1016 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



of securing men, some preference being expressed for their training 

 and advancement at a single institution, while others favored secur- 

 ing the best men wherever found. Transfers of instructors from one 

 institution to another during the college year were deprecated, and 

 the necessity of maintaining among instructors a feeling of perma- 

 nency of tenure during good service was emjahasized. A certain 

 flexibility of salaries and the treating of each case individually was 

 also recommended as beneficial in many instances. It was believed 

 that much can often be accomplished even with low salaries by 

 arranging congenial work and by providing adequate funds for the 

 maintenance of the departments. 



Special interest in this section centered around the question of the 

 preparation of instructors for teaching the elements of agriculture 

 and the mechanic arts as authorized by the Nelson amen.dment. 

 President White opened the discussion, calling attention to the rapid 

 development of agricultural education in the secondary and primary 

 schools and the great dearth of competent teachers. The feasibility 

 of preparing such instructors in the land-grant colleges w^as con- 

 sidered, and also the relations of these institutions to the normal 

 schools in such Avork. President Bryan, of Washington, described 

 the department of education in the Washington State College. He 

 emphasized the necessity of supplementing instruction in the purely 

 agricultural phases by the study of general pedagogic methods, and 

 regretted that so little interest in agricultural education thus far had 

 been taken by trained educators. President Butterfield outlined the 

 scope and purpose of the department of agricultural education 

 recently established in the Massachusetts Agricultural College, and 

 Prof. C. B. Waldron, of North Dakota, described the three years' 

 teachers' course in that State. Doctor True pointed out certain fun- 

 damental distinctions in the attitude of the land-grant colleges and 

 the normal schools toward agricultural education. In his opinion, 

 the fullest development was to come through a serious cooperation 

 of all available agencies, including the colleges, the normal schools, 

 the Department of Agriculture, and the Bureau of Education. A 

 short history of an attempt to introduce elementar}' agriculture into 

 the rural schools in Scotland and its failure by reason of the with- 

 drawal of the government grants was presented by Professor Wal- 

 lace. 



A paper on Extension- Work in Agriculture was presented by Prof. 

 F. II. Rankin, of Illinois, who described salient features of that work, 

 its significance, and profitable lines of development. 



The Short Practical Course, Its Value and Importance, was dis- 

 cussed b}^ Dean Curtiss. A letter of inquiry showed that such courses 

 were conducted last winter in 34 of the 31) colleges reporting, with a 

 total enrollment of 7,776 persons, an average of 228 to each State. 



