PROGEESS IN AGKICULTUKAL EDUCATION. 625 



An agricultural school of secondary grade has recently been opened 

 at Rutherford, Napa County. Cal.. under the auspices of the Youth's 

 Directory of San Francisco, a Roman Catholic oiganization. For a 

 number of years this organization has IxM^n sending bo\'s who had 

 graduated from the granunar grades of its city school to ranches 

 in diti'erent parts of the State, ])ut with unsatisfactory results. A 

 ranch of l.OOO acres has therefore been purchased, on which vineyards 

 "and orchards are being planted, and stock raising and dairj-ing are 

 being established with the aid of the students sent from the city 

 schools. A building with class-room laboratories and dormitories to 

 acconunodate 150 boys is now being erected. 



The ]\Iount Hermon School, near Northfield, Mass., founded b}' the 

 late D. L. Moody, has esta) dished an agricultural department, and now 

 offers courses of instruction in that sul)ject. This stop on the part of 

 one of the largest secondar}" schools in the Fnited States will be a 

 matter of interest to those who are following the progress of second- 

 aiy agricultural education. It is the more significant from the fact 

 that the institution is not a technical school, and that this is the first 

 attempt to establish an industrial course. It is another indication 

 of the hold which this grade of agricultural education is taking. 



The school has for some time had a farm of about 1,000 acres, which 

 is carried on quite largely with student labor. In consideration of 

 the low fate of tuition and ))oard, pupils are expected to work about 

 fifteen hours a week, and many of the boys have put in this time on the 

 farm. As now operated it is said to yield a good profit. Much of the 

 product finds a market at the boys' and girls' departments of the school 

 and the Bible school, which together have an aggregate of al)out 900 

 students. There is at present a dair^- of about 20(» cows, and fruit 

 orchards of considerable proportions, together with a cannery for 

 putting up vegetables, especially tomatoes, peas, and corn. 



There has, however, been no theoretical instruction in agriculture 

 or horticulture. Mr. Harry Hay ward, a graduate of the school and 

 for sevei'al months past assistant chief of the Dairy Division of this 

 Department, has now been called to the school as director of the agri- 

 cultural department, and entered upon his duties August 1. The 

 department will be organized into divisions for horticulture, dairying, 

 and field work: and courses will be ort'ered in ditterent branches of 

 agriculture, which it is understood will be mainl}' elective. In other 

 words, only such of the 425 ])()ys in the school as are especially inter- 

 ested in agriculture will be required to take the courses, although 

 others may )>e re([uired to work on the faim as heretofore. 



It is ])laiuM'(l to carry th(^ farm on with student labor to even a greater 

 extent than in the past, with j)ra<-tical foremen at the head of the sev- 

 eral departments. As the school runs practically the year round, there 

 being three terms of sixteen weeks each, this plan will be feasible. 

 S. Doc. 148, 58-2 iO 



