Furthermore, why not find some way of bringing agriculture into the educative process of the city boy? Would it not be a good idea to establish country branches for city schools, providing for the older boys a winter course of study in the science of agriculture, together with the ordinary academic branches of secondary-school education, followed in the spring by practice in an agricultural training camp? Later on in the season they would go out to work individually or in groups for farmers. (See chapter on "Farm Cadets.") The older of these boys would make admirable assistant teachers and supervisors for the younger group of 14-year-old to 15-year-old boys who would be sent to these camps after schools had closed. We cannot much longer avoid the question of bringing agriculture to the city boy or, rather, taking the city boy to agriculture; and the past summer's experience with city boys working on farms brought forcibly to our attention the advantages of a closer relationship between city children and country life. Mention has been made of the modification in 1917 of the school-attendance law of New York State. Three sections of the act by which these modifications were made are quoted in full, as they represent legislative action as well as discretionary powers of the state educational official. SECTION 1. The provisions of Art. XXIII of the education law, relative to the compulsory education of children, may, in the discretion of the Commissioner of Education, be suspended for the period between the first day of April and the first day of November of each year, or any portion thereof, during the time that this act shall remain in effect, for the purpose of aiding and performing labor in the cultivation, production, and care of food products upon farms and gardens within the state. Such suspension shall be subject to such conditions, restrictions, and limitations as may be imposed by the Commissioner of Education, and shall be subject to rules and regulations to be prescribed by him. In case of such suspension, provision shall be made for the welfare and protection of the children affected thereby, and during the period of such suspension and while engaged in such work, they shall be under the supervision and direction of the school authorities of the city or district in which they reside....