PROMOTION OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 49 



p,600,000 to the University of Illinois, $1,283,900 to the University 

 of Minnesota, $985,000 to the Kansas Agricultural College, and 

 $681,500 to the Oregon college. 



The number of secondary schools reporting students in agricul- 

 ture increat-ed from 630 in 1910 to about 2,000 in 1911 and the 

 number of State-aided courses in agriculture m high schools from 

 28 to about 250. Since a few high schools having college-trained 

 teachers of agriculture have demonstrated the feasibility and value 

 of teaching agriculture in secondary courses of study there seems 

 to be no limit to the demand for teachers who can do like successful 

 work. The agricultural colleges are organizing courses for the prep- 

 aration of such teachers, but thus far have been utterly unable to 

 meet the demand. 



Among the elementary schools there has been encouraging prog- ■ 

 ress in nature-study work and in the teaching of elementary agri- 

 culture. Ohio has been added to the list of States requiring the 

 teaching of agriculture in all rural schools. Supervision of that 

 work is now provided for through the appointment of four State 

 supervisors of rural schools. New York and Oregon are also devel- 

 oping rural-school supervision for elementary agriculture. Nearly 

 all of the Southern States have State rural-school supervisors who 

 are promoting the teaching of agriculture. The enrollment in boys' 

 and girls' agricultural clubs in the South increased from 46,000 in 

 1910 to 60,000 in 1911. 



In an advisory capacity the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture continued to aid the State authorities in tlie promotion of 

 agricultural education through the agricultural education service of 

 the Office of Experiment Stations. The director of this office has 

 continued to act as bibliographer of the Association of American 

 Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, as chairman of 

 its committee on instruction in agriculture and on the history of 

 agricultural education, and as dean of the Graduate School of Agri- 

 culture. The agricultural education service, which has remained in 

 charge of Mr. D. J. Crosby, has continued to study the various sys- 

 tems of agricultural education, investigate methods of teaching agri- 

 culture, prepare publications for teachers and others interested in 

 promoting the educational efficiency of the people living in the 

 country^ bring the large amounts of new information on agricultural 

 subjects published by the department and the experiment stations 

 to the attention of teachers and students, and, in general, to act as a 

 clearing house for agricultural education in this country. In this 

 way 22 different States were given special assistance during the year. 



The detailed report of the specialist in agricultural education will 

 be found on pages 277-341. 



5609G°— 12 1 



