312 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



school incliulod $7,250, arising from the fertilizer fees, and $2,000 

 a])i)ropriate(l hy the <:^eneral assembly. 



The president of the state ajrrifidtural rolle<re in his annual report 

 on the work of the district agricultural and mechanical schools points 

 out that the most urgent need of the schools at the present time is 

 the equipment and organization of laboratory work and the adoi)tion 

 of good business S3'stem to cover the. receipts and expenditures of the 

 state ai)propriations. He believes that the bond of union and sym- 

 pathy existing between the schools and the state college of agricul- 

 ture should be strengthened, and to this end recommends that an 

 annual conference of the jirincipals at Athens be authorized for the 

 purpose of considering all fundamental problems and encouraging 

 cooperative activities. lie is also of the opinion that the efficiency 

 of the schools will be largely determined by the observation of a 

 uniform course of study. 



IDAHO. 



A law was passed by the last legislature of Idaho dividing the State 

 into two educational districts. In each of these a secondary agri- 

 cultural school is to be established by the regents of the university 

 and at their discretion a branch experiment station. The course of 

 study for the schools is to have for its major function "vocational 

 education in agriculture and in farm home making, not neglecting 

 subjects of broadly educational value, and shall articulate such studies 

 with agriculture and home economics courses of the State College of 

 Agriculture above and the consolidated rural schools below." The 

 work of the branch stations " shall be especially directed to the solu- 

 tion and demonstration of the agricultural problems of the respective 

 districts in which the stations are respectively located." 



INDIANA. 



The name of Winona Agricultural Institute has been changed to 

 Winona College of Agriculture. It now offers a two-year " practical " 

 course w^ith fall, winter, and spring terms, a two-year "special" 

 course running six months each year, and " advanced work in agri- 

 culture, or college work in the sciences, English, languages, literature, 

 mathematics, history, education, or philosophy." 



A good exam2)le of public school work in agriculture is found in 

 Thorntown, Ind., a village of 2,000 inhabitants, having a high-school 

 enrollment of 85 pupils. Nearly GO per cent of these come from the 

 surrounding farms and about 60 per cent are boys. All third-year 

 pupils take agriculture as a required subject, five hours a week for 

 text-book work and about two periods a week for laboratory work 

 and field exercises. 



