478 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



more recently we have tried the expeviinentnl trniits; and yet we can- 

 not reach thein — more esi)ecially, we cannot reach the boys and the 

 homes that need the information the most. 



There is a bill before the Federal Congress. ^Sfr. TToke Smith 

 has the bill in charge. I believe, and we have very great hopes that 

 it will pass the House of Representatives. Mr. Smith is very de- 

 sirous to know what the sentiment is, in Pennsylvania, towards this 

 bill, and I hope before you adjourn, the State Board of Agriculture 

 will vote to express approval of this bill which provides that a fund 

 of IG.OOO.OOO.OO be set aside for the purpose of spreading information 

 on agriculture, domestic science and pursuits in rural life. 



The second thought in my mind is, that I believe much of the 

 success that has come to the College has come from the efforts of 

 the State Board of Agriculture. 



What can we do for the farm in order that we may keep our 

 boys and girls there? How can we show that education in agricul- 

 ture is just as necessary as education in reading, writing, literature 

 and the curriculum of the public schools? The trouble is that the 

 teachers don't know how to do this. In many states we have legisla- 

 tive acts requiring agriculture to be taught in the public schools, and 

 this means that the teacher will simply take a text-book and ask the 

 question at the foot of the page. T think it should be labelled, 

 ''First aid to the injured,'' because that is what it is. The last paper 

 shows the result of scientific study, and only scientific study can 

 properly enable one to teach agriculture successfully. Last year T 

 was at an Institute in a state, not Pennsylvania, where the law re- 

 quired that a part of the Institute time should be devoted to this 

 work, and the County Superintendent said, thirty minutes would 

 satisfy the law. So the instructors drew lots to see which one should 

 give this half hour's talk. Under such conditions, how can it be 

 expected that any interest will be aroused in agriculture? 



Another bill introduced into Congress is known as the "Page 

 Bill," and provides for a sum of money to be granted by the United 

 States for the purpose of teaching agriculture in the Normal Schools 

 of the United States. This may help out to some degree. We must 

 first teach the teachers the subjeni't. and we are trying to do this to 

 some extent by the Summer session for the teachers at State Col- 

 lege. 



Here is where you give me the opportunity to advertise as you so 

 kindly do. The first summer we had one hundred and forty-seven 

 teachers in the Summer session. We have only pedagogue classes, 

 so that any class is a teachers class. The second summer we had 

 two hundred and nineteen, and this next year we expect to have at 

 least three hundred. The third session ])egins about the 19th of 

 June and continues during the four weeks of July. IVfost of the 

 teachers take the course in agrir-ulture. They pay i.'',.50 a week for 

 board, and if the price of butter does not go any higher, we still 

 hope to be able to give them butter and not oleomargarine, even at 

 that price. Then they pay fl.50 for room rent, and $5.00 for in- 

 struction during the six weeks se-ssion. This last five dollars is 

 simply a nominal charge to arouse their interest, because we do not 

 believe it pays to give something for nothing. The teachers last year 

 spent an average of |41.00 aside from carfare. We think this is 



