USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Harwich > Town annual reports of the selectmen and overseers of the poor of the town of Harwich 1912 > Part 5
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I have a feeling that under fairly good conditions that an 8th grade system before the High is adequate preparation. With the entrance age six years, the admission age to High School will be fourteen. This is preferable, it seems to me, to a nine-grade system with children entering at five. Mel- rose has just adopted the eight-grade plan.
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Teachers.
Resignations and appointments for the year follow : RESIGNATIONS. SCHOOL.
APPOINTMENTS.
Cora B. Lewis
Centre Primary
Mildred Pattison
Henrietta M. Simpson
Centre Intermediate
Evangeline E. Calkin
Esther J. Moore
Port Primary
Mildred Stetson
M. Gertrude Lane Georgie B. Collins
East Grammar
Bertha C. McCoy Marion Crawford
Alice L. Collins
West Primary
· Florence I. Bowker
Jennie B. Smith
North Grammar
Maude E. Nichols
Ingrid E. Ekman
Music and Drawing
Lotta M. Murray
Instructor of Agricul- ture
David Elder
Of the fifteen teachers employed by the Town eight are normal graduates; three are college graduates; three have taken special preparations in training and normal schools, and one only without special training but with experience.
General Expenditures.
Again the School Committee is able to report a balance of $290 to be returned to the town treasury. In addition to the regular expenses approximately $500 has been laid out on the Grammar and High School buildings at the centre, a much needed outlay. There has been a general cleaning and brightening up with paint, varnish and oil of the buildings. Extra expense has been necessitated to equip and furnish the new committee office. The larger expenditures-salaries, fuel, transportation, remain as in previous years upon a very economical financial basis for the town.
West Grammar
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Music and Drawing.
Miss Lotta M. Murray, graduate of Thomas Normal Training School, Detroit, Mich., with experience both as teacher and supervisor, was appointed by the District as Supervisor of Music and Drawing. She manifests great in- terest and ability and the work is progressing with general satisfaction.
Agriculture.
A Department in Harwich High School was established last April. A $1,500 appropriation was voted unanimously by the town. At that time we planned upon $1,200 for salary, and $300 for equipment.
David Elder, Patersonville, N. Y., a graduate of the Agricultural College of Cornell University, was appointed, after some delay, to take up the work at a salary of $1,400. The appointment is proving a most happy and profitable one. Mr. Elder is invaluable in the work which has fallen upon him.
Agricultural Financial Statement.
Appropriation,
$1,500.00
Expenditures.
Salary, Equipment and Supplies,
$1,049.94 320.33
$1,370.27
Unexpended,
$129.73
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Assets.
Received tuition from Chatham,
$100.00
Received tuition from Brewster,
55.55
Received tuition from Truro,
22.22
Due from State,
611.07
$788.84
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Total assets, $918.57
Net Cost of Agricultural Department.
Appropriation $1,500 less $918.57 (income) $581.43.
On August 14, 1912, the State Board of Education passed the following vote :---
"That the Board of Education give preliminary approval to the plans of the Harwich School Committee for operation of the Agricultural Department in the Harwich High School for the year 1911-12, as submitted in memoranda on file in the office of the Board; and that the Commissioner be in- structed to notify the said School Committee that if these plans be carried out as submitted, the work of the depart- ment for the year will be given final approval, and the Town of Harwich be recommended for reimbursement, under the provisions of Chapter 471, Acts of 1911."
November 2, 1912, the State Board passed the following vote :
"That a tuition rate of $100 per year be fixed for non- resident pupils in the Agricultural Department of Harwich High School."
The School Committee of Harwich has carried out the plans of the Department as presented. The Department has
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received final approval and the town has been recommended for reimbursement.
Tuitions of non-resident pupils have been paid in full, up to the close of the State Fiscal Year, November 30, as shown in the foregoing financial statement.
"Neglecting to train our farmers means as basic and certain destruction of our national resources and reduction of national prosperity as the demolition of every forest."
Agricultural interest on the Cape is booming. There is great promise for Harwich Agricultural Department. With state approval and support, and with the interest of the federal government manifested of late toward our work, there should be little further hesitation that the school has been placed in a section of country of considerable promise.
