AGRICULTURE IN NEGRO SCHOOLS. 729 



The industrial course includes af^rieulture, and the subjects consid- 

 ered under this head' aio soils, seeds, fertilizers, seeding, cultivation, 

 harvesting-, niarketinji-. animal industry, poultry breeding-, and dairy- 

 ing. Attention is also given to the care of tools and their construc- 

 tion and use, also the use of incubators, brooders, and the latest and 

 most improvetl dairy apparatus, such as separators, churns, and testers. 

 Practice work in the making of l)utter and care and marketing of cream 

 is a feature of dairy instruction. 



For the girls a home garden department with instruction in the care 

 of vegetabl(>s, fruits, and flowers has been provided. This is to show 

 how home conditions can be improved and the usefulness of the home 

 garden enhanced. 



Agricultural instruction is given bv the instructor in aiiriculture and 

 animal industrv and the foreman of the farm. The buildini's of the 

 academv include a class room, mechanics' buildini>-, and several dormi- 

 tories and farm l)uildings. The farm consists of 128 acres, mostly 

 under cultivation. 



MISSISSIPPI. 



Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College, WesLfide. 



Students who can pass an examination in the fourth reader, ele- 

 mentary arithmetic to fractions, elementary geography, spelling and 

 granmiar, are admitted to a graded course in this institution covering 

 three years and leading up to the college preparatorj- course. Lectures 

 in agriculture are given throughout the first year of the giaded course; 

 text-book work, with Gulley's Agriculture, during the second year, 

 and with McBryde's during the first term of the third year. The 

 college preparatory course covers two years and includes a study of 

 the First Principles of Agriculture, by Voorhees, during the second 

 term of the junior year, and an industrial course throughout the senior 

 year. The college scientific course of four years follows. In this 

 course instruction in horticulture is given in the second term of the 

 sophomore year; in feeding, with Armsb3''s text-book, during the first 

 term of the senior year, and in the Physics of Agriculture (King) dur- 

 ing the second and third terms of the senior year. 



The text-book work is sui)i)leniented by lectures and practicums, 

 the latter consisting chiefly of i'uAd work. The lectures include the 

 composition of matter, origin and composition of soil for crops, rota- 

 tion of crops, im])rovement of farm stock, insects injurious to farm 

 and garden, breeds of live stock, etc. There are also s})ecial courses 

 in agriculture including the following: Elements of agriculture, chem- 

 istry, botany, practical farming, agricultural chemistiT, insects inju- 

 rious to farm and garden, horticulture, practical farming, how crops 

 grow, cattle feeding, and )>reedsof live stock. All of this instruction 

 is given l)y the instructor in agriculture. 



