursuits to their proper plane. The foolish 
 notion "If my son can't be anything else he can be a farmer, or 
 my son doesn't need much more than an elementary education 
 if he is to become a farmer," is passing away. 
 
 The Boys' Experiment Club is now testing the soils for acid 
 
 8 
 
and alkali. This work is under the direction of the soils depart- 
 ment of the Ohio Student Union. Many men not having children 
 in school are becoming interested in this work. A map of this 
 townshij) where acid and alkali soils are found will soon be made. 
 Each school has nearly two hundred volumes in its library; 
 of these at least 20 are on insect life, animals, plants, soils 
 etc. These books are so selected that they provide a graduated 
 course in reading in elementary agriculture. More books in this 
 work will soon be selected. The Ohio Weed Manual is now, in 
 each school. Samples of weed seed will be collected and labeled 
 this 'summer by many of our boys and girls. 
 
 Patterson Graduates Springfield Township, Clark County, Ohio. 
 All but one of the boys are members of Experiment Club, and 
 two of the girls are members of the Garden Club. 
 
 In our Patterson graduating class of this year, all but one 
 of the boys are members of the Experiment Club. Two of the 
 girls are members of the Girls' Garden Club. 
 
 Our excursion to the 0. S. U. was an outgrowth of interest by 
 the children and parents in this agricultural work. Exactly one 
 hundred made up our excursion crowd. They all came home 
 knowing that the State of Ohio is doing more for the farmer in 
 its university than they had any idea of. All are anxious that 
 an annual excursion to the university shall be a part of the clos- 
 ing exercises of our township schools. 
 
 I shall say in closing that as much as possible of the boys' 
 and girls' work will be made a part of the educational exhibit 
 
 9 
 
at our county fair this fall. We hope to make a special exhibit of 
 the boys' corn this fall when a professional scorer may he pres- 
 ent. 
 
 This is a concrete illustration of what may be 
 done in every township in Ohio, provided the township 
 is so fortunate as to possess an energetic and sympathet- 
 ic educational leader like Supt. Graham, and possesses, 
 likewise parents who are determined that the best is 
 none too good for the education of their children. It is 
 hoped that this circular may inspire other township 
 schools to do a similar work. This work is subject to 
 endless modifications and may be adapted to fit al- 
 most any conditions. 
 
 The plan here outlined contains one element 
 which is very important to the success of all forms of 
 extension work, and which has often been overlooked 
 in extension work in agriculture. I refer to local sup- 
 ervision. Much valuable extension work along agri-, 
 cultural lines could be accomplished with proper local 
 supervision; much that has been attempted has been 
 inefficient on account of the lack of it. The work of 
 the Springfield Township Schools points the way to 
 successful local supervision. 
 
 ••f : 
 
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