xcviii report of the secretary of agriculture. 



Graduate School of Agriculture. 



A new enterprise in agricultural education has been inaugurated by 

 the establishment of the Graduate School of Agriculture, which held 

 a four weeks' session during the month of July, 1902, at the Ohio 

 State University, Columbus, Ohio. The plan for this school was 

 originated by Prof. Thomas F. Hunt, dean of the college of agricul- 

 ture and domestic science of the Ohio State Universit}^, the purpose 

 being to establish a school for advanced students of agriculture at 

 which leading teachers and investigators of the agricultural colleges 

 and experiment stations and this Department should present in some 

 regular wa}^ summaries of the recent progress of agricultural science, 

 illustrate improved methods of teaching agricultural subjects, and 

 afford a somewhat extended opportunity for the discussion of live 

 topics drawn from the rapidl}^ advancing science of agriculture. This 

 idea received the cordial support of President Thompson of the Ohio 

 State University, and on the recommendations of these two men the 

 board of trustees of the university voted to establish such a school and 

 generoush" made provision for the financial support of its first session. 



The Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment 

 Stations at its convention in 1901 favored the plan for the school and 

 voted that, if the success of the first session seemed to justify its con- 

 tinuance, it be made a cooperative enterprise under the control of the 

 association. Believing this movement to be in line with the objects 

 for which this Department was created, I gave it my cordial approval, 

 and on my advice the Director of the Office of Experiment Stations 

 consented to act as dean, and other officers of the Department of Agri- 

 culture to be members of its facult}". Under these favorable auspices 

 there was little difficulty in securing a strong faculty. As actually 

 organized, this included 35 men, of whom 26 are professors in agricul- 

 tural colleges, 7 are leading officers of the Department of Agriculture, 

 and 2 are officers of the New York State experiment station. Courses 

 were offered in agronomy, zootechny, dairying, and breeding of plants 

 and animals. The school was housed in the substantial and well- 

 equipped agricultural building of the Ohio State University, where 

 were illustrated the most improved apparatus of instruction in soil 

 ph3'sics, dairying, and other agricultural subjects. Besides the live 

 stock of the vuiiversity farm, leading breeders of Ohio furnished choice 

 animals for the stock-judging exercises. 



General problems of agricultural science and pedagogy were dis- 

 cussed at the inaugural exercises and at Saturday morning conferences. 

 Among the topics thus treated were the history of agricultural educa- 

 tion and research in the United States; the organization of agricul- 

 tural education in colleges, secondary schools, nature-study courses, 

 correspondence courses, farmers' institutes, and various forms of 



