PROGRESS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 319 



the meeting it was vot«d that the officers of the American Library 

 Association be communicated with in regard to forming a permanent 

 agricultural libraries section. 



EDUCATIONAL WORK OF THE OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



"While the work of the Office of Experiment Stations in relation to 

 agricultural colleges and schools was continued under the same gen- 

 eral plan as in former years, the employment of an assistant in agri- 

 cultural education throughout the year made it possible to complete 

 several standing projects and undertake some new w^ork. In this way 

 gratifying progress was made in the preparation of publications for 

 the use of teachers and in the study of some of the many problems 

 arising in connection with the rapidly developing movement for in- 

 struction in agriculture. The astounding rapidity of this develop- 

 ment was shown in a summary published in May, 1910, which showed 

 that during the nineteen months preceding the number of institu- 

 tions in the United States giving instruction in agriculture had in- 

 creased from 545 to 875, or more than 60 per cent. 



This increase in the facilities for agricultural education occurred 

 largely among the secondary institutions — the agricultural high 

 schools and the public and private high schools and academies, of 

 which there were 630 with students in agriculture, not including nor- 

 mal schools and other institutions conducting teacher-training courses 

 in agriculture, of which there were 214. Thirty of these latter were 

 agricultural colleges for white students. 



Such developments among the institutions that look to the agricul- 

 tural education service of this office for publications and for advice 

 concerning teachers, courses of study, equipment, methods of instruc- 

 tion, and in general the relation of their work to the practical prob- 

 lems involved in agricultural production and the satisfactory develop- 

 ment of home and social life in rural communities have naturally re- 

 sulted in very heavy demands upon this service, so that while a much 

 larger volume of work has been done in the past year, it has not dif- 

 fered in kind very materially from that of former years. 



There has been, as formerly, clearing-house work for these institu- 

 tions, cooperation with them and with associations representing their 

 interests, and expert services in connection with the inauguration of 

 new agricultural educational institutions, courses, and projects. In 

 this work the specialist in agricultural education has been aided by 

 F. W. Howe, assistant in agricultural education ; Miss M. T. Speth- 

 mann, in charge of statistics and the review of foreign literature on 

 agricultural education, and Miss M. A. Agnew, in charge of the card 

 directory of teachers and investigators in agriculture and of the or- 

 ganization lists of agricultural colleges and experiment stations. 



