xxvi Report of the Dean 



and of every wild thing that gives promise of being used for the material 

 or educational betterment of the people. All life was once wild life. 

 Agriculture has grown by selection and care of the best that nature offers. 

 This work is initiated in the firm belief that the sources of our benefits 

 in nature are by no means exhausted. 



The object of the game farm is to afford opportunity for instruction 

 in game breeding and the conservation of wild life. Breeding of ring- 

 necked pheasants and mallard ducks will be conducted during the first 

 season of its operation, and in succeeding years the work will be enlarged 

 to include other species of useful game birds, fishes, and other animals. 

 Emphasis will be given to the correlation of game breeding and different 

 types of farming in New York State. Progress is being made already 

 in stocking and equipping the farm for teaching and research. 



Instruction in wild life conservation and in game breeding is offered 

 in the following courses: (i) the regular four-years course in agriculture, 

 in which students may include among their elections the subjects that 

 are fundamental to wild life conservation and game breeding; (2) a short 

 course of twelve weeks (to "be followed by one or more seasons of work 

 on a game farm) to give practical training in the technique of game 

 breeding; (3) a series of public lectures given by experts in the various 

 lines of wild life conservation. During the second term of the current 

 year a series of thirty-one lectures on various phases of wild life has been 

 given by nineteen lecturers, men eminent as authorities in the field. This 

 series was made possible by the generous cooperation and assistance of 

 the lecturers who gave their services, and of Mr. Frederick C. Wolcott, 

 who pro\'ided money for the payment of traveling expenses. 



The Extension Service 



The administration of extension work was in a measure reorganized 

 on July I, 191 7. The former Department of Extension Teaching, the 

 Office of Publications, the Central Office of County Farm Bureaus, and 

 the newly created Central Office of County Home Demonstration Agents, 

 were combined to form the Extension Service under the immediate head- 

 ship of Professor M. C. Burritt, who was made Vice-Director of Extension, 

 the Dean of the College being the Director of Extension. This organi- 

 zation is adrn.iiiistrative and functions as a branch of the Dean's Office. 



It was thought expedient to reduce the number of five-day extension 

 schools in the past winter. Twenty-nine were held in twenty counties, 

 with a total enrolled membership of 993, an average of 34.2. These figures 

 do not include visitors and high school students who attended irregularly. 

 There were also held at the College, under the supervision of the Depart- 

 ment of Rural Engineering, two special tractor schools, each of three 