Surrounding towns are showing a deep interest by send- ing pupils. Superintendents are discussing its merits in their reports.
On account of non-resident tuitions it is probable that the net expense to Harwich will be less the coming year rather than more. The detailed recital of what has been done and the plans for the present and coming year is to be found in Mr. Elder's report, following this one.
I am sure that voters will feel when they consider the small net cost and the great possibilities of enhancing the value of Cape Cod soil and making Cape Cod a better place to live in, that their confidence in this undertaking has not been misplaced.
The Agricultural Fair.
Great credit is due the Harwich Agricultural Fair man- agement for the two years of highly successful endeavor. On account of it a decided interest has been aroused in garden-
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ing and fruit growing; a wholesome spirit of rivalry and competition is in evidence; it brings together the people and the children from every quarter, meeting face to face and bumping elbows for two days-the true spirit of democracy.
Premium lists are being prepared by the State College, the County Fair Association, and a suggestive list for the approval of local associations. Special interest, probably, will be placed upon Children's exhibits. Children may exhibit at Barnstable, at Harwich, and then forward results to the State College, and they may receive recognition from all three associations. These premium lists will be ready for distribution soon. This matter will be taken up with the Elementary schools that pupils may enter the work at the outset.
I wish to call attention and urge a careful perusal and reading of the accompanying statistics and attendance data ; also of the report of the Principal of the High School, the report of the Supervisor of Music and Drawing, and the report of the Instructor of Agriculture.
Respectfully,
LORING G. WILLIAMS.
Harwich, Jan. 5, 1913.
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HIGH SCHOOL REPORT.
To Supt. L. G. Williams, Harwich, Mass. :
I herewith submit my third annual report of the High School.
Up to the closing of school by order of the Board of Health, the amount of work done compared very favorably with that done in previous years. Our curriculum, re-ar- ranged during the summer vacation, now includes the agri- cultural course instead of the old English course. The new department really includes nearly all the subjects offered in the older one. With a few minor exceptions, the Classical and Scientific courses remain the same. The present arrangement necessitates three alterations; first and second years history, third and fourth years Latin, and third and fourth years science. These groupings offer no serious problems except in the case of the chemistry class. In a previous report I stated that we were cramped for laboratory room. This is particularly noticeable this year. A class numbering twenty is forced to work in a space better adapted to eight or ten. Under such conditions it is difficult to insure the doing of the desired amount of individual work. Our laboratory equip- ment is gradually increasing.
The colleges and normal schools throughout the coun- try have raised their respective standards of entrance re- quirements until at the present day they are both demanding work of the High Schools corresponding in amount and in- tensity to much of the work done in the smaller colleges a few years ago. In order to meet these requirements careful preparation and training of the student from the very first grade until his graduation from High School is necessary. It does not seem to me that, following the present courses of study, eight grades can thoroughly fit the average boy or
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girl for High School work. I believe that a Ninth Grade in the Grammar School or else a five year High School course is desirable. Of course this would be possible only with the aid of another teacher. To a great degree the rank of a Town is determined by the quality of it's schools, and a dollar spent in improving them is not wasted, but well invested. It should not be our aim to see how young we can graduate our students, but how efficient, and an added year in the elemen- tary grades is more than made up for in efficiency.
In my report I have not touched upon the work done by the agricultural department knowing that Mr. Elder would present the facts in a much clearer way. I do feel. however, that I should say a few words in its behalf. I feel just as strongly in favor of this new work as I did when it was established and I believe that there are great possibili- ties in it. Its work cannot be fairly judged nor its destiny predicted by the results of one short year and it should be continued to its ultimate success.
Respectfully submitted,
JAMES L. JORDAN,
Principal.
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REPORT OF THE SUPERVISOR OF MUSIC.
Mr. Loring G. Williams,
District Superintendent of Schools.
It gives me pleasure to present the report of Music in the public schools of Chatham, Harwich, Orleans, and Eastham.
