576 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



established as a result of an increase in appropriations from both 

 State and Federal sources, and the increase in the number of schools 

 has created a demand for more teachers of agriculture. The agri- 

 cultural colleges and a few of the State normal schools, designated 

 as agencies to train teachers for the vocational schools, have suc- 

 ceeded in most cases in graduating a sufficient number of teachers 

 each year to meet the increased demand. Since the passage of the 

 vocational education act in 1917 there has been rapid development 

 and improvement in the teaching of agriculture in secondary schools. 

 The supervised practice work on the students' farms is functioning, 

 better in the community and is stimulating greater public interest 

 in the study of agriculture in the schools. 



There has also been increased interest in the teaching of agricul- 

 ture in the elementary rural schools, and officials in charge of voca- 

 tional agricultural education in the high schools are in many in- 

 stances actively assisting in developing programs for teaching agri- 

 culture in the upper grades of the elementary schools. The agricul- 

 tural courses offered in the rural schools have been strong influences 

 in certain localities in stimulating students to enter the agricultural 

 classes in the high schools, commonly known as Smith-Hughes 

 schools. 



More than half of the States either require or encourage the 

 teaching of agriculture in rural schools. Many teachers in these 

 schools are therefore anxious to secure material that will be helpful 

 in teaching agriculture. The division of agricultural instruction en- 

 deavors to make available to both teacher and students of agri- 

 culture useful material derived from the large amount of agricultural 

 information which has been accumulated by the department and the 

 State agricultural colleges and experiment stations. Since better 

 facilities are now offered in the agricultural colleges, the State nor- 

 mal schools, and the secondary agricultural schools for training 

 agricultural teachers these institutions desire to obtain the latest 

 developments in methods of instruction and other information which 

 can be used by them to good advantage. To meet this demand the 

 division cooperates with the subject-matter specialists of the different 

 bureaus of the department in the preparation of outlines and in mak- 

 ing available to agricultural teachers other helpful information. 



Cooperation was continued during the year as heretofore with the 

 following agencies outside the Department of Agriculture: (1) The 

 Federal Board for Vocational Education, (2) States which desire 

 to have prepared special outlined courses of study in agriculture for 

 rural schools, (3) teacher-training divisions in the States, and (4) 

 teachers in service. 



The division continued to cooperate with the Federal Board for 

 Vocational Education in analyses of certain farm enterprises. A 

 publication entitled " Suggestive Job Lesson Units on Some Truck 

 and Fruit Crops Adapted to Southern Conditions" has recently 

 been completed, and a job analysis of the management of a farm 

 business is being prepared. Analyses of farm enterprises on corn, 

 cotton, and dairying ai-e being planned. Such analyses are now 

 much in favor as a basis for vocational instruction in agriculture in 

 the schools receiving the benefits of the vocational education act. 



Cooperating with State departments of education and State agri- 

 cultural colleges in the preparation and use, of courses of study in 



