62 



this opportunity. I do not l)elieve we can afford in our station work to ignore 

 the vast masses of material and experimental data which have been accumulated 

 in the last fifty or sixty years in foreign countries, and especially in Germany. 

 I do not see how we can make proper use of our funds while ignoring that and 

 saying that we liave nothing to do with work abroad. Of course the failure to 

 purchase one of these sets hardly implies that; yet it almost suggests it. It 

 seems to me it is an important matter, and with an index prejtared by the 

 library of the Department in this way and available at a cost which is insignifi- 

 cant, I can not see how any experiment station in this counti^j- can afford to be 

 without it. 



The report was accepted. 



Rkport of Committee on Rural Engineering. 



A report from this committee was read by W. E. Stone, of Indiana, as follows : 



Your committee would report that during the past year there has been a 

 perceptible advance in the ]mblic recognition of the need and value of specially 

 trained agricultural engineers and an encouraging, if slight, ])rogress in arrange- 

 ments for giving this instruction in rural engineering in the colleges of this asso- 

 ciation. 



The reasons for giving greater attention to this subject have been enumerated 

 in the two previous reports of this committee and need not be repeated here. 

 They are found in the changing conditions of farm life and farm labor in this 

 country, and, being based on a fundamental need, they will endure and become 

 more urgent and apparent until ade(iuate provision is made. 



Among the evidences of progress during the past season is the streugthening 

 of the etiuipment in Iowa, the extension of the instruction in Cornell, and the 

 provision for a complete course in rural engineering contemplated in Wisconsin. 

 'J'be strengthening of the work along experimental lines in a number of institu- 

 tions is also clearly apparent, all showing an awakening attention to this subject. 

 But along with this there are some unsatisfactory features. Chief of thes»> 

 seems to be the lack of a clear perception of the scope of courses in rural engi- 

 neering, of what is required to equip young men to do the work needed to bo 

 done, of a lack of confidence in the value of courses of this character, which 

 must be established before the best results can be obtained. In other words, the 

 rural engineer is not yet a definite figure in this country, and our colleges are 

 i-till floundering in their efforts to ])rovide for his training. 



In order to ol)tain a more definite understanding of what is regarded as rural 

 engineering in the colleges represented in this association and the kind of 

 training given under this classification, one of your committee mailed an inqtiiry 

 as to the subjects taught, by what professor or instructor, the e(iuipment for 

 the work, and the plans for future development. The letter was unfortunately 

 mailed too late for more than half of the colleges addressed to pi-epare and 

 rettirn replies. Those received, however, show that the greatest progress being 

 r.iade is in providing equipment for teaching and ex]ierimental work in farm 

 mechanics, Iowa taking the lead in this, being followed closely by Cornell and 

 Illinois. There are a number of western institutions giving (•oin])Iete courses in 

 irrigation, Colorado and California giving the most thorough training, the work 

 in both these institutions giving comi)lete courses in irrigation engineering. 



The replies, however, showed a wide diversity of opinion as to what is in- 

 cluded in riu-al engineering. Some seem to indicate that elementary courses in 

 carpentry and blacksmithing are entitled to this designation. This your com- 

 mittee regards as erroneous. They are related to the training, but they are n > 

 more entitled to be classified as a course in rural engineering than a few exer- 

 cises in budding and grafting are to be considered a course in liorticulture, or n 

 few exercises in stock judging are to be classified as veterinary science. The 

 only colleges which are entitled to claim that they are giving courses in rural 

 engineering are those which fall within the definition given \n Circular 4."). the 

 Fifth Keiiort of the Conunittee on .Methods of Ti'aching Agriculture, or those 

 which are giving conqjlete and indeiiendent courses of insti'uction in certain 

 well-defined branches of rural engineering, like irrigation engineering or drain- 

 age engineering. 



Another and more seriotis defect in the present instruction given by our col- 

 leges is the evident fact that the arrangements for giving this instruction are 



