AcJUicn/rrHAL editation. 089 



A four-year college course in agriculture i /. N. I>ci>l. A(/r.. ()/Ji(( llrpt. 

 Stas. Virc. G'J, pp. -id). — 'ri)is is m suiniiiiu-y of thuse reports of the couiiiiittee on 

 methods of teachin;^ afiriculture of tin- Association of American Auriculturat 

 Colleges and Experiment Stations which relate to college courses in agriculture. 

 The circular includes syllnlii of courses in agronomy, zootechny. agrotechny, 

 rural engineering, and iinnl economics, and a discussion of the relation of 

 n:itural sciences to agriculture in a four-ye:ir college course. 



The advancement of agricultural education, E. J. Wickson (California 

 sta. ('in: 21. pp. cS ). 



Benefits of agricultural education, K. A. Burnett {Ann. Rpt. Nehr. Bd. 

 Affi:. J9(i5, pp. 3(i.>,-.iOS) .—This is an estimate of the henefits to be derived from 

 agricultural education based on jiresent as compared with past conditions of 

 the farmer. Among the factors considered are world-wide competition in 

 agricultural products resulting from better transportation facilities, a wider 

 knowledge of the relation of science to agriculture, changed methods of pro- 

 duction, the demand for fancy products, knowledge of diseases and insect pests, 

 instruction in schools of agriculture, and the social status of the rural class. 



Developing the American farm boy, F. H. Rankin (Urbana: Univ. Illinois, 

 J906. pp. IS). — This is an address given December 7, 1905, before the Northern 

 Illinois Horticultural Society, and is concerned mainly with a discussion of 

 the importance of education for country boys and the kind of education they 

 should have. The function of the country school and of the college of agri- 

 culture in relation to the boys on the farm is pointed out, and an outline of the 

 work of the Illinois College of Agriculture is given. 



Rural education (Seventh Conference of the Agricultural Societies of Neta 

 Zealand. Wellington, 1905, pp. 3.'t-39). — This is a report of the special con- 

 ference on rural education held July 19, 190.5. in connection with the Seventh 

 Conference of the Agricultural Societies of New Zealand. The Aukland Agri- 

 cultural Society presented the following resolutions embodying the recom- 

 mendations of a special committee of that society appointed to consider the 

 organization of rural education in primary schools : 



"That to be effective, the training for agricultural pursuits should commence 

 in the primary schools, as it is there that the majority of the future farmers 

 receive their education. 



" That one of the first olijects to be aimed at should be to provide for the 

 special training of a certain number of teachers for the special work of rural 

 education, by short courses of instruction, and by the appointment of travelings 

 instructors for groups of schools to give object lessons explaining the value of 

 school gardens and nature study, and to help and advise the teachers gen- 

 erally in carrying on instruction on these lines. 



"That more should be attempted to bring the tuition in c(mntry schools into 

 close relation with the practical work of the farm, so that the subjects taught 

 should be directly connected with the woi'k, surroundings, and after life <if the 

 impils, the teaching being especially directed toward the development of tlieir 

 I)owers of observation, and toward giving them an insight into the fundamental 

 I)rinciples which underlie the science of agriculture. 



"That the best solution of the financial problem would be to try in certain 

 centers, where local conditions make it possible, the plan that has already been 

 adopted in Canada and the United States, of concentrating a number of small 

 rural schools into one central school, and of providing free transportation of 

 pupils thereto, thereby economizing finance and teaching power, and promoting 

 greater efficiency of teaching, better classitication of inipils. a higher grade of 



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