494 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



An effort is being made to form an agricultural experimental union on essen- 

 tially the same plan as similar organizations elsewhere. Ground lias been 

 lu'oken for the new dormitory and dining liall. 



National Association of State Universities. — At tlie convention held ac Wash- 

 ington, D. C, >s'ovember IG and 17, the committee reports and papers considered 

 were chiefly concerned with administrative matters iu connection with 

 State universities. Of these two dealt with problems having an important 

 bearing on institutions for agricultural education, viz, the report of the com- 

 mittee on standards, and a paper on university extension in State universities. 

 The report of the committee on standards, which was preliminary iu nature, 

 defined the standard American university as an institution (1) requiring for 

 admission the completion of a standard American high-school course of four 

 years (not less than 14 units of .5 periods each) ; (2) offering in the College 

 of Liberal Arts and Sciences two years of general work completing or supple- 

 menting the high-school course; (3) offering further two years of university 

 work leading to the bachelor's degree, and '* reaching forward to the continu- 

 ation of this work iu the graduate school or the professional school;" (4) 

 offering professional courses in law, or medicine, or engineering, based upon 

 the completion of two years of college work, and (5) offering in the Graduate 

 School an adequate course leading to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The 

 committee recommended further that not less than GO units of college work 

 be required for the bachelor's degree; that the qualifications of teachers iu 

 the high scliool should be not less than the bachelor's degree and ought to 

 be the master's degree; that as a rule professors of all grades of college work 

 should have the degree of Doctor of Philosophy or its equivalent; that pro- 

 fessors giving instruction in graduate work should further show their scholastic 

 ability by successful research and publication, and by demonstration of their 

 ability as teachers; that adequate libraries, laboi-atories, and other equipment 

 should be provided ; that three years or 45 units from the beginning of the 

 junior year be required for the degree of Master of Arts, and five years or 75 

 units for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and with work in residence; and 

 that to be a standard university an institution shall be equipped to give in- 

 struction leading to the degree of Doctor of Philosphy in at least five depart- 

 ments and shall have at least one university professional school requiring 

 two j'ears of college training for admission. 



The paper on University Extension in State Universities was presented by 

 L. E. Reber, Director of Extension Work in the University of Wisconsin. 

 This dealt largely with the extension work conducted by that university, which 

 is planned to reach ultimately all classes of people in the State. There will 

 be a central, organization reaching out to all parts of the State through lec- 

 tures, publications, demonstrations, correspondence, various traveling equip- 

 ments, the services of specialists and traveling teachers, study outlines, and 

 reading and correspondence courses. The State will also be divided into dis- 

 tricts, in each of which there will be a university representative with assistants. 

 The plan is a very elaborate one and seems to be well designed to extend 

 greatly the influence of the university. Some of its features as applied to 

 agricultural extension work have been previously noted (E. S. R., 19, p. 798). 



Agriculture at the Baltimore Meeting of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science. — This meeting of the association, which was held during 

 the week beginning December 28, 190S, was largely attended, the registration 

 reaching nearly 1,100. In addition to section meetings covering practically the 

 entire field of pure science and a large part of the field of applied science, about 

 35 scientific societies, many of them affiliated with the association, held meetings 

 at the same time. 



