19201 EDITORIAL. 705 



the Federal Department throujjhout the war. Dr. Taylor presented 

 an exhaustive analysis of the world's wheat supply and prices, show- 

 in<jj in detail the immensity and complexity of the [jostwar inHuences 

 atl'ecting this staple crop, that the price of wheat is by no means a 

 local or even a national matter but world-wide in its ramifications, 

 depending not only upon production but upon transportation facili- 

 ties, national and international credit and exchange, and many other 

 factors. The paper was recognized as a distinct contribution of such 

 value to economic anil extension workers and others that the executive 

 committee of the association was re(juested to arrange for its early 

 publication. 



Of (juite (liferent scope, but also of wide appeal, was the address 

 of Dean W. W. Charters of the Carnegie Institute of Technology 

 on the improvement of college teaching. In this address Dean 

 Charters compared the pedagogic value of the fundamental and 

 ai)plied sciences, aiguing for a greater use of the latter as cultural 

 material. He also explained the project methotl for various sub- 

 jects, and advocated a greater employment of this method in college 

 teach in<r. 



This address proAed to be the foierunner of several on the same 

 general subject in the subsection of resident instruction and else- 

 where. The subsection devoted one of its sessions to a symposium 

 on the content of a four-year college curriculum in agriculture, at 

 which Dean P^ugene Davenport of Illinois discussed required funda- 

 mental courses in science, English, etc.: Prof. H. F. Cotteiman 

 of Maryland, the required courses in agricultural subjects; and 

 President W. M. Jardine of Kansas, the amount and character of 

 the elective courses. Another session dealt largely Avith means of 

 im])roving the methods of teachers iilready in service. Dean K. L. 

 AVatts of Pennsylvania aroused much interest by an account of the 

 beneficial results obtained from a course of lectures by an expert 

 in i)edagogy on the principles of teaching, attended voluntarily by 

 ninety-five per cent of his staff. Mention should also be made of 

 an afternoon symposium of the American Society of Agronomy, at 

 which hotli content and method of teaching Avere considered. 



The standing committee on instruction in agriculture. h<mie eco- 

 nomics, and mechanic aits presented a preliminary report on a com- 

 prehensive in(juirv into the improvement of college teaching in 

 vocational subjects. On the basis of over eight huiurred rej^lies 

 received from (|uesti()nnaires sent to college presidents and teachers 

 of agriculture, home economics, and mechanic arts, the committee 

 found that, while there is some variation among the various subjects, 

 only fourteen per cent of instructors, thirty-eight per cent of assist- 

 ant professors, and forty-seven per cent of professors noAv have a 



