NOTES. 799 



There is now believed to be material of sufficient importance to justify a course 

 of at least two collegiate hours' value. 



The officers elected for the ensuing year are A. V. Storm, University of 

 Minnesota, president; W. H, French, Michigan Agricultural College, vice 

 president; and A. C. Monahan, U. S. Bureau of Education, secretary. 



Agriculture at the National Education Association. — Rural and agricultural 

 education received unusual attention at the meeting at Oakland, Cal., August 

 16-28. 



In a paper before the Department of Rural and Agricultural Education, C. H. 

 Lane defined the meaning of high school extension work in agriculture. This 

 comprises all educational efforts at the homes and on the farms of the people 

 and also such work at the school itself as centers directly in interests away 

 from the school. Community work in agriculture is, he deemed, a necessary 

 part of the school that is maintained by the people for the service of the people. 

 He maintained that before attempting extension work, however, the teacher 

 should study the agriculture of the community, the character of the soil and 

 improvements, systems of fai-ming, the class of farmers, and the condition of 

 the rural one-teacher schools and of the churches. The teacher may then extend 

 his work by supervising the home project work with his pupils, directing agri- 

 cultural instruction in the grades, organizing and following up boys' and girls' 

 clubs, acting as organizer for the one-week short course for farmers, offering 

 personal counsel and advice on certain days to farmers of the community, 

 assisting and organizing farmers' reading courses, directing school agricultural 

 exhibits locally and at the county fair, and through Saturday meetings vvith 

 farmers and by farm visitation. He should also have an office in the high school 

 in which facts pertaining to the agriculture of the community may be assembled 

 and where they will be available for the use of any person who desires them. 

 The agricultural teacher would thus be an organizer of information and of 

 movements and a director of agricultural enterprises within his school com- 

 munity. 



How Boys and Girls Respond to Home Work in a Large City was the title of 

 a paper bj' George L. Farley, in which he showed the surprising amount of 

 growth and interest in school and home gardening in the city of Brockton, 

 Mass. Four years ago a citizen of the city offered $25 to start the work and in 

 the fall some 30 children had carried the work to successful completion. This 

 year $300 was given by citizens in addition to about $1,000 furnished by the 

 city and over 2,700 pupils carried on gardens. In addition to garden work the 

 work has extended to the forming of poultry clubs, the keeping of bees, and 

 canning clubs. 



N. H. Forman read a paper on Gardening and Farming in the Philippine 

 schools, this consisting largely of a review of the progress made in the Philip- 

 pines along industrial lines since the requiring of industrial work in the public 

 schools in 1905. More than 100,000 pupils were engaged in gardening during 

 the school year of 1914-15 and more than 43,000 pupils had home gardens which 

 were kept producing throughout the year as required school work. 



Other papers read before this department were Educational Values of School 

 Credit for Home, Vacation, and Other Out-of-School Work; Boys' and Girls' 

 Demonstration Club Work as Units of Value in School Credit; Agricultural 

 Education in Australia, which consisted largely of a historical review of the 

 development of agricultural education in Australia; Means Now Employed in 

 the United States for the Training of Rural Teachers and the Extent of Such 

 Preparation for Work in Agriculture ; and The Preparation of Rural Teachers 

 Through State Colleges of Agriculture for Work in Agriculture, by President 

 H. J. Waters. President Waters maintained that this duty is the function of the 



