192 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED, 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 



Consolidated rural schools and organization of a county system, G. W. 

 Knorr iU. S. Dept. Agr., Office Expt. Stas. Bill. 232, pp. 99, figs. 3i).— Tills 

 bulletin is tbe product of 3 years' investigation of the actual workings of school 

 consolidation plans in various parts of the United States. Attention is given to 

 the various types of consolidated schools and their cost of maintenance, educa- 

 tional efficiency, and influence on rural social life. Plans are offered to illus- 

 trate the feasibility of consolidation under apparently adverse conditions. A 

 list of tables showing the principal features of the investigation greatly in- 

 creases the servlceableness of the bulletin to students of education. 



As a result of his investigations the author believes that consolidated rural 

 schools will eventually supplant the scattered one and two room rural schools 

 over a large part of the United States. That the rate of progress in school 

 consolidation during the first 20 years after its inception was characterized by 

 slow growth is accounted for by the natural conservatism of school patrons, by 

 the lack of a scientific system of school financing, and by lack of cooperation. 

 These hindrances to progress are disappearing and at the rate that schools have 

 been consolidatetl during the past 5 years " the next few decades should see a 

 well coordinated rural school system nearlng its completion." 



The author finds that the numerous advantages of the consolidated as com- 

 pared with the district school are secured through free conveyance of pupils, 

 and are impossible of attainment except by that means. He states further that 

 in communities where consolidation has had a fair trial, fully 95 per cent of 

 the school patrons give it their Indorsement and hearty support. 



The advantages of the consolidated over the district school are apparent in 

 financing, supervising, teaching, and attendance. The consolidated school articu- 

 lates better with other schools, the money it expends yields larger results, 

 better teachers are employed at larger salaries, the pupils make more rapid 

 progress (gaining two-thirds of a year from the fourth to the eighth grade) 

 and are better prepared for high school work, the attendance is larger and more 

 regular, and opportunities are afforded for greatly enriching the course of study 

 through the introduction of agriculture and home economics into the upper 

 elementary grades and the high school. 



Programnae for technical schools and science and art schools and classes 

 (Dept. Agr. and Tech. Instr. Ireland [Oirc.], 1910, pp. 26). — This Is an explana- 

 tory circular, with the regulations for 1910-11, for the administration and dis- 

 tribution of grants to schools other than day secondary schools. 



Ways in which the higher institutions may serve rural communities, 

 A. D. Weeks (Ed. Rev., 40 (1910), No. 3, pp. 229-23.'i).—ln this address before 

 the North Dakota Educational Association the author maintains that " the two 

 chief agencies of social control are education and legislation, closely interre- 

 lated," and points out that the higher institutions of learning are largely re- 

 sponsible for proper ideals of legislation. He would have these higher insti- 

 tutions collect reliable data regarding the civic and social needs of the country 

 population, then study, analyze, and Interpret them, " create attitudes with re- 

 gard to them, and work up momentum for Improved conditions." In his opin- 

 ion " education in the industries of agriculture, stock raising, fruit culture, 

 home making, and forms of manufacturing lies at the very basis of improved 

 conditions," and much good may be expected from institutions teaching these 

 subjects, not only through work in the class rooms but also through " extra- 

 mural education." 



Farmers' institutes for young people, J. Hamilton and J. M. Stedman 

 (V. 8. Dept. Agr., Office Expt. Stas. Circ. 99, pp. JfO). — This circular calls atten- 



