430 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



referred to the section for college work, as this subject was upon the 

 programme of that section (see below). 



The committee on methods of teaching- agriculture presented a report 

 on The Teaching of Agriculture in the Rural Common Schools. This 

 reviewed the development of industrial training in the common schools, 

 the movement to introduce agriculture into rural schools, and the 

 various forms which this work has taken; discussed some obstacles in 

 the way, the object of teaching agriculture, and concluded with a syl- 

 labus of an elementary course in agriculture/' 



The report of the committee on graduate study reaffirmed the plan 

 of conducting a graduate school under the auspices of the association, 

 and recommended that the school be held in future every two }^ears, 

 beginning, if possible, with the coming summer, that each agricultural 

 college he requested to contribute a small sum of money, say $25, to 

 aid the maintenance of such a school, and that the committee be 

 empowered to arrange for the holding of such schools. This report 

 was adopted. 



The report of the committee on rural engineering, presented by 

 Dr. W. E. Stone, chairman, reported the progress which has been made 

 during the year in developing courses in agricultural engineering and 

 farm mechanics. Courses in these subjects are now offered by the 

 agricultural colleges of California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, 

 Kansas, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyo- 

 ming. Some examples of the benefits of instruction and investiga- 

 tion carried on by these departments were presented. The report 

 recognized it as exceeding^ important at this time that a bureau or 

 division of agricultural engineering be organized in this Department, 

 to aid the colleges which now have courses in agricultural engineer- 

 ing, to collect the data which such colleges are obtaining in their experi- 

 mental tests, to carry on original research, and to establish laboratories 

 for practical tests of implements, etc. 



Prof. W. M. Hays presented the report of the committee on animal 

 and plant breeding, which described the formation of the American 

 Breeders 1 Association, now numbering 275 members, 15 of whom are 

 life members. 



In a scholarly address on The Social Phase of Agricultural Educa- 

 tion, President Kenyon L. Buttertield laid down the broad proposition 

 that ''the permanent function of the agricultural college is to serve as 

 a social organ or agency of first importance, in helping to solve all 

 phases of the rural problem." 



The introduction of rural economics and the spirit which it stands 

 for was stated to be far more than the adding of three or four subjects 

 of study to the agricultural course, but to involve the very function 



« Since issued as Circular 60 of this Office. 



