REPORT OF SECRETARY. I3 



the hands of several thousand teachers and pupils, and the subject has 

 been introduced into a great many schools, and in a few years we will, 

 no doubt, see the beneficial results. Allow me to suggest, however, that 

 it is evidently apparent to anyone familiar with our present rural dis- 

 trict system, where only one teacher is employed, who teaches all grades 

 from the first to the eighth, that the instruction along this line must 

 be either elementary or fragmentary. 



Upon the other hand, we have our Agricultural College, which we 

 are pleased to see taking such high rank among schools of its class in 

 this country. We are forced to admit, however, that when the district 

 school has done its work well and when the Agricultural College reaches 

 its highest expectation, there is yet a very broad field in agricultural 

 education that is not being filled. To repeat, the training in the rural 

 schools is too elementary and that of the Agricultural College is out of 

 reach, in practice if not in theory, of the average farm boy or girl. The 

 pressing need, it seems to me, and one that is entirely practical and 

 opportune at this time, is the establishment of county or distirct agri- 

 cultural schools. The course of study adopted for these schools should 

 be in lieu of the high school course, and should admit boys and girls 

 who have completed the course in the rural schools. The average farm 

 boy who expects to stay on the farm cannot afford the time, to say noth- 

 ing of the expense, of four years in the high school and then four years 

 in the Agricultural College, but with the establishment of the county 

 or district agricultural school, where a practical and sane course should 

 be taught, thousands of them will avail themselves of the opportunity. 

 The Board of Agriculture encouraged and fostered the establishment 

 of the Agricultural College and Experiment Station, and I believe should 

 lead now in the establishment of the county or district agricultural school. 



STATE VETERINARY WORK. 



During the year the State Veterinarian and deputies have made two 

 hundred and sixty-three official visits to answer calls made by petition 

 or other satisfactory evidence for the need of investigation. Of this 

 number one hundred and twelve were from Kansas City, and one hun- 

 dred and fifty-one from the rest of the State. In Kansas City eighty- 

 two cases of glanders have been reported as compared with two hun- 

 dred and sixty-eight cases of glanders in 1903, a decrease of one 

 hundred and eighty-six cases. Outside of Kansas City fifty-nine cases 

 of glanders have been reported, compared with forty-nine cases in 1903, 

 an increase of ten cases. (A case here means all animals found affected 