Music is taught in the public schools to inspire a love of good music, to develop a musical voice, to teach sight singing and to induce musical interpretation, thereby arous- ing and cultivating the child's aesthetic nature and creating in him a love for the good. the true, and the beautiful. While the child is living in his senses we must take advantage of his love for simple music to induce him to master those elements of notation which will enable him to extend his study into wider and wider fields and to acquire elements of power which will continue to develop during his whole life.
His ear must be trained not simply to hear but to discriminate. His mind should be trained not only to receive impressions, but also to create and express, that the creations of his own brain may find a place among the thoughts of other men.
"It is generally held that music is in the school not alone for what music can contribute to the school, but also for what the school can contribute to the artistic life and thoughts of our people. In the musical knowledge and power gained in school, lies the germ of our artistic future, as well as an element of safety amid the distractions of social strife.
"It is also generally held that intelligence is the corner- stone on which our government rests, and that the hope of the nation lies in its public schools, that from them shall emerge our future national life and character, and that the stability of our institutions is directly dependent upon the
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number of self-respecting, self-controlled and resourceful in- dividuals whom the schools produce. When, therefore, we reflect upon the fact that nine-tenths of all the crime com- mitted is the result of ill-spent leisure, and that nearly all of our poverty is due to the lack of personal resource, it must be admitted that a study which affords innocent amusement for leisure moments and at the same time arouses and culti- vates those faculties upon which creative, original and in- dependent action is based, cannot be safely disregarded by those who have our national welfare at heart."
It is with these thoughts in mind that our course has been planned. It aims to call into activity every power of the mind, from imitation, memory, imagination, observation and spontaneity brought into play by the rote song, to the highest faculties of judgment and discrimination which the artistic interpretation of songs in the upper grades calls forth. The voice work includes exercises for phrasing and control of the breath, while a light, sweet head quality of tone is insisted upon at all times.
Ear training and written dictation make the lesson a matter of individual interest as well as being excellent class exercises.
Sight reading and the formal study of music is led to gradually from the beginning until the third year when it becomes an important and established part of the work, suitable each succeeding year to the growing power of the pupil.
A wide range of song subjects and the representation of all forms of music, lead to a broad musical development.
It is intended that this work shall bring pleasure to pupil and teacher, not only in the recitation, but in the conscious- ness of growing power, of higher appreciation and of purer enjoyment.
Respectfully,
LOTTA M. MURRAY.
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REPORT OF THE SUPERVISOR OF ART.
Mr. Loring G. Williams,
Superintendent of Schools.
It gives me pleasure to present the report of Art in the public schools of Chatham, Harwich, Orleans, and Eastham for the school year of 1912-1913.
"Art is an expression of life. Art in its fullness expresses all of life-all of its activities, all of its ideals."
There are certain principles that govern in all Art, as there are principles that underlie all literature, and these principles may be thoroughly and simply taught.
Just as the language course is graded so that the pupil passes gradually from simple to complex work, so the course in drawing is planned to meet the successive needs of the growing mind.
In the primary grades the pupil is encouraged to express his thoughts freely by means of brush, crayon or pencil, while at the same time he is given standards that constantly stimu- late his efforts to improve his own work.
As he progresses, he learns why certain colors and forms properly combined produce beauty. He is aided to deduct these truths from his own experience, and he is taught to apply them in his own work.
By studying examples of work accepted as standard, the pupil becomes able to criticise and correct his own work. He finds that a beautiful drawing or design is the result of conscious thought and effort.
The process of development is to lead the pupil first to observe, then to express his ideas by drawing, and finally to create. Under the head of creative work, the pupil studies objects and drawings for ideas ; he may study a flower, or a window, or a chair, and by observation and his power of
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expression he is enabled to create a drawing or a design based on the result of such study.
Art education in the public schools cultivates the power to think and see, establishes habits of care and accuracy, develops power in graphic and manual expression, and stim- ulates creative imagination.
The course is designed to teach basic principles thor- oughly; to encourage the individuality of the child and his natural love for the beautiful; to cultivate his power of ex- pression; to emphasize industry and art as a part of the child's social environment and so develop his creative powers along industrial and artistic lines; and to stimulate the growth of the child's mind through his self-activities.
Respectfully,
LOTTA M. MURRAY.
