REPOKT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 



principles of agriculture, so that in addition to college courses we 

 shall have secondar^^ courses in ordinar}^ and special high schools, and 

 even some elementary instruction in the common schools. In estab- 

 lishing the lines and methods of secondar}" and elementar}" instruction 

 in agriculture so that it ma}^ be useful and attractive to the masses of 

 our rural youth, the leaders in agricultural science gathered in the 

 Graduate School of Agriculture this summer will play an important 

 part, and it is believed that they have gone out from this school with 

 much inspiration to renewed efforts in this direction. For both the 

 thorough establishment of the science of agriculture and the wide 

 popularization of this science, the new school will, it is believed, be an 

 efficient. agenc}', and I hope the way ma}" open for it to become a per- 

 manent institution. 



The Agricultural Colleges. 



A number of the agricultural colleges have made considerable prog- 

 ress during the past 3'ear in strengthening and broadening their 

 courses in agriculture. Specialists in agronom}", animal husbandry, 

 soil physics, soil bacteriology, dairying, and other branches of the 

 general subject of agriculture have been added to their faculties. 

 This has made it possible to materiall}" increase the number of different 

 courses in agricultural subjects offered to their students. This is 

 especially true of the short or special courses in agriculture for stu- 

 dents who for one reason or another are not able to take the entire 

 course leading to the bachelor's degree. 



Statistics of attendance at the land-grant colleges for the 3^ear 1901 

 show that over 42,000 students were enrolled. This was an increase 

 of nearly 7 per cent over the attendance for the previous j^ear. The 

 total attendance upon four-j^ear courses in agriculture (including 

 dairving) increased more than 26 per cent. The number of students 

 in special courses has fallen off' relatively, indicating a growing recog- 

 nition of the greater value of the full collegiate course in agriculture 

 as compared with specialization along narrow lines in undergraduate 

 work. 



During the past two years there has been a remarkable increase in 

 the number of buildings erected at these colleges. It is estimated that 

 during this period at least $2,000,000 have been spent by the States 

 for this purpose. In these buildings there are not only improved 

 facilities for instruction in the sciences related to agriculture, but also 

 more particularly for the teaching of the different branches of the 

 science of agriculture itself. The changes in equipment and in the 

 organization of faculties have put college instruction in agriculture 

 largel}" on a new basis. Since the new courses deal much more largely 

 directly with agriculture, both as an art and a science, the students 

 are not onlv well trained in the theory of agriculture, but are brought 



