PROGRESS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 587 



to make the bachelor's degree frniii an agrioultiiral college represent an education of 

 as high a grade as a bachelor's degree from any other college. For this purpose the 

 standard entrance requirement sclieme referred to above is none too high. This 

 provides fur at least a year's instruction in some natural science. It is Ijelieved by 

 your cfinunittee that ordinarily an elementary course in physics or chemistry in the 

 high school will best lay the foundation for further science study. In the scheme 

 herewith presented we select e<l physics as the science to be taught in tiie high school 

 as the preliminary to science study in the college course in agriculture. 



In the general scheme of the four-year college course in agriculture presented 

 herewith, we have first i)rovid»'<l for courses in general physics and chemistry on the 

 assumption that these would naturally precede the stmly of plants and animals, 

 whether in a general way un<ler the head of botany, physiology, or zoology, or in a 

 special way under the <liffert'nt branches of agriculture. Some knowledge of physics 

 and chemistry is also essential to a jiroper understanding of even the elements of 

 meteorology and geology, as provided for in this course. Botany has been so placed 

 as to run along with agronomy, and physiology and zoology with the more scientific 

 presentation of zootechny. 



While we believe it would ])e well for the agricultural student in hisundergrailuate 

 work to take all f)f the subjects included in the scheme as here outlined, yet we 

 have recognized the demand for an earlier specialization of agricultural work by so 

 arranging the course that in senior year at least some studies may be sub.«tituted for 

 those lai<l down in our scheme. For example, if the student is aiming to be a plant 

 expert he may omit veterinary S(;ience and take more of applied botany or liorticul- 

 ture, or specialize in agronomy as far as additional courses in these subjects are 

 offered in the institution he attends. In a similar way the student devoted to animal 

 industry may sul)stitute special studies along this line for the horti<-ulture and 

 forestry. 



Agricultural experts can not, however, expect that any j)roperly adjusted under- 

 graduate course will fully meet their needs for training along their chosen lines. 

 Persons who expect to enter positions in our Department of Agriculture, experiment 

 stations, or agricultural colleges should attain at least the master's degree. And 

 erelong the doctor's degree will be a prerequisite to entrance on the career of agri- 

 cultural teacher or investigator in our colleges and universities and the National 

 Department of Agriculture. 



In outlining the courses in the various sciences the purpose ha.s been to indicate in 

 a general way the topics which may ])roperly be included in such courses, taking 

 into account the time limitations and what will be taught under the head of agricul- 

 ture. The arrangement of these topics and the emphasis to be laid on each of them 

 will, of course, vary with the teacher as well as the equipment and other conditions 

 existing in particular institutions. Our effort has been chiefly to so present this mat- 

 ter as to indicate how the scienct' teaching maybe differentiated from and at the 

 same time related to the teaching of agriculture in a i<jllege course. 



In arranging this scheme the committee has had the assistance of the expert officers 

 of the Office of Experiment Stations and of Prof. G. P. Merrill, the geologist of the 

 Smithsonian Institution. Text-bof)ks and sjiecialists in a number of different lines 

 have also Imh-u consulted. .\s tiie result of a conference with Mr. A. F. Wood.s, 

 assistant chief of the Bureau of Plant IndiLstry, who is chairman of a conjmittee 

 appointed by the section of lM)tany and horticulture of this JUJSociati<m to fonnulate 

 a scheme for courses in botany, it was asci'rtained that, after an independent studv of 

 this matter, tliat <i>mniittee iiad readied substantially tlie same concjn.'^ions as had 

 our connnittee, Jis far as the lines of our work coincided, and that botii committees 

 were in g«'neral accord with the scheme propo.«ed by a committee of the Society for 

 Plant Morphology and Physiology. Special attention is therefore inviti-d to the 

 report presented by Mr. Wootls to the section on botaaiy and horticulture. 



