1046 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



added to the failures recorded in France, Ireland, and Canada. Such 

 failures are likely to discourage further immediate efforts and prevent 

 the present undertaking of what might otherwise be done." 



The committee favored the consolidation of rural schools in order 

 that teachers specially fitted to this work might be secured and the 

 instruction made more efficient. It also advocated the establishment 

 of high schools, to meet the special needs of the rural population for 

 secondary education directly related to agricultural practice. 



In the discussion following this report Prof. W. M. Hays made a 

 strong plea in favor of schools specially adapted to the needs of coun- 

 try life. He called attention to the fact that thus far the public high 

 schools have almost exclusively shaped their curricula with reference 

 to the needs of the people living in cities, with the result that the 

 country children attending such schools are drawn away from the 

 farm. While recognizing that under present economic conditions a 

 considerable portion of the country youth would naturally be drawn to 

 the city, he urged that education for the country people should be of 

 such a character as to maintain farm life at a high level and make 

 farmers more efficient and progressive. 



Dr. A. C. True, of this Office, pointed out that leaders of agricul- 

 tural progress are now thoroughly in earnast in demanding that 

 instruction in agriculture shall be made a regular part of our public 

 school system, and that this demand shall be met by teachers and school 

 officers. He stated that enough had been done to show that such 

 instruction could be made successful in elementary and secondary 

 schools, and that it only remained to work out a feasible plan for the 

 general introduction of agriculture into the rural schools. The wide 

 interest which has been aroused, the experiments which are making 

 with different methods, and the intelligent study which is now being 

 given to the subject by educators, make the probable realization of 

 this end not far distant. 



Penns}dvania State College celebrated the semicentennial of the 

 granting of its charter in connection with the annual commencement 

 June 11-14. The charter was granted by the State legislature in 1855, 

 largely through the efforts of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Society, 

 but the institution, then designated "The Farmers' High School of 

 Pennsylvania," was not opened for students until 1859. 



The special feature of the semicentennial exercises was a series of 

 addresses by graduates and officers of the college, reviewing the history 

 of the institution in different lines. These addresses will be published, 

 and thus form a permanent record of the progress of the college dur- 

 ing the first half century of its career. An unusually large number of 

 alumni and former students of the college were in attendance, almost 

 every class since 1861 being represented in the parade on alumni day. 



