OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 253 



THE COLLEGES. 



Several of the colleges have made real progress during the past year 

 in strengthening and broadening their courses in agriculture. At the 

 University of Illinois the college of agriculture now includes depart- 

 ments of agronomy, animal husbandry, dairy husbandry, horticulture, 

 household science, and veterinary science, each offering in addition 

 to the subjects required for graduation a number of elective subjects 

 along special lines, such as farm machinery, drainage, soil bacteri- 

 ology, the principles and practice of breeding, the standardizing of 

 milk and cream, etc. The Michigan Agricultural College has added 

 a five-year course in agriculture, which provides for advanced work in 

 dairying, soil physics, and animal husbandry without raising the 

 entrance requirements. The State College of Colorado has added 

 another year to its agricultural course and offers special work relating 

 to agriculture in arid regions. Minnesota has added a new line of 

 ^vork — instruction and laboratory work in cutting and curing meat. 

 Kansas has raised dairying to the dignity of a department. California 

 has established a dairy school in connection with the college of agricul- 

 ture. Several of the institutions named and also a number of others 

 have added to their staffs specialists in charge of agronomy, animal hus- 

 bandry, and other branches of the general subject of agriculture, while 

 not a few of them have added to the number of short or special 

 courses in agriculture 



The committee on methods of teaching agriculture of the Associa- 

 tion of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, of 

 which the Director of this Office is chairman, has presented a prelim- 

 inary report on methods and facilities for teaching agronomy. Mate- 

 rial is now in hand for a somewhat comprehensive illustrated report 

 on this subject from a number of colleges which have differentiated 

 agronomy from the general subject of agriculture. 



College extension work is more and more demanding recognition as 

 a legitimate function of the agricultural college. At Cornell Univer- 

 sity, Pennsjdvania State College, and a number of other institutions 

 this work is accomplished largely through the agency of reading 

 courses and correspondence courses. Other colleges are publishing 

 popular bulletins, press bulletins, and leaflets, while a constantly 

 increasing number are reaching their constituents by means of period- 

 icals edited and published by the college officials either with or with- 

 out the cooperation of the students. Such periodicals are published 

 at the agricultural colleges in Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, 

 Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, and Washington. 



Statistics of attendance at the land-grant colleges for the year 1901 

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

 of nearly 7 per cent over the attendance for the previous year. The 

 total attendance upon four-year courses in agriculture (including 

 dairying) 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. 



Last year attention was called to the fact that State legislatures had 

 provided liberally for maintenance and new buildings at the agricul- 

 tural colleges, and special appropriations aggregating $1,232,000 were 

 mentioned. During the year many of the buildings thus provided for 

 have been or are now being constructed, notably a central building 



