LXXVIII KEPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 



instruction in our colleges. There are, however, beginnings of a 

 movement for the regular establishment of such courses, which there 

 is good reason to believe will grow with the increase of the resources 

 of these institutions and the demands of the people. There has been 

 a considerable increase in the total number of students attending agri- 

 cultural courses in the colleges, but college faculties have in many 

 cases failed to offer sufficiently attractive four-year courses to induce 

 students to attend, or the trustees have failed to equip faculties with 

 teachers who have mastered their specialties. There is a growing 

 demand for this education, and where it does not exist the college 

 should create it as in duty bound. There is an increasing demand for 

 short and special courses, and the colleges are meeting this to a greater 

 extent than over before. A much larger amount of college extension 

 work in agriculture is now being done. In the States in which this 

 work has been in progress for a number of years it is being success- 

 fully continued, and institutions in other States are following the 

 example of the pioneers in this line of education. In providing for 

 maintenance and new buildings at the agricultural colleges, the vari- 

 ous State legislatures meeting during the past year have been more 

 than usua,lly liberal, so that in the aggregate there is a large increase 

 in the resources of those institutions. 



One of the most hopeful signs of progress in agricultural education 

 is the movement for the establishment of secondarj^ schools of agri- 

 culture and the introduction of nature studj^ and the elements of 

 agriculture into the rural schools. 



This Department is alread}^ giving aid to the rural schools in vari- 

 ous ways, but I believe that the time has come for the Department to 

 take a more active part in encouraging the introduction of nature 

 study and elementary agriculture into the curricula of rural schools 

 for the purpose of developing the natural tendencies of the pupils to 

 observe and take an interest in the natural phenomena surrounding 

 them and of fostering in them a love for the country and its pursuits. 



Much encouragement may be given by distributing seeds and plants 

 for use in esta])lishing school gardens; by furnishing schools with col- 

 lections of specimens of })oneficial and injurious insects, plant diseases, 

 and other illustrative material; by supplying teachers with the publi- 

 cations of this Department which will be useful to them, and by such 

 other means as would suggest themselves as the work progressed. 

 AVithout d()u})t, the improvement of our rural schools, so that every 

 child throughout the length and breadth of our land may have an 

 opportunity for education which will prepare him for g-ood citizensnip 

 and most eflScient industrial service, is one of the greatest which 

 should engage the attention of our people. AVith the increased inter- 

 est in country life which is beginning to be manifested in different 

 parts of the country, there is good reason to hope that our rural 



