396 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.38 



Statistical data showing the whole number of graduates in branches relat- 

 ing to agriculture, mechanic arts, and science and classics in the land-grant 

 colleges in 1872-73, the distribution of students iu land-grant colleges in 

 1894-1914 in agriculture and mechanic arts, the percentage of total distribu- 

 tion of the expenditures of the land-grant colleges from 1903-1915, income of 

 land-grant colleges according to sources from 1892-1915, and Federal aid now 

 available to the colleges under the various acts are included, as well as tables 

 presenting the development of the curriculum of three agricultural colleges 

 (Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Illinois) at approximately 25-year intervals. 



" The vagueness of aim during the first 30 years following the passing of 

 the Morrill Act is well brought out by the uncoordinated mass of subject mat- 

 ter, for which it would be difficult to find justification in the philosophy of edu- 

 cation or in the practical needs of the agricultural profession. The tendency 

 since 1890 has been toward differentiation and specialization. Much has been 

 eliminated that was not pertinent, a better conception has been formed of the 

 cultural needs of the agricultural specialists, and finally, the practical and 

 scientific needs of the farmer have been well coordinated. The modern agricul- 

 tural college presents not merely an array of subject matter that was impos- 

 sible before the development of the sciences on which agriculture depends, 

 but a large number of specialized courses." 



An introduction to the bulletin by H. S. Pritchett, president of the Carnegie 

 Foundation, contains a serious arraignment of the policy and results of Federal 

 aid to agricultural education. He declares that " it is not too much to say 

 that for the first 50 years of their existence the colleges thus established did 

 very little to advance the interests of agriculture or to minister to the needs 

 of the young men and young women on the farm. It is only within the last few 

 years 'that they have addressed themselves directly to this problem." 



State-aided vocational education: A resume of ten years' progress. [Sta- 

 tistics of vocational education] {Ann. Rpt. Bd. Ed. [Mass.'\, 80 (1915-16), pp. 

 128-165, 261-301). — A 10-years' r6sum# of vocational education in Massachu- 

 setts includes the conclusions of the Douglas Commission on Industrial and 

 Technical Education in 1906 and comments thereon in 1916. Public vocational 

 education of secondary-school grade in Massachusetts may be claimed to be the 

 result of the report of this commission. It considered the problem of vocational 

 education from the side of the industries and the adult workman and from the 

 side of the children who were to enter the industries of the State. 



The article also reports on the present status of State-aided vocational educa- 

 tion and home economics training in Massachusetts. The agricultural education 

 is being given by 3 county vocational agricultural schools, a separate agricul- 

 tural day school, at Northampton, doing the same type of work and receiving 

 State aid under special acts of the legislature, and 15 agricultural departments in 

 connection with high schools and academies. In Norfolk County the board of 

 education is maintaining a central agricultural school of moderate size (estab- 

 lished in 1915-16), and supporting it at the most distant points in the county 

 by branches consisting of 1-teacher agricultural departments in high schools. 

 In 1915-16 the total enrollment in the separate schools was 274, including 39 

 nonresidents, and in the departments, 223 students including 74 nonresidents. 



By the provisions of an act of the 1916 legislature, 36 cities were authorized 

 to maintain schools of agriculture and horticulture for families and individuals, 

 the instruction being subject to the approval of the State Board of Education. 

 The board believes that vegetable and fruit growing, poultry keeping, and 

 possibly the production of milk and honey may be taught families not by book 

 or lecture method, but by personal instruction and supervision. 



