In the
traditional school the study of agriculture consists of the testing of
soils and seeds, working out scientific theories on the subject of the
rotation of crops, testing for food values the various products of the
farm, judging stock, studying the best method of propagating and caring
for orchards, and testing for the most economic processes for conserving
and marketing crops. In the vitalized school all this is done, but this
is not the ultimate goal of the study. The end is not reached until all
these ramifications have touched life.
=The child as the objective.=--Reverting once more to the little girl of
the picture, it will be conceded, upon careful consideration, that she
is the center and focus of all the activities of mind and hand
pertaining to agriculture. Every furrow that is plowed is plowed for
her; every tree that is planted is planted for her; every crop that is
harvested is harvested for her; and every trainload of grain is moving
toward her as its destination. But for her, farm machinery would be
silent, orchards would decay, trains would cease to move, and commerce
would be no more. She it is that causes the wheels to turn, the
harvesters to go forth to the fields, the experiment stations to be
equipped and operated, the markets to throb with activity, and the ships
of commerce to ply the ocean. For her the orchard, the granary, the
dairy, and the loom give of their stores, and a million willing hands
till, and toil, and spin.
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