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REPORT OF INSTRUCTOR OF AGRICULTURE.
Superintendent L. G. Williams, Harwich, Mass. :
Sir :- I have the honor to transmit herewith my first annual report of the Agricultural Department of the Har- wich High School, covering the period of April 1st to Decem- ber 31st, 1912.
Contents.
1. Buildings and equipment.
2. · Teaching.
Text book work, project study and home project work.
3. Investigations.
Methods. Soil.
Climate.
Crops.
Cranberries. decrease in production, causes, cranberry survey.
Other small fruits, strawberries, grapes, rasp- berries, etc.
Tree fruits, peaches, plums, cherries, apples and pears. Truck crops.
Other farm crops. Poultry. Dairying. Barnstable County Survey. Markets.
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4. Demonstration and field work.
Direct advice to farmers. Co-operation with U. S. Department of Agriculture. Demonstration work, plans for 1913. Boys' potato clubs.
Fair contests for grade schools.
Building and Equipment.
During the first term classroom work was held in the northeast room in the rear of the Exchange, which is now occupied by the school committee and superintendent. At the beginning of the present term we moved to permanent quarters in the old town office building. The room is large, well lighted and well suited to our present needs. It has been equipped with chairs, a large recitation table and a small laboratory table. The walls and floor have been painted and the lawn ploughed and re-seeded. A larger laboratory table should be placed along the southwest side of the room and a sink should also be provided. We have purchased apparatus for laboratory work with soils and fer- tilizers and a set of sieves for mechanical analysis of soils.
Teaching.
We have had a total enrollment of 17 pupils distributed by towns as follows: Harwich 11, Chatham 2, Orleans 2, Brewster 1, and Truro 1.
In our text book work the topics covered include the following: The nature, scope and importance of agriculture as an industry and as a science; the relation of the farmer to the community and to his environment; the improvement of plants and animals including the principles of breeding, heredity and selection as illustrated in the breeding of cattle,
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poultry, corn, potatoes, asparagus and fruit; the propaga- tion of plants, including a brief study of grafting, budding, cuttings, layers, seed germination and tests; plant food, its composition and sources; soils, their origin, composition, formation, physical and chemical properties, relation to air, water, bacteria and plant food; causes of decreased pro- ductivity ; means of improvement including a brief study of tillage, drainage, irrigation, increase of humus, use of lime and commercial fertilizers.
During the present term we will take some text book work on poultry and small fruit, more on soils and include consider- able laboratory work on soils and fertilizers, and wire bas- ket tests for fertilizer requirements of soils from pupils' home farms.
Each pupil has made a study of home gardening and has had an opportunity to put his knowledge into practice on his own garden. The study has included such topics as prepara- tion of the land, measuring, fertilizing, choice of varieties, planting, cultivation, control of insects and diseases.
Each pupil who was registered during the first term made a home garden, harvested and marketed the products or used them at home. Accounts were kept of all receipts and expenses. The expenses included cost of seeds, manure, supplies, rent of land, and man and horse labor, whether actually paid out or obtained free of charge.
A brief summary of their accounts for the summer is submitted :
Highest Lowest Average
Area cultivated,
1 acre
.05 A
.42 A
Total receipts,
100.00
2.90
34.09
Expenses except his own labor,
8.90
2.00
7.49
Profit above expenses except his own labor,
91.10
.90
26.60
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Value of his own labor,
28.40
3.00
12.10
Loss
Net profit above all expenses,
75.00
5.26
14.50
Value of work outside of project for project period,
140.00
.0
48.72
Total value of all work for project
period,
175.03
.90
63.22
Nearly all the boys were handicapped by a lack of horse- power and tools. This deficiency is a vital one and is evident with many Cape farmers. Ordinarily it is scarcely any more profitable to raise farm products by hand than to make shoes by hand. When we consider that several of the boys never made a garden before and did all the work except plowing. . and harrowing by hand, their financial showing is excellent. The fact that they can pay expenses with hand labor is pretty good evidence that they could do a very profitable business when properly equipped and more experienced. The boys are convinced of the value of horse work and thorough culti- vation and will use more horses and better equipment next year.
Investigation Work.
