PROGRESS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 343 



velopments in rural education, including the movement for the aban- 

 donment of numerous small district schools and the establishment of 

 centralized schools, and then described in a few words the work of the 

 different bureaus and offices of this department, particularly with ref- 

 erence to the publications they are issuing which are used or may be 

 used in the public schools in connection with the teaching of agricul- 

 ture and home economics. He also emphasized the need of coopera- 

 tion between the State agricultural and mechanical colleges and the 

 State normal schools in preparing teachers for country life education. 



There were numerous other papers in which some incidental refer- 

 ence was made to instruction in agriculture. At the joint session of 

 the departments of agriculture, secondary education, and science a 

 number of papers were given dealing with the practical aspects of 

 science in secondary education, with special reference to the introduc- 

 tion of materials from agriculture, household arts, and technical in- 

 dustries. W. R. Hart, of Massachusetts, read a paper giving the ped- 

 agogical viewpoint in which he brought out particularly the splendid 

 opportunities for correlation between the various science subjects and 

 agriculture. The scientific viewpoint was discussed by W. J. V. 

 Osterhaut, physics by William Orr, chemistry by J. S. Mills, zoology 

 by C. A. Mathewson, and physiology and hygiene by Louis Murbach. 



At this session a report of the committee on encouraging college 

 entrance credit in high-school agriculture was given by A. B. Graham. 

 This report showed that the difficulties to be encountered in giving 

 college entrance credit for high-school agriculture are the determina- 

 tion of what should constitute a unit or half unit, and the quality of 

 the teaching of agriculture. The report contained the statement that 

 " Few, if any, colleges or universities have been found that are willing 

 to give any credit on the science of agriculture if such agriculture as 

 taught is only some application of general science." The unit and 

 half-unit definitions adopted by the committee were as follows : 



One-half unit. — One half year given to the study of soils and plants and their 

 relation to each other. There shall be sufficient experimental work to accom- 

 pany the subjects discussed. 



One unit. — One full year given to the study of soils, plants, insects, and farm 

 animals. There shall be sufficient experimental and demonstration work to be 

 equivalent to one full year of laboratory work. 



The committee had made an investigation of the institutions with 

 reference to their attitude on the matter of giving credit for high- 

 school agriculture, and gave a list of 36 colleges now giving such 

 credit. These included 7 State universities which do not have col- 

 leges of agriculture, 5 State universities having colleges of agricul- 

 ture, 5 separate agricultural and mechanical colleges, and 19 other 

 colleges and universities. The lists given by the committee also con- 

 tained the names of 23 colleges giving no credit, including, however, 



