AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 595 



The gradual evolution is traced of the idea that the State in some way should 

 foster agricultural education. The question of class education is disposal of by 

 the statement that the itrimary object of the agricultural colleges is " not to 

 make farnuMs Iml to make citizens, and the State is always justified in t ducat- 

 ing citizens. These citizens who live on farms should be educated in terms of 

 their own lives if they are to be e'tticient citizens." Other classes of citizens are 

 said to be I)enefited more than farmers by tariffs and other forms of legislation, 

 hence the maintenance of agricultural etUication may be considered in part an 

 offset for the s])ecial jtrivileges the State gives to other cla.sses of citizens. 



The enactment of the Land-(;rant Act of 1S()2, the second Mori'ill Act, and the 

 Ilatili Act are taken as indications that the policy of extending government aid 

 to agricultural instittilions is now well accipted. It is argued that the States 

 themselves should contrilmtc liberally to the snpi^ort of these institutions. 



The progress of the agricultural colleges in developing this new education is 

 traced, and attention is called to the work now being done to develop courses 

 in home economics and to the desirability of improving the architecture of farm 

 buildings and developing courses in rural economics and rural sociologj*. " The 

 result of all this work has come to be that the general tone of farm life has been 

 greatly elevated." 



The need of improved ccmntry schools is pointed out, and the work of the 

 agricultural colleges in bringing about improvement in the.se schools is com- 

 mented on. As a result of this it is said that " about 40 of the States, Terri- 

 tories and provinces have taken some kind of official action looking toward the 

 introduction of agriculture and nature study into the schools." The writer 

 thinks it a mistake to push technical agriculture into these schools very rapidly. 

 "The general pedagogical eihciency of the school must be elevated, the agricul- 

 tural work coming graduall.v and naturally as the school develops." But "some 

 kind of local work is essential for the best efficiency in every school, and in the 

 rural districts this local work is necessarily largely agricultural. If the exiijt- 

 ing schools can not handle these local subjects satisfactoril.v, it is an indictment 

 against their efficiency as educational means." 



Agriculture as taught in summer schools for teachers, the inovemeut for the 

 consolidation of rural schools, and the organization of special agricultui'al 

 schools ai"e other topics considered in this connection. Attention is also given 

 to changes needed in methods of teaching so as to make reading, number work, 

 geography, and manual training more suitable for rural communities. The 

 winter course of instruction in agricultural colleges is mentioned as one of the 

 temporary but necessary and highly important features of agricultural college 

 instruction. 



The American school system with special reference to institutions for 

 agricultural instruction, II. M.vtzat (Lnuda-. Jahrh.. ■l'> {IDod). A'o. -(. /*/^. 

 (;f)7-73.'i). — This is a descrijition of the American system of education, based on 

 information gathered by the writer in a visit to the Louisiana I'urchase Exposi- 

 tion and to leading educational institutions in different parts of the T'nited 

 States, as well as on the stud.v of numerous text-books, reports, and imblished 

 articles. As a basis for a better understanding of the system of agricultural 

 education, a description is given of educational institutions in general, including 

 elemtMitary and secondar.v schools and colleges, and the system of managing 

 schools, teachers, coeducation, etc.. is discusseel. 



Under the topic. Agricultural Education in America, the wi'iter discusses its 

 history and development, the scientific study of agriculture, higher agricultural 

 instruction, and secondar.v and primary agricultural instruction, and endeavors 

 to draw conclusions with reference to the application of American methods to 

 German institutions. He gives at considerable length the courses of study and 



