Few, if any, of us knew very much of the experience, in this direction, of England, France, and Germany. To be sure, we had heard that France had attempted in a large way to use children at farm labor, but had given it up and had replaced them with old men, women, and partially crippled returned soldiers; and we knew that with the alarm of the scarcity of labor and the diminishing number of the world's acres under cultivation England and Germany had called upon women and boys below military age to help meet the needs of the situation. But we in America did not realize, to quote Dewey again, "that we could enlist the school children in this work in such a manner that they could serve with results as beneficial to themselves as to the nation." Before considering in some detail the idea of using agricultural labor of children in America (and it is a subject worthy of elaboration, for even if the war closes to-morrow, we shall be short of farm labor for many years--perhaps always), let us see what England and Germany have done to utilize school children for farm work. In England many of the boys of 14 to 16 in the public schools have volunteered for vacation and holiday agricultural work in hoeing, planting, and harvesting; some of this was gratuitous labor, these boys coming from the prosperous classes and therefore being able to give their services. In July, 1916, the Education Board published a report showing the number of children excused from attendance at school for the purpose of agricultural employment in England and Wales on May 31, 1916. The total number so excused was 15,753, of which number 546 were between the ages of 11 and 12; 8018 between 12 and 13; 5521 between 13 and 14, and of the remaining 1668 cases the ages were between 12 and 14. Figures quoted relate solely to agricultural employment and do not show the full extent of withdrawals from school. They also relate to withdrawals of children who are not qualified for total exemption under the law. The report also states that "the board has no information as to the number of children who have been excused from school attendance for purposes of industrial employment or employment other than agriculture." Early in 1917 several of the county education committees formulated plans for using the labor of children who were to be excused only for holidays, special periods, and part times, the general sentiment being, even in the emergency, that no more children must be permanently excused for agricultural or industrial employment. These schemes are worthy of attention as endeavors to retain children in school, at the same time modifying the arrangement of the educational requirements to allow them to perform farm and garden work.