404 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. 



vary considerably. The Canadian commission, whose scope, it should 

 be stated, was somewhat wider than that of the United States com- 

 mission, since it embraced industrial and technical education of the 

 higher and lower as well as the secondary grades, suggests a compre- 

 hensive system of agricultural training. This system has as its base, 

 intermediate rural classes or schools for pupils thirteen years of age 

 or over. These institutions would oifer two-year courses at the 

 schools, on the farm, and in the home, and would aim to prepare 

 pupils for general farming, housekeeping, and life in a rural com- 

 munity. They would also admit graduates to the rural high schools. 

 These high schools would present a four-year course, the first two 

 years of which would be similar to those of the rural intermediate 

 school, and as a whole would aim to prepare students for rural 

 occupations and housekeeping as well as for admission to the agri- 

 cultural colleges. There are also recommended resident or traveling 

 county instructors in farming and housekeeping, who would eventu- 

 ally be associated with the rural schools or high schools and in some 

 cases with a system of demonstration farms. Special types of schools, 

 such as apprentice schools for the teaching of ordinary farm prac- 

 tices, short courses to be offered at the demonstration farms, and 

 resident county agricultural and housekeeping schools for young 

 people from seventeen years of age upwards are also suggested to 

 meet certain conditions. 



The United States commission recognizes the provisions now be- 

 ing made under the Smith-Lever Act for the education of the adult 

 farmer and his wife, but suggests the need of additional provision 

 for the boys and girls of the rising generation. It believes that 

 " the most opportune time to train the boy is during his adolescent 

 period, when he has already gained much knowledge of farm work 

 and its requirements and is at the age when he is most ambitious, 

 most alert, and therefore most teachable. The agricultural school 

 will awaken interest, turn his attention to the large possibilities of a 

 scientific and businesslike agriculture, and give him an elementary 

 knowledge of right methods of farming which will start him in his 

 career as a farmer and prepare him to use with profit the scientific 

 and practical information which magazines, bulletins, and farm- 

 extension teaching are bringing to his door." 



To this end it advocates a system of schools of subcoUegiate grade 

 and for pupils over fourteen years of age. The instruction recom- 

 mended is classified in general as that of all-day schools but with 

 ample provision for correlating the school work with farm oper- 

 ations. Much insistence is placed upon directed or supervised farm 

 practice to be obtained either on the home farm or a farm provided 

 by the school. As regards details, however, either as to types of 

 schools or methods of operations, the commission recognizes the great 



