RURAL ECONOMICS. 797 



ship and inspiration, (5) patrons cooperate in such work with cordial interest, 

 and (6) the work of the schools is stimulated by corn-jjrowing and other prize 

 contests, determined and awarded in annual township and county exhibits. 



Education for efficiency in rural communities, A. M. Soule (pp. 101-129). — 

 This paper is an exhaustive discussion of the i)roblems involved in the improve- 

 ment of rural education. 



Agriculturcin the elementary school, F. L. Stevens (pp. 219-224). — The author 

 of this paper lays emphasis on the following general propositions: (1) The 

 ordinary elementary teacher can teach as large a percentage of the teachable 

 facts of agriculture as she can of the facts of history, geography, or English, 



(2) a text-book should be used as the basis, supplemented with available 

 illustrative material, (3) teachers of the subject should receive special instruc- 

 tion in summer schools and institutes, (4) the teaching of agriculture should be 

 required by school authorities, and (5) an itinerant supervisor should be em- 

 ployed to assist the eft'orts of the local teacher. 



Agriculinre in puWie high schools, J. J. Doster (pp. 225-233). — The author 

 discusses the reasons for general rural indifference to school improvement and 

 calls attention to the need of text-books in physics, biology, chemistry, mathe- 

 matics, be>okkeeping, and history that are adapted to rural conditions and inter- 

 ests and illustrate the importance of agriculture in the industrial development 

 of the race. He suggests that country boys and girls should be encouraged to 

 carry on a productive business in truck or fruit growing or in stock or poultry 

 raising while studying in the rural high school. The school " should be the 

 social center of the neighborhood," and "evening classes for the benefit of the 

 women of the neighborhood in cooking, dress cutting and dress making, in train- 

 ing to care for the sick, and in the prevention of disease, might be formed." 



What the college of agriculture can do to promote the teaching of agricul- 

 ture in the rural schools, C. A. Keffer (pp. 233-242). — This address was pre- 

 sented under the following heads: (1) The place of the college of agriculture 

 in the school system of the State, (2) college extension work in agriculture, and 



(3) the development among the voters of a sentiment favorable to tlie teaching of 

 agriculture. The author holds that the state agricultural college should be 

 regarded as an integral part of the public school system, and that it should take 

 a leading position in promoting agriculture in the lower schools. 



Agriculture in normal schools, D. B. Johnson (pp. 242-250). — After a general 

 review of the rapid progress of secondary agricultural education developments 

 in this country, the author of this paper describes particularly the instruction 

 and practice work of Winthrop Normal and Industrial College, Rockhill, S. C, 

 in agriculture and domestic science. 



Papers were also given on What One Southern Agricultural High School Has 

 Done, by C. A. Cobb; Community Improvement Through the School-Home, by 

 H. T. Bailey; and Education for Economic Etheiency, by J. C. Branner. 



Public school agriculture, how taug'ht and how connected with the busi- 

 ness of farming, D. .J. Chosby (Minn. Consrrv. and Agr. Development Cong., 

 1910, pp. 120-126).— This address, after dealing briefly with the general agen- 

 cies for education and reseiirch as related to the conservation of natural re- 

 sources, proceeds to describe more fully the agencies for secondary education in 

 agriculture, the rapid introduction of such courses in the public schools, and 

 the establishment of special vocational schools of agriculture and domestic 

 science. The functions of these special schools are designated as follows: 

 (1) To stimulate the more general introduction of agricultural teaching into the 

 common schools, (2) to aid in the preparation of teachers, (3) to serve as voca- 

 tional connecting links between the public schools and the agricultural colleges, 



(4) to serve as finishing schools iu agriculture for those who can not attend 



