PEOGRESS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 375 



be performed in the country schools with apparatus which the 

 teachers themselves could make or assemble. At about the same time 

 the principal began contributing lessons in elementary agriculture to 

 a local educational publication which was sent free by the school au- 

 thorities to every teacher in the county. In these ways some help was 

 extended to the teachers, but it needs to be stated here that the meet- 

 ings at the school were not sufficiently successful to warrant their 

 being continued throughout the year, owing mainly to the poor trans- 

 portation facilities, which made it almost impossible for teachers re- 

 siding at a distance from the school to attend the meetings in stormy 

 weather, or when the roads were bad. 



For the adult farmers a course of 10 evening lectures was given, 

 one lecture each week. The general subjects of these lectures were 

 soils and fertilizers, and each lecture was illustrated by laboratory 

 demonstrations and experiments. Outlines for each lecture were fur- 

 nished to those in attendance who were requested to keep them and 

 bring them to the next meeting. The lectures were understood to be 

 serious affairs requiring close attention and some outside study and 

 reading. They were intended for men, but quite a number of women 

 asked and secured permission to attend. The first lecture was at- 

 tended by about 60 persons, the second by 90, and so on, with an aver- 

 age of 125 persons for each lecture during the entire course. 



At the close of this series of lectures a corn congress was held 

 with morning, afternoon, and evening sessions for two days. 

 Speakers were secured from the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture and from the Maryland Agricultural College and Experi- 

 ment Station. All of the addresses were to be directly on corn grow- 

 ing and cooking, for the women, too, were to have addresses and 

 demonstrations. It proved to be a very popular affair. Over 180 

 exhibitors sent in 10-ear exhibits of corn, and nearly 1,000 persons 

 attended the sessions. Twenty mral schools held preliminary com 

 shows and sent their best exhibits to the corn congress. There were 

 simultaneous meetings in different parts of the same building for 

 men, women, and children. Meals were served at a lunch counter by 

 the ladies of the women's club and the proceeds were given to the 

 school. At the close of the last session the prize exhibits of com 

 were sold at auction to the highest bidder and in this way good seed 

 com was distributed throughout the neighborhood. 



For the farmers' wives a series of monthly meetings was held on 

 Saturday afternoons. Invitations were sent out to about 300 women 

 living within driving distance of the school. The three school wagons 

 were run over the reg-ular routes to bring those who cared to attend 

 the meetings. The sessions opened with a short general lecture by 

 some prominent speaker and then, after a selection of music, the 

 women divided into four groups, which remained the same through- 



