326 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Office of Information in the preparation of a considerable amount of 

 press and other informational material of wider general interest. 



A marked increase occurred also in the work connected with the 

 collection and preparation of illustrative material for the use of em- 

 ployees or collaborators of the service. The collection of illustra- 

 tive material was enlarged and improved, 3,184 photographs being 

 added to the collection during the year, bringing the total number up 

 to 6,794, of which 4,693 are mounted, classified, and catalogued for 

 ready use. The number of lantern slides made during the year was 

 8,750, of which 2,045 are colored. About 1,151 shipments, aggregat- 

 ing 57,550 slides, were made to users of the slides within the service 

 or to schools collaborating with the service. Facilities for securing 

 new and better illustrative material especially suited to the work of 

 the different divisions of the service were improved during the year. 

 To improve these facilities further, a specialist in visual instruction 

 and a lantern slide colorist, who will devote their whole time to the 

 illustrative work of the service, were added at the close of the year. 



INVESTIGATIONS ON AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION IN SCHOOLS. 



C. H. Lane, Chief Specialist in Agricultural Echication. 



These investigations dealt as heretofore with studies of the 

 methods and subject matter of instruction in agriculture, especially 

 in secondary and elementary rural schools, with a view to improving 

 such instruction and making it more practically useful. 



"V\'liile the increase in the number of secondary schools teaching 

 agriculture has not been so marked as during the preceding year, 

 there is every evidence that more effective woi-k is being done. Out 

 of 2,175 secondar}^ schools reporting, 566 are teaching agriculture 

 from a vocational standpoint. The standard of qualifications of the 

 agricultural teacher has been raised materially and this appears to 

 have had a large influence in increasing the proportion of men 

 teaching agriculture in secondary schools. More than 1,000 teachers 

 out of 2,254 have taken special training in agriculture, either a 

 four-year agricultural-college course, short, or normal course. 



Three hundred and ninety-two schools were using land for instruc- 

 tional purposes. The interest in school gardens has been noticeable. 

 Three hundred and thirty-seven high schools are teaching the sub- 

 ject by the home-project method. Specific projects, with definite 

 outlines and required reports, are used. 



In addition to the effective teaching of agriculture through the 

 school farm, and home projects, an unusual interest is being shown 

 in laboratory and class observations on neighboring farms, and it is 

 expected that this particular phase of agricultural instruction will 

 receive greater impetus under the Smith-Hughes Act, passed Feb- 

 ruary 23, 1917, which provides Federal aid for the purpose of coop- 

 erating with the States in paying the salaries of teachers, super- 

 visors, or directors of agricultural subjects, and also for the prepara- 

 tion of these teachers, supervisors, and directors. 



A detailed study of vocational agricultural instruction in high 

 schools of the northeastern States was made in cooperation with the 

 Bureau of Education. Through similar cooperation a survey was 

 made of agricultural instruction in two counties of Texas. 