During the past year, I have visited at my own expense the state experiment stations of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Jersey, in the interests of Cape Cod agriculture. Also the Massachusetts state cranberry experimental bog at Wareham. I have also consulted a large number of Cape Cod farmers, fruit growers, cranberry growers, and others who have been doing successful farming on Cape Cod and similar soils in other states. After considerable correspondence and after reading considerable literature on sandy soil farming in other states, we are in a position to make a tentative answer to the question which is in the minds of many, "Is there an
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opportunity to build up a profitable type of upland farming on the lower Cape, and to make improvements upon the pres- ent condition of the cranberry industry ?"
Soil.
The soil of the lower Cape varies all the way from coarse beach sand to a fine sandy loam. Most of it is similar to the type which the U. S. Bureau of Soils classifies as Norfolk Sand, described in Circular 44 of the Bureau of Soils, from which I quote: "The Norfolk sand is the most widely distributed sand soil in the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains region. The Norfolk sand has been encountered in 55 areas in 12 different states and has been mapped in these areas by the Bureau of Soils to the extent of 2,542,412 acres. If com- plete soil surveys had been made of the entire coastal section, it would doubtless be found that the Norfolk sand occupies an area of between 17,000,000 and 20,000,000 acres. The Norfolk sand stands preeminent among all of the soils of the northern Atlantic Coastal Plain for the production of extra early truck crops. As a result the Norfolk sand may be characterized as the most valuable of the early trucking soils from. New Jersey to the southern limit of North Caro- lina. . . Among the truck crops; the extra early aspara- gus is probably the best suited of any to the Norfolk sand and is the most profitable. It is also the chosen soil for the production of sweet potatoes, watermelons, cantaloupes, and the extra early Irish potatoes in all of the North Atlantic and Middle Atlantic trucking regions. It is fairly well suited to the production of extra early peas and beans. Tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, lettuce, and a few minor trucking crops are also raised to a limited degree. . . For box shipments of peaches in small sized carriers, the Norfolk sand probably excels any other soil of the North Atlantic Coastal region.
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The life of the trees is usually short, but the quality and color of the fruit are exceptionally fine. . Where trans- portation to northern markets is available, the price of the Norfolk sand has risen to $150 or even $250 an acre where used for trucking."
Professor R. L. Watts in the latest and best book on vegetable gardening says of sandy soils : "The soils of the most important trucking regions of the United States contain considerable sand. The advantages of sand in soils for vegetables may be enumerated as follows: (1) The land warms up earlier in the spring and maintains a higher tem- perature than heavy soils do; (2) fertilizers act more quickly ; (3) tillage may begin earlier in the spring and con- tinue later in the fall; (4) tillage is less expensive ; (5) tillage may begin sooner after rains; (6) transplanting is facili- tated; (7) the harvesting of many crops is facilitated; (8) soils do not become so hard and compact when harvesting crops, especially when the ground is wet; (9) sand lends itself to irrigation because the water is quickly absorbed : (10) the root crops are smoother, better formed and have fewer fibrous roots; (11) many crops require less work in cleaning and preparing for market." Other advantages that might be added are : They have good natural drainage, they are quite free from stones and are easily and cheaply cleared.
The land is level or rolling and well adapted to the use of modern labor saving machinery in most of the lower Cape. Sandy soils have some disadvantages. They do not hold moisture in dry weather as well as loams but stand dry weather fully as well as very heavy soils. They require lib- eral manuring and fertilizing, and under poor system of man- agement are quickly "run out." It should be remembered however that for trucking and fruit growing the fertilizers
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and manures are less expensive than labor and the labor saved in tillage will probably more than make up for the extra expense for maintaining fertility.
Climate.
The climate of Cape Cod is ideal for almost any line of farming. In the hottest spells of summer it is 10 to 15 de- grees cooler than inland, and the heavy fogs protect animals and crops from the hot sun. This provides ideal conditions · for poultry. Chickens suffer more from the hot sun in sum- mer than from cold in winter. In winter the thermometer rarely goes below zero, and the extremes of temperature are avoided at all times. Weather records at Hyannis for the last ten year period of 1902 to 1911 are summarized on next page
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