214 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



Northwest. These few examples are given to sliow the general trend 

 and results of this work. There i^ not an experiment station in the 

 United States to-day that does not pursue some line of plant breeding 

 either for the purpose of improvement in yield and quality or of 

 adaptation to particular conditions of soil and climate. 



The beet-sugnr industry of this country was built up practically 

 during the past IG years. The dei)artment aided this industry by the 

 distribution, largely through the experiment stations, of tons of 

 sugar-beet seed with a view to determining where the best beets could 

 be produced and in what sections beet-sugar factories could be 

 operated with profit and success. 



Numerous other instances of cooperation between the department 

 and the experiment stations, either prearranged or otherwise, could be 

 given. The stations have followed up closely the department's work 

 on plant introduction, hog-cholera serum vaccination, suppression 

 of bovine tuberculosis, and other phases of work of sectional and 

 national importance. 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 



In 1897 there were Gl colleges giving instruction to 4,000 students 

 in agriculture; in 1911 the 67 State agricultural colleges enrolled 

 almost 18,000 students in agriculture, and there were also 42 pri- 

 vately endowed colleges giving courses iu agriculture. The total 

 income of the land-grant colleges in 1897 was $5,000,000; in 1911, 

 $22,000,000, and the total value of their property increased from 

 $51,000,000 to $120,G00,000. 



Very few of the agricultural colleges gave opportunities for gradu- 

 ate study in agriculture prior to 1897, and there was no national 

 graduate school of agriculture. Since then five sessions of the 

 Graduate School of Agriculture have been held under the auspices 

 of the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experi- 

 ment Stations, and 43 of the agricultural colleges now give graduate 

 courses in agriculture. None of the agricultural colleges trained 

 teachers for high schools in 1897; now 40 of them do this. Then 

 none had extension departments; last year they enrolled 169,000 

 students in correspondence and extension courses in agriculture. 



There were 9 agricultural high schools in 1897, 78 in 1912. No 

 public high school then taught agriculture; now 289 of them in 11 

 States receive State aid for courses in agriculture, home economics, 

 and farm mechanics, Minnesota alone giving $125,000 a year for 

 these purposes. Over 1,600 other high schools give instruction 

 without State aid. 



Agriculture in the elementary schools had hardly been thought of 

 in 1897, whereas now nearly every State in the Union gives some 

 encouragement to such teaching, and 19 require it by law. To pre- 



