An inexpensive swing may be constructed by placing four 4 x 4's in the ground in a slanting position, two being opposite each other and meeting at the top in such a way as to form a fork. The pairs may be ten or twelve feet apart, and a pole or heavy galvanized pipe, to which swings may be attached, wired, nailed, or bolted to the crotches formed by the pieces placed in the ground. The cost of this apparatus will be: Four pieces, 4" x 4", 14 ft. long, $1.25, one piece galvanized pipe, 3", 12 ft. long, $2.50. Boards of education could well afford to purchase one or more basketballs, and a few baseballs and bats for the boys. These things more than pay for themselves in the added interest which boys and girls who have them take in the school. For much of the apparatus suggested above the wide-awake board of education and teacher will see opportunities to use material less expensive than that suggested. And to such persons many pieces of apparatus not specified here will suggest themselves to fit particular needs and opportunities. GENERAL INSTRUCTION IN AGRICULTURE A great fault with the district schools has been an inclination to think that anything close at hand is too mean and common to be considered as subject matter for instruction. The thought has usually been that the school would prepare the learner for some brilliant calling away off where things are better and life is easier and more beautiful. As a result, the country schools have been educating boys and girls away from the farm. The new method is that of educating them to appreciate what is under their feet and all around them, through an intimate knowledge of the processes of nature and industry as carried on in their midst. [Illustration: PLATE XIV. FIG. 16.--Using the Babcock milk-tester in a New York school.] One of the more direct means of educating the boys and girls for a happy, contented life on the farm is to teach them while young the rudiments of agriculture. This method is now actually being put into practice in thousands of the rural schools. The state of Kansas recently enacted a law requiring all candidates for teachers' certificates to pass a test in the elements of agriculture and also requiring that the rudiments of this subject be taught in every district school. Other states have similar laws. As a result of this and like provisions, there is now a tremendous awakening in the direction named. The boys and girls in the country schools are finding new meaning and a new interest in the fields and farms upon which they are growing up.