248 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



conditions in the Mississippi Valley and the Great Plains. These 

 included lectures and seminars, but no laboratory exercises. 



Several conferences and informal meetings were held during the 

 session of the school, and a National Association of Dairy Instructors 

 and Investigators was formed. A conference for the discussion of 

 general questions relating to the organization of agricultural educa- 

 tion and research was held July 7. Dean Davenport outlined the 

 organization of the college of agriculture of the University of Illinois. 

 The system followed there involves the division of authority and 

 work in such a manner that definite responsibilit}^ is laid on officers 

 in the several departments and full credit is given for each man's 

 share in the work. Questions involving ''.team work" are discussed 

 at meetings of the workers, and every effort is made to secure full 

 agreement on plans before their execution is attempted. In order to 

 secure fmancial and moral support for the college and station the 

 farmers' organizations throughout the State are taken into confidence, 

 and the responsibility for the proper maintenance of the institution 

 is laid on their shoulders. 



Professor Baile}^ argued in favor of the establishment of regular 

 provision for agricultural studies leading to the doctor's degree in our 

 universities and would make tliis a matter to be controlled by the 

 university rather than by the college of agriculture. He also favored 

 the simplification of degrees and would have Ph. D., M. S., and B. S. 

 (or M. A. and B. A.) the only degrees to be conferred in course. This 

 suggestion met with much approval from members of the gi'aduate 

 school. 



Dr. W. H. Jordan, director of the New York State Experiment 

 Station, spoke very earnestly of the n^ed of more thorough scientific 

 research along agricultural lines, and impressed his hearers with the 

 great importance of maintaining the strictest integrity in making 

 and recording agricultural investigations. 



Dr. W. O. Thompson, president of Ohio State University and one 

 of the founders of the graduate school, gave a brief account of the 

 origin of the school, and expressed his strong belief in its value as an 

 aid to broadening and strengthening our system of agricultural educa- 

 tion. He predicted that it would have a career of increasing success 

 and usefulness. Dr. Brown A3Tes, president of the University of 

 Tennessee, spoke from the standpomt of one interested in general 

 educational advancement, and emphasized the importance of the 

 movement for the development of a thorough system of agricultural 

 education. 



A conference on extension work in agriculture was hekl Jul}^ 21, 

 at which great interest in this feature was (levelojied. Resolutions 

 favoring the aid of the Oflice of Experiment Stations in tliis direction 

 were adopted. 



