256 DEPAKTMENTAL KEPORTS. 



of agriculture of the Massachusetts Agricultural College in charge of 

 agricultural instruction. The Briarcliff School of Practical Agricul- 

 ture and Horticulture has outgrown its present quarters and secured 

 4:15 acres of land near Poughkeepsie, to which it will be moved next 

 year. Instruction in agriculture lias been made the basis of the course 

 of study at the Thompsons Island Farm School, Boston, and has been 

 introduced into the George School, near Newtown, Pa. In the three 

 State normal schools of Missouri, during the past year, instruction in 

 agriculture was given to 369 young men and women who will go out 

 into the State as teachers in the public schools. In this connection it 

 is worthy of note that a number of normal schools in different parts 

 of the country now require their students to devote a part of their 

 time to nature study and garden work as a preparation for their work 

 in public schools, and in Wisconsin every teachers' examination now 

 includes a set of questions on agriculture. 



The Minnesota movement for the introduction of agriculture into 

 the rural schools has been placed in charge of the i:)rofessor of agri- 

 culture of the university, who has prepared a 200-page bound bulle- 

 tin outlining exercises to be used by the teachers in the rural schools. 

 The subjects treated in this bulletin include agriculture, horticulture, 

 cooking, sewing, housekeeping, laundering, agricultural chemistry, 

 domestic animals, dairying, and other subjects. 



The superintendent of Indian schools, Miss Estelle Reel, of the 

 Department of the Interior, has outlined a course of study for Indian 

 schools, with the approval of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and 

 the Commissioner of Education, in which the teaching of the theory 

 and i^ractice of agriculture is provided for in all the grades. The 

 civil-service examination for teachers of agriculture for the Indian 

 service has been changed so as to include tests of the candidates' 

 knowledge of the science as well as the practice of agriculture. 



Marked progress has been made in the movement for the consolida- 

 tion of rural schools which has already resulted in improved condi- 

 tions in the schools of Ohio, Massachusetts, Iowa, and other States. 

 Along with this movement there is considerable agitation for the 

 introduction of agriculture wherever the employment of additional 

 teachers makes it possible to broaden the courses of study. An arti- 

 cle on ''Some problems of the rural common school" was prepared 

 by the Director of this Office and published in the Yearbook of the 

 Department for 1901. Among the drawbacks to the successful intro- 

 duction of agriculture into these schools are lack of well-trained 

 teachers and of suitable text-books. There is also a great deal of 

 uncertainty about what should be included under the title "An ele- 

 mentary course in agriculture." To the study and solution of this 

 problem this Department might well devote some attention. 



Another closely allied movement at present manifest principally in 

 the city schools is the school garden movement — the introduction of 

 garden work with flowers and vegetables into the graded schools as a 

 weekly or semiweekly exercise. Wherever work of this kind has 

 been tried under proper supervision it has aroused considerable inter- 

 est on the part of the students, has furnished excellent material for 

 nature study work, and has correlated well with the other studies in 

 the curriculum. Tliis Department could promote the school garden 

 movement by the distribution of flower and vegetable seeds and 

 shrubs, and ]3y the preparation and distribution of publications giv- 

 ing directions for the laying out and planting of such gardens, and 

 for the care of the plants grown from the seeds sent out by the 

 Department. 



