254 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



in ctmiu'ction with schools ami collo;;i's has lu'en sueci'ssfiilly met. This col- 

 lege cooperative plan also provides for manaKinj: Hie (U'lnoiistratioii work among 

 schoolboys. This work among the schoolboys was started in a small way iu 

 previous years, and diniufj the past season there have been ]2,r)(H> boys enrolled, 

 who have conducted demonstrations in corn and cotton ou their fathers' farms. 

 The prizes for this work have been donated by the local people. This boys' 

 demonstration work has proved of great value. 



The Forester, in his report for 1909, refers to the growing educa- 

 tional Avork of the Forest Service in the following jjaragraph : 



In its cooperation with teachers and others connected with educational work 

 the Forest Service markedly enlarged its activity. A widespread desire now 

 exists among teachers and officers of public instruction to utilize in school 

 courses, usually in connection with nature study, geography, or agricultural 

 education, some of the material of forestry and information concerning our 

 forest resources. This opens an exceedingly valuable avenue for diffusing 

 useful knowledge about the best use of forests, but careful preparation of the 

 material is necessary in order to give it a form suited to educational use. In 

 the single State of Iowa, as a result of the work of the Forest Service, forestry 

 was introduced into 114 public schools. Four public schools in the city of 

 Washington cooperated with the Service to devise a good method of utilizing 

 forestry in the graded-school course. Similar work for high schools was car- 

 ried ou in Philadelphia. Courses of study were prepared for other schools. 

 Many teachers and pupils elsewhere volunteered as observers for the collection 

 of phenological data. A circular letter to all school superintendents secured 

 the names of schools in which forestry is now taught. Many photographs and 

 some maps were supplied for school use, and three commercial firms were 

 supplied with prints from which to make lantern slides for the same purpose. 



Instruction in highway engineering has been continued by the 

 Office of Public Roads. The Director of that Office describes the work 

 as follows: 



Under this project graduate engineers are appointed after a competitive civil- 

 service examination to the position of civil-engineer student at a salary of $60 

 per mouth and field expenses. It is realized that the average graduate from an 

 engineering school does not possess the practical knowledge of road building 

 such as would enable him to take up this work immediately upon graduation. 

 It is therefore the policy of this Office to give the student during a period of one 

 year thorough training in all branches of highway work, both in the field and in 

 the laboratory, during which period his services are fully utilized by the Office 

 in furthering its general work. At the end of this time, if the student has 

 pi-oved his worth to the Office and it is found that the needs of the service 

 justify it, he is retained as a junior highway engineer. At the end of the 

 second year he is eligible for further promotion to the grade of highway engi- 

 neer, and eventually to the position of senior highway engineer, although no 

 fixed practice has been adopted governing the length of time during which he 

 shall remain in each grade. 



The practical instruction and experience which the student obtains in the 

 routine work of the Office is supplemented by a course of theoretical instruc- 

 tion covering a period of eight weeks given during the months of January 

 and February, when field work is at a minimum. This instruction covers the 

 preparation of themes and the study of problems in road construction and in 



