PROGRESS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. Rll 



At the Khode Island C'olleoo of Agriculture and Meclianic Arts 

 special attention is now being given to this subject. The following 

 courses are offered: 



Farm management.— Farm capital, permanent and floatinj^j; distribution of capital; 

 labor and its efficiency; profit or loss from the use of machinery; farm advertising; 

 inventory and account^'; types of farming considered from a l)usiness standpoint. 



Rural eronomirx. — History and development of agriculture; infiuence of location, 

 climate, and other factors upon the agriculture of a country; relation of agriculture 

 to other industries and to the body politic; farm law. 



In the reorganized programme for courses of instruction in the Col- 

 lege of Agriculture of Cornell University rural economv is given as 

 one of the main branches of agriculture, and courses are offered in 

 farm accounting and the economics and historv of agriculture. 



With a view to increasing interest in this subject, President Butter- 

 field, of the Khode Island Agricultural College, has been asked to out- 

 line a course of instruction suitable for the agricultural colleges, and 

 attention is invited to his article as given in this report (p. 718). 



In the agricultural institutions of Europe considerable attention is 

 given to rural econom}^ and courses of instruction have been quite 

 definitely established. To indicate the nature and scope of these 

 courses the follovring outline has been prepared: 



RURAL ECONOMY IN EUROPEAN AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. 



FRANCE. 



In the higher agricultural schools of France rural economy and rural 

 legislation are taught as constituting one course. The lectures on 

 rural economy include the elements of politi(;al economy, rural economy 

 pioper. and agricultural legislation. 



In teaching the elements of political economy the relation of the 

 subject to rural econonn' is impressed upon the students and the object, 

 character, and utilit}' of the science are discussed. Political economy 

 as taught in this course comprises a consideration of the production, 

 circulation, distribution, and consumption of wealth, and under these 

 different heads the following topics are included: 



Production of veallh. — Production — \b> agencies, character, and purpose. Property 

 and property rights. Primitive forms of land ownership. I>abor. Liberty and 

 division of labor. Capital — its character, origin, and function. Machinery in agri- 

 culture and other industries. Methods of production under modern social conditions. 



Circnlalion of wealth. — Exchange. Theory of values. Money. Prices. Mono- 

 metallism and bimetallism. Depreciation of the precious metals and commercial 

 crises. The foreign trade of France. Theory of market.^'. Trotection. History of 

 French commerce since 1789. 



Distrihullon of veallh. — Theory of eccmomic rent. Interest an<l the variations in 

 percentage of the .same. Salaries an<l theories relating thereto. Population and the 

 law of .Malthus. Statistics on poj)ulation in France and foreign cttuntrit'S. 



Consumption of richex. — Luxuries. Imjxjsts. The budget. Statistics and economics 

 of the French system of finance. 



