304 REPORT or OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



* 



stiulonts, \vli(» will eventually bocoino toaohors in the I'lihlic schools of tho rity. 

 IMaiis bave Ikhmi made for the enlargement of this work, giving an opimrtunity 

 for more extensive priictice l>y the scholars in the minor grades, especially in 

 the direction of planting the ordinary agricultural croi)s and correlating this 

 work with the class-room studies. It is planned to give the school children 

 opportunities to familiarize themselves not only with the methods of growing 

 eonnnon farm and garden crops, hut also to secure knowledge as to the impor- 

 tance and value of these crops to the country. I'lat plantings are to be made, 

 the plats themselves representing specifically the areas in acres devoted to com- 

 mon agricultural crops. The children will secure this information from reports 

 and pulilications which are available, and will utilize it in connection with their 

 plantings. The calculation of the amount of land to be d«'V()t(>d to c<'rtain croi)s 

 will be correlated witli work in arithmetic; studies in geograjiliy and other 

 f^imilar lines will also be correlated with the garden plantings. In addition, 

 conunon systems of crop rotations, as practiced in various parts of the coinitry, 

 will lie illustrated and practiced. 



The total mimber of publications issued by the Department in 1005 

 was 1,072. Of these, 476 were original, comprising 20,502 pages of 

 matter. The number of copies of i)iiblications issued during the year 

 aggregated 12,475,157. The Department editor reports a very rapid 

 increase in the demands for these publications from educational 

 institutions. 



EDUCATIONAL WORK OF THE OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 

 RELATION TO AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS. 



During the past year the Office of Experiment Stations has con- 

 tinued to follow and record the progress of agricultural education 

 throughout the United States. In order to do this more effectively 

 a department of agricultural education has been established in the 

 Experiment Station Record beginning with Volume XVII, in which 

 abstracts of important text-books, manuals, and other publications 

 relating to this subject will be published monthly, together with notes 

 on the agricultural colleges and schools in this and other countries. 

 During the past year the Office has published a circular on the Teach- 

 ing of Agriculture in the Rural Common Schools, and a leaflet giving 

 a list of the educational publicati(ms of the Office, both of which have 

 been widely distributed ; it has revised and reprinted its abridged list 

 of books and bulletins on nature study, school gardening, and ele- 

 mentary agriculture suitable for common schools ; prepared an article 

 on Boys' Agricultural Clubs for the Yearbook of the Department, 

 and one on the American System of Agricultural Education for the 

 International Congress of Agricultural Education at Liege, Belgium ; 

 published in its annual report a review of progress in agricultural 

 education for 1904, and an article on the county schools of agriculture 

 in Wisconsin; and gathered data for a publication describing and 

 illustrating apparatus and illustrative material available for use in 



