PROGKESS IN AGRTCULTURAL EDUCATIOlSr. 243 



The courses of instruction in agriculture in man}^ institutions have 

 been greatly broadened and strengthened. The requirements for 

 admission and graduation in four-j^ear courses have been raised; 

 more ample provision for short courses has been made and these 

 courses in a number of States have been surprisingly popular; grad- 

 uate courses in agriculture leading to a master's degree are now 

 offered in thirty-five States and agricultural studies are recognized 

 as appropriate for candidates for the degree of doctor of pliilosophy 

 in seven States. 



During the past four years research work in agriculture has also 

 made great advances. The funds available for this work have been 

 greatly augmented. In the United States Department of Agriculture 

 the funds devoted to research have more than doubled; the States 

 have greatly increased their appropriations to the experiment stations, 

 so that last year the income of the stations from sources within the 

 States was greater than that derived from the Federal Government 

 under the Hatch Act, and on March 16 of the present jear (1906) 

 Congress passed the Adams Act, which immediately adds $240,000 to 

 the income of the stations, an amount to be increased by $96,000 each 

 year for five years, after which it will continue annually to the aggre- 

 gate amount of $720,000. The stations have greatly extended their 

 work and their influences in many directions. On one side they are 

 touching more closely and fully than ever before the varied practical 

 interests of the farmers through their publications and through 

 cooperative and demonstration experiments in numerous localities; 

 on the other side they are increasing and strengthening their more 

 elaborate scientific and original researches into the real nature and 

 causes of agricultural problems. And it is a notable indication of the 

 wide public appreciation of the importance of thoroughly scientific 

 investigations in behalf of agriculture that Congress has limited work 

 under the Adams Act to" original research in agriculture. 



Meanwhile the movement for popular agricultural education has 

 made rapid strides. The farmers' institutes have spread out to every 

 State and Territory and even to our possessions beyond the seas, and 

 the attendance was increased last year by over 150,000 persons. 

 Secondary schools of agriculture have been organized in a number of 

 States. The teaching of elementary agriculture in the public schools 

 is now authorized by law in over thirty States. Teachers in large 

 numbers are studying agriculture in agricultural colleges and normal 

 schools. The problems of agricultural education are now seriously 

 discussed in the National Educational Association, and in State, 

 county, and local teachers' associations and institutes, throughout the 

 land. 



This second session of the Graduate School of Agriculture is, there- 

 fore, held at a very interesting and important juncture in the history 



