PROGRESS IN AGRICULTURAL, EDUCATION. 317 



the courses and facilities at these colleges. The result is that not only is it 



possible for the bureau to obtain men better educated and qualified for its 

 veterinary work, but the standard of veterinary education io the United States 



\s being elevated. 



The Bureau of Plant Industry has continued both lines of educa- 

 tional work described in my last report. These are referred to in 

 the 1910 report of the chief of that bureau as follows: 



Scltool gardens. — The distribution of special collections of seeds for school- 

 garden purposes has been continued on a very nuich larger scale during the 

 past year than during any previous period. It has been possible to supplement 

 the distribution by an additional collection of economic seetls, including the 

 cereals, several important forage crops, fiber plants, and peanuts. The great 

 demand for material for illustrating economic geography led to the assembling 

 of this collection, which contains the 18 economic plants of greatest commercial 

 value in sufficient quantity to enable teachers to plant demonstration areas 

 illustrating the habit of growth of the crop, as well as to afford seed for 

 laboratory study. 



In addition to the seed distribution, plans for a number of school grounds 

 offering instruction in agriculture have been provided. It is believed that this 

 work will accomplish nuich toward the development of a taste for beautifying 

 home grounds as well as public places, a taste which has too long remained 

 undeveloped in our American people. The educational value of a well-planned 

 school ground is not less thiin that of the instruction in the schoolroom, for it 

 teaches not only the pupils themselves, but every passer-by. 



Boys' clubs. — As previously stated, an increasing interest has been awakened 

 in the boys' demonstration work carried on in cooperation with the public 

 schools. The number of boys directly enrolled, as already referred to, now 

 exceeds 46,000. In the fall of 1909 four winners of State prizes in the South 

 received from private sources, as a part of their reward, a free trip to Wash- 

 ington. D. C, where they were presented with diplomas by the Secretary of 

 Agriculture as a reward of merit for their good work. This has resulted in a 

 similar prize of a trip to Washington being offered in every Southern State, 

 and great interest has been aroused in these friendly contests in the production 

 of corn. It is also noteworthy that in many places where the farmer can not 

 be reached primarily the department has been able to reach him by enlisting 

 his boy in the boys' corn clubs. It has been found that one year's experience 

 of the boy in the corn clubs has almost universally resulted in enlisting the 

 father as a demonstrator in better farming the next year, and this is true even 

 where the father had declinetl to cooperate before his son was enrolled in the 

 boys' contest and had proved the value of the improved methods. 



The forester reports as follows concerning the educational work 

 of the Forest Service : 



Cooperation with schools and teachers was continued. Of 287 normal schools 

 in the United States, 144 now include in their curriculum some teaching relating 

 to forestry or tree study. By an arrangement entered into during the year, 

 this cooperation is now conducted by the Forest Service jointly with and under 

 the general supervision of the Office of Experiment Stations of the Department 

 of Agriculture, since all work of the department related to agricultural education ; 

 in the public schools is centered in that office. The Office of Experiment Stations 

 is responsible for the general policy and methods of the work, while the Forest I 

 Service is responsible for the accuracy and sufficiency of the material from the! 

 standpoint of forestry. 



