REPORT OF DIRECTOR OF STATES RELATIONS SERVICE. 301 



report on the progress of agricultural education at home and abroad, 

 for publication by that bureau, there has been united study of the 

 methods of organization and administration of instruction in agri- 

 culture in the public schools, the training of teachers for this work, 

 and the relationships of the different agencies promoting such in- 

 struction. Three cooperative conferences on the problems of teacher 

 training in the agricultural colleges have been held in different parts 

 of the country and attended by representatives of the colleges, the 

 State departments of education, and other leaders in this work. In 

 this way tentative courses for teacher training have been worked 

 out for testing in the State institutions, with a view to standardiz- 

 ing the requirements for the licensing of teachers of agriculture by 

 the State authorities. 



In work on the preparation of publications and illustrative ma- 

 terial for use in the schools substantial progress has been made 

 during the past year in perfecting arrangements with the different 

 bureaus, by which we get the advice and assistance of specialists in 

 various lines of agricultural research. It has developed that most 

 effective work can be done by having in the service persons trained 

 m agriculture and the methods of education who are able to prepare 

 the material intended for school use on the basis of the publications 

 of the department and the stations, supplemented with the advice 

 of specialists regarding details. Attempts are therefore being made 

 to differentiate the functions of the members of the force along the 

 lines of elementary and secondary instruction as related to different 

 subject-matter divisions of agriculture. 



The series of bulletins on elementary agriculture for the rural 

 schools, begun last year in cooperation with some of the State 

 agricultural colleges and State departments of education, has re- 

 sulted in the issuing of such bulletins for the schools of Maryland 

 and Wisconsin. Similar work has been completed for the schools 

 of Mississippi and a bulletin for the rural schools of Vermont is in 

 process of preparation. Other publications issued during the year 

 dealt with lessons in elementary agriculture for Alabama schools, 

 correlating agriculture with the public school subjects in the North- 

 ern States, lessons on cotton for the rural common schools, exercises 

 with plants and animals for southern rural schools, and home projects 

 in secondary courses in agriculture. A publication dealing with the 

 methods of instruction in soils in land-grant colleges is in process of 

 preparation, and a manuscript was prepared dealing with lessons on 

 tomatoes for rural schools. 



Nine numbers of the Agricultural Education Monthly were issued, 

 dealing, among other things, with such subjects in secondary agri- 

 cultural instruction as methods of teaching agriculture in second- 

 ary schools, use of illustrative material in secondary schools, a simple 

 method of cataloguing agricultural literature suitable for the school 

 or home library, professional • improvement for teachers of agri- 

 culture, and definite outlines of lessons in a number of agricultural 

 subjects. 



The Service began during the year the preparation of brief peda- 

 gogical statements on how to use, in the teaching of agriculture in 

 rural schools, certain Farmers' Bulletins. Eight of these leaflets 

 have been issued. 



