AGRICULTURE 



103 



AGRICULTURE 



The Short Course. The early attempts to 

 teach agriculture in colleges failed largely be- 

 cause they were based on the theory that tech- 

 nical study in agriculture should follow the 

 iv luted studies, and because admission condi- 

 tions were placed so high that most young men 

 who desired to fit themselves for an agricul- 

 tural career were eliminated. The few who 

 entered the courses, moreover, lost much of 

 ihfir interest before they were allowed to begin 

 their technical studies. To overcome these ob- 

 jections the University of Wisconsin adopted a 

 plan, which has been widely followed both in 

 Canada and the United States, of giving a 

 short technical course, usually for ten or twelve 

 weeks in the winter. There are no require- 

 ments for admission and no credit is given for 

 study done; the knowledge gained is the only 

 attraction. These short courses have been 

 exceedingly popular, and have given oppor- 

 tunities for advancement to many men who 

 could not devote three or four college years 

 to study. 



In Secondary Schools. It was not until 

 thirty years after the establishment of the 

 first agricultural colleges that the first suc- 

 cessful agricultural high school was established. 

 This was in 1888, in connection with the Uni- 

 versity of Minnesota. Though its success was 

 immediate, by 1898 there were only ten second- 

 ary schools giving agricultural instruction. 

 Since that date, however, there has been a 

 great expansion, and in 1916 three-fourths of 

 state agricultural colleges had agricultural 

 high schools in connection with them. The 

 land-grant colleges for negroes in the Southern 

 states, moreover, though organized as colleges, 

 are yet hardly more than secondary schools. 

 Agricultural courses are also offered in many 

 state and county normal schools, but the object 

 of this instruction is to prepare teachers for 

 elementary schools rather than to make suc- 

 cessful fanners. 



Tli* independent agricultural high schools 

 are of two classes, either district or county 

 schools. Alabama, which was the first to estab- 

 l>ii district high schools, now has one for each 

 Congressional district. Georgia, Virginia and 

 Minnesota are other states which have adopted 

 'listrict system. Wisconsin, on the other 

 hand, was the first to adopt the county plan, 

 by which the state aids the agricultural high 

 school established by any county. This system 

 has also been adopted in Michigan, Maryland 

 and Mississippi, but the experience of then 

 to indicate that in most states the 



county is too small a unit to bear the expense 

 of a good high school in which only agriculture 

 is taught. The natural compromise is to teach 

 agriculture in the regular high schools, and this 

 plan has been tried in practically all the re- 

 maining states. In Missouri alone over 200 

 high schools are giving some instruction 

 in agriculture. In Canada, instruction in agri- 

 culture in many high schools and collegiate 

 institutes, particularly in Ontario, is a part of 

 the regular work. Agriculture teachers for the 

 elementary schools are trained at the agricul- 

 tural colleges, provincial normal schools, or at 

 special summer sessions of the provincial uni- 

 versities. 



It is noteworthy that everywhere, both in the 

 United States and Canada, the use of land for 

 instructional purposes is increasing. Nearly all 

 schools require some actual farm practice in 

 connection with the school work, and many of 

 the schools operate their own demonstration 

 farms. Another feature is the increased use of 

 the home-project method, in which the student 

 is required to do a certain amount of prac- 

 tical farming at home. This work is inspected 

 and is credited to him in addition to his school 

 work. 



In Elementary Schools. Instruction in agri- 

 culture in elementary schools is distinctly a de- 

 velopment of the twentieth century. A com- 

 pulsory system has been employed in France 

 since 1879, and in its revised national form 

 since 1896, and in Germany, Switzerland, 

 Sweden and other European countries similar 

 systems have been in force since about 1900. 

 In the United States and Canada almost noth- 

 ing was done previous to 1900, but since then 

 development has been rapid. Many states, aa 

 Iowa, require instruction in agriculture in all 

 rural elementary schools. Indiana requires it 

 in all rural schools, both high and elementary. 

 In Ontario the system is optional. There seems 

 to be a general agreement that instruction in 

 elementary schools should emphasize the pupil 

 rather than the subject, that is, the child's eyes 

 should be opened to the vegetable and animal 

 life about him, and the child should be made 

 to feel his relation to this environment. Up 

 to the sixth year of school this work is usually 

 a form of generalized nature study, but there- 

 after it is directed towards more purely agri- 

 cultural topics. In the elementary schools, as 

 in the high schools, the tendency is away from 

 text-books towards school gardens, home gar- 

 dens and other activities. It has been said that 

 no other new movement looking to the vital- 



