PROGRESS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 311 



During the year ending June 30, 1900, 1,001 students were enrolled 

 in the district agricultural schools. These students were charged 

 from $G to $10 a month for board and the actual cost of board 

 averaged $G.30. The students were paid about 10 cents an hour for 

 productive labor and with the allowance thus made were able to 

 attend one of these institutions for nine months at a net cost of from 

 $50 to $G0. 



The total number of acres in school farms was 3,083, an average of 

 280 acres in each farm. The students cultivated 738 acres of this 

 land, 100 acres were rented, 170 acres in cotton, 415 acres in grain, 

 543 acres in pasturage and other crops, and the remainder in wood 

 lots and waste land. The total value of farm products in 1909 was 

 $10,050. 



The equipment of these schools includes from one to four brick 

 buildings, all of which were designed by the state architect and are 

 similar in plan and materials. The principal building in each case 

 is the academic building with four large class rooms, chemical, agri- 

 cultural, and biological laboratories, an office, and cloak room on the 

 first floor, and an auditorium, with a seating cajDacity of 600, and two 

 class rooms connecting with the auditorium on the second floor. 

 Each school is also provided with a boys' dormitory and several of 

 the schools have also a girls' dormitory. The former is a two-story 

 building with 42 bedrooms, 8 bath tubs, 8 toilets, 4 linen closets, and 

 a large reception hall. Each bedroom has two windows and one 

 closet and is designed for two students. The girls' dormitory is 

 similar, except that each room has two closets, and the domestic sci- 

 ence department occupies one section on the ground floor, including a 

 kitchen, model bedroom, model dining room, a class room, a storeroom, 

 pantries, and sinks with hot and cold water. Other buildings, such 

 as barns, stables, dairies, and laundries, have been erected by student 

 labor at several of the schools. In all but two of the schools electric 

 lights are supplied either by the neighboring town free of charge or 

 from the school plant. Each school has its own system of water- 

 works and sewerage and in eight of the districts these systems were 

 given by the neighboring towns. The total value of the school plant 

 in the 11 districts is estimated at $732,000. This includes, in addi- 

 tion to the farms and buildings, agricultural laboratory equipment, 

 $275; chemical laboratory equipment, $505; physical laboratory 

 equipment, $385; other science and engineering equipment, $400; 

 library (1,920 volumes), $975; dairy equipment, $935; laundry equip- 

 ment, $4,090; shop equipment, $2,900; domestic science equipment, 

 $1,715; and tools and implements, $3,550. 



The income of the schools for 1909 was $120,800, which included 

 $101,750 from the State, a gift of $3,000 to one school, and farm re- 

 ceipts amounting to $10,050. The income from the State for each 



