EDITORIAL. 103 



The main objects of the school have been to arouse interest in 

 graduate study and to stimulate a keener sense of the needs and re- 

 quirements of such work by bringing graduate students for a brief 

 time under the direct influence and inspiration of leading teachers 

 and investigators in different branches of agricultural and related 

 sciences. There can be no doubt that this school has exerted con- 

 siderable influence in promoting the establishment of graduate courses 

 in agriculture in a number of institutions. It is also believed that 

 it has done much toward creating more favorable conditions for seri- 

 ous study and research along agricultural lines in our whole system 

 of agricultural colleges and experiment stations. And through its 

 conferences on pedagogical and other questions relating to the 

 broader aspects of agricultural education it has aided in the wider 

 diffusion of agricultural knowledge through the lower schools and 

 extension agencies. 



In the decade during which the Graduate School of Agriculture 

 has been in operation the movement for agricultural education in the 

 United States has been greatly broadended and strengthened. Com- 

 paring very briefly the statistics of 1901 with those of 1011 (the 

 latest available), avc may get some indication of the growth of 

 our agricultural institutions during this period. The ]:)ermanent 

 funds and equipment of the land-grant colleges have increased from 

 $67,000,000 to $120,000,000 and their income from $7,000,000 to 

 $22,000,000. The total number of students has increased from 42,000 

 to 84,000, and of agricultural students from 7,000 to 16,000. 



In 1901, 2,000 farmers' institutes were held in the United States, 

 Avith an attendance of 500,000; in 1911 there were 6,000 institutes. 

 Avith an attendance of 2,500,000, to which may be added 1,000,000 

 persons who attended the lectures given in connection with special 

 railroad trains and other forms of extension Avork. 



jNIeanAvhile there has been a remarkably rapid introduction of 

 agriculture into the secondary schools. Within the past two years 

 the number of institutions of secondary grade giving courses in agri- 

 culture has risen from 700 to 2,300. 



"V'N'^ithin the past ten years experimental and research Avork in agri- 

 cultural lines has also greatl}^ increased. In 1901 the experiment 

 stations had an income of $1,232,000, as compared with $3,615,000 

 in 1911; and the membership of their staffs increased from 688 to 

 1,587. In the middle of this period the Adams Act was passed, 

 which has already done A^ery much to set in operation higher re- 

 searches on agi-icultural problems. 



It is interesting to note the increase in some lines of research— 

 the number of chemists increasing from 146 to 293; botanists from 

 49 to 84 ; mycologists and bacteriologists from 21 to 60 ; entomologists 

 from 48 to 108 ; horticulturists from 78 to 131 ; animal husbandmen 



