FAKMEKS' INSTITUTES IN THE UNITED STATES. 643 



The eiiiictini'Mt of laws in .some of the State-s piovid'mj;- for the con- 

 solidation of schools ill the rural districts is a stop in this direction, 

 and is a i(>sult duo in threat part to the a<;itation of the subject of 

 agriculture in the public schools by the farmers'' institute lecturers. 

 State after State has come to regard with growing solicitude the situ- 

 ation of the youth in the country homes, and is earnestly striving to 

 supply ocpial educational advantages to the rural districts that the 

 towns and cities now enjoy. The one plan agreed upon as promising 

 most in this direction is that of the consolidation or concentration of 

 the ungraded crossroads schools into a well-organi/ed, equipped, offi- 

 cered and central-graded school, to which scholars living bevond easy 

 walking distance arc conveyed in vans. 



It is now clear that the work of instruction in agriculture, if it is to 

 ultimately revolutionize the art, can not be confined to teaching 

 grown-up scholars, but must be begun between the ages of G and 18 

 years, and one of our great agricultural States has come to an appre- 

 ciation of this fact. In that State the superintendent of public instruc- 

 tion has made it obligator^' upon the part of teachers in the pu])lic 

 schools to be prepared to pass an examination upon natural science 

 subjects which relate to agriculture, and in that same State professor- 

 ships of agriculture have been introduced into the normal schools. 



The future lines of development of the institute must also unques- 

 tiona])ly 1)0 in the direction of reaching the 3'oung people who are 

 stai'ting out in life, and immediate steps should be taken to adapt the 

 institute for the efficient performance of this new work. Koference 

 has already ]>een made in this report to one possible method that 

 could 1)e used b}' the institutes in interesting and instructing country 

 children. 



THE INSTITUTE FIELD. 



The field covered by the institutes is wide and the movement is yet 

 in its infancy. Much better methods, more comprehensive as well as 

 more ellicient, will have to be employed before the work can be per- 

 fected. The pro])lems that are involved in meeting the recpiirements 

 of agriculture in an educational sens(^ are such as will tax the resources 

 and thought of the best-educated leaders of our time. It is not too 

 early for this Department to begin to plan for shaping and assisting 

 the great work that has been developing so rapidly in recent years. 

 This obligation has been recognized in })art in providing a special 

 otlicer to gather information and render assistance to the several 

 States. 



An outline of the work that can be undertaken by the Department 

 with the means now at its command was presented by the institute 

 specialist liefore the Amei-ican .Association of Farmers' Institute 

 Workers, at its recent meeting in Toronto, in answer to the (juestion 



