39 



Mr. Crosby, who is in ohiirse fs|t(>ciail.v of the iii:i(t(>rs relating? to agricultural 

 oducation. altliou.i,'h the rest of the ollicv force, so far as they can, assist in that 

 work. 



Now, it has seemed to me that if it is desirable that the Ollice should con- 

 tinue this work, and develop it accordinjjc to the demand, we nuist have the work 

 recoLcnized by law, and must have some definite i»rovision for it ; and so I have 

 asked the Secretary of Agriculture in making up his estimates this year to 

 word the appropriation bill so as to provide for this work, and also to estimate 

 a certain amount for it. and that he has done. The proposition is to add to that 

 provision of the api)ropriation act which allows >is to undertake work in con- 

 nection with the farmers' institutes simply the words "and agricultural 

 schools." It will then be recognized in the law that we are to work for the 

 promotion of agricultural schools as well as the farmers' institutes. Of course 

 the term " agricultin-al schools" we shall interpret broadly to include institu 

 tions that are engaged in instruction in agriculture. The amount asked for is 

 $."),(Mi(), which it seems to me is a sutHciently modest sum for work of that kind 

 if it is to l)e made at all efiicient. 



I think that in view of the interest in this matter that seems to be expressed 

 here in a gcm-rnl way it is desirable that the association should understand just 

 the situation. From our i>oint of view it is certainly desirable that this matter 

 should be in some way effectively brought to an issue and decided l»y Congress. 

 1 ought to say, perhaps, in this connection, that we have endeavored to manage 

 this work in such a way as not in any way to interfere with the work that the 

 Office has undertaken in other lines. You will perhaps remember that at some 

 previous meeting — I do not rememl)er whether at Des Moines or before that — the 

 association expressed itself with reference to the extension of the work which 

 the Office is doing on the Experiment Station Kecx»rd, and that has been kept 

 steadily in mind. We have received a small increase in our .ijipropriation ; I 

 think last year we got about .$2,.500 more in the general appropriation than we 

 had previously. And just as far as possible we are endeavoring to meet the 

 desire of the association in matters relating to the Experiment Station Record. 

 In order to make that publication more comprehensive and at the same time limit 

 its work more distinctly to the lines of agricultural science, we have this year 

 made a somewhat different arrangement of the departments and have increased 

 the staff of tlie Record so as to have editors specifically for the departments of 

 rural engineering, rural economics, and agricultural education. Those matters 

 had been previously treated of more or less in the Record, but now they will 

 receive more space and matters relating to them will be more definitely followed. 

 So that we are endeavoring not to neglect the work for which we were jjrimarily 

 established. But this matter of agricultural education is particularly pressing 

 iust iiow% and if the work is to be put on a definite basis we need the cooperation 

 and support of the friends of agricultural education wherever we can find them. 



The report was accepted. 



Report of Committee on Graduate Study. 



A repoi-t from the committee on this subject was read by L. H. Bailey, chair- 

 man, as follows : 



The first graduate scliool of agriculture, held in tlie summer of 1902, was 

 conducted under the auspices of the Ohio State University and with the coop- 

 eration of tlie United States Department of Agriculture and the Association 

 of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations. The success of that 

 school has led the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment 

 Stations to instruct its connuittee on graduate study to consider the question of 

 holding other schools of similar character. At its meeting in Des Moiues the 



