258 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



(4) Tlu' fiicilifics of the Office for aiding a<2:ricultural collogos and 

 schools and state imd local school aiithoiities alon<; lines of ngriciil- 

 tiiral education have been improved and the demands upon the Ollico 

 for work of this character have been «.Meater than ever before. The 

 perfect in<j: of card indexes of a<!;ricultural colle<2;es and schools and 

 agricultural research institutions has facilitated the compilation of 

 data frecjuently called for b}' correspondents concerning courses of 

 study, appropriations, equipment, and foreign institutions. 



The card directory of teachers and investigators in agriculture has 

 been revised and extended until it now includes about 1,800 names. 



Requests for assistance in outlining and organizing agricultural 

 courses and for other information of this character are steadily in- 

 creasing in number. About ;J,000 such requests were attended to dur- 

 ing the past year and in many cases the replies involved the compila- 

 tion of considerable data not available in published form. Requests 

 for public addresses, conferences, and other services involving travel 

 by members of the Office staff have been far in excess of the ability to 

 grant. The specialist in agricultural education was in the field on 

 such work over three and one-half months and his assistants two 

 months. 



RELATION TO FOREIGN INSTITUTIONS. 

 BRITISH ISLANDS. 



A report of considerable importance concerning agricultural edu- 

 cation in England and Wales was submitted in 1908 by a special 

 committee appointed by the president of the board of agriculture 

 and fisheries. The report comprises a brief history of agricultural 

 education in England and Wales up to the present time, a more 

 extended view of the progress and development of agricultural 

 education from 1888 to 1908, a description of existing facilities for 

 agricultural education, and recommendations concerning its further 

 development. The inquiry of the committee did not extend to rural 

 secondary and elementary schools, since these are under the control 

 of the board of education and are not within the province of the 

 board of agriculture and fisheries. 



It seems that England and Wales have two main sources of finan- 

 cial support for technical and agricultural education. The first 

 includes funds derived from the excise act of 1890, which are turned 

 over to local boards known as county councils to be used for the 

 encouragement of agricultural education, experiments, and demon- 

 strations. These funds are largely used in the counties from which 

 they are derived or are devoted to the support of educational centers 

 which serve two or more counties. These centers may be univer- 

 sities, agricultural colleges, or special institutions deriving their main 

 support from these funds, or they may be special institutions estab- 



