88 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



prize being one hundred dollars. The contest was announced 

 in a special bulletin containing instructions as to the details of 

 preparation for the contests (129). 



One of the most popular buildings at the last Minnesota 

 State Fair was the Agricultural Hall Annex which was devoted 

 entirely to the exhibits in agriculture, household arts, and 

 manual training of the ten high schools receiving state aid for 

 teaching these subjects. 



The Oklahoma State Fair of 1910 arranged for a school 

 of agriculture to be held on its grounds. Each county is 

 entitled to two delegates, one hundred and fifty- four boys 

 being provided for. "This work will be done at the fair 

 grounds. The boys and instructors will sleep in a large tent." 

 A portion of each day is to be devoted to instruction, lectures 

 in the mornings and object-teaching or laboratory work in the 

 afternoons (130). A similar school for boys is conducted by 

 the Illinois State Fair (131). 



Contests, for example, corn contests, are held in some states 

 under the direction of the state office of agriculture. Such 

 contests are being held in Missouri this year all over the state, 

 and a Farm Boys' Encampment is conducted under the same 

 management. In South Carolina contests have been held through- 

 out the state under the joint direction of the State Department 

 of Agriculture and the United States Demonstration Work. In 

 the state contest which is soon to take place over three thousand 

 boys are enrolled. The winner of last year's contest, Bascomb 

 Usher, raised on one acre one hundred and fifty-two and one- 

 half bushels of corn. The average production of corn per acre 

 for the entire state was about eighteen bushels. A number of 

 other southern states are conducting similar co-operative contests 

 (see chap. xii). 



South Carolina, through its Department of Agriculture, has 

 been aiding the practical teaching of agriculture in a few high 

 schools by maintaining a skilled teacher and operating a farm 



