Excerpt from Soils and Fertilizers, for Public Schools: A Discussion Upon the Nature and Treatment of Soils and the Value of Fertilizers There has been much ob eet'ion to the teaching of Agriculture in our District Schools, because teachers claim they do not have time to take up an additional subject, when they have so many subjects that are already required, and which must be taught. However, in recent years Agriculture has been coming into its own, and is being taught more and more in the schools. Teachers have begun to realize that any subject which holds the interest and attention of the pupils is worthwhile, and that any sub ect which does not hold their attention is not worthy of a place in our already crowded School course. In order to make Agriculture interesting to the pupil, we must base the work upon real practical problems which he can understand and appreciate. To do this is no small task, and it is a thing which demands a great deal of perseverance and initiative, on the part of teachers In such schools. The more ideas which an author attempts to incorporate into a text book, the more complex his text becomes, and the more difficult it is to follow. Therefore, in this text book we have taken' only a few of the most important conditions and have tried to incorporate them in such a manner that they can be used by the average district or graded school. We have tried further to make the book correct - theoretically and practically. The entire text has been written for boys and girls of the country schools, with these two things in mind, and the success which attends its use presupposes a proper presentation of many minor details, which it would be impossible to include under this cover. Many teachers get the idea that the sub ect of Agriculture as taught in our public schools is a Vocational Sub ect. This is' a mistaken idea, and the teachers should above all bear in mind that we are not making better farmers so much as we are making better men and women who are farmers. Naturally the teaching of Agriculture will make better farmers, and will serve to keep more of our boys on the farm. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.