814 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



who has j)ul)lishod a l)iilletin conceriHn<r it, from which the following 

 da (a arc taken: 



In a sciiool population of 121 there is an attendance of 42 non- 

 resident students. Forty of the 43 high-school boys are now studying 

 agriculture, and 4 of these had previously graduated or had left 

 the high school. 



The agricultural course is arranged as follows: Ninth grade — 

 general and agricultural botany, a half year each; tenth grade — 

 horticulture and field crops, half year each; eleventh grade — live 

 stock, dairying, and poultry, entire year; twelfth grade — soils, one- 

 half year, and farm management and farm mechanics, half year. 

 In response to a strong demand from the surrounding country the 

 school also gave a farmers' short course of one evening lecture each 

 week for ten weeks to an average attendance of 25. 



Some conclusions drawn from the year's observations are that the 

 practical applications of the agricultural instruction have greatly 

 increased the interest in the high school and have "steadied " the 

 work of the entire school; that agricultural instruction gives point 

 and value to all other high-school work in science, arithmetic, and 

 language; that it can be successfully given under ordinary high- 

 school conditions; and that it has furnished at least as much training 

 in thought and judgment as any of the traditional studies in the 

 curriculum. 



MINNESOTA. 



Stephens Hall, the three-story dormitory recently erected at the 

 Crookston Agricultural School at a cost of about $43,000, was dedi- 

 cated September 17, 1908. The speakers included Hon. J. J. Hill, 

 who was the orator of the day; Congressman C. R. Davis; Prof. 

 William Robertson, of the school; P. M. Ringdahl, president of the 

 board of control; state superintendent of public instruction, John 

 Olson, and Director Randall, of the Minnesota University and Sta-* 

 tion. An industrial building, costing about $15,000, and containing 

 a lecture room, creamery, and blacksmith and carpenter shops, is 

 nearing comiDletion. 



The legislature of Minnesota passed what is known as the Putnam 

 Act, providing state aid for 10 high schools or consolidated rural 

 schools which maintain agricultural and industrial departments. 

 The State w-ill pay two-thirds of the expense to maintain these de- 

 partments, provided that each school employs trained instructors 

 in agriculture, manual training, and domestic science, possesses not 

 less than 5 acres of land, suitable for school gardens, and experi- 

 mental and demonstration purposes, and that the total state ex- 

 penditure for each school does not exceed $2,500. . 



The 10 schools selected are the high schools at Albert Lea, 

 Alexandria, Canby, Glencoe, Hinckley, Red Wing, and Wells, the 



