28 Agricultural Instruction in tlie Public High Schools 



inquiry, while only 32 per cent of the second class so responded. 

 This might seem to represent fairly well the relative importance 

 attached to the work by the principals, and, judging from the 

 check on their work by later questions, it probably represents 

 equally well the degree of seriousness with which outsiders may 

 regard the work done. The absence of experiments by the 

 pupils or demonstrations by the teacher in the sciences given, 

 or the use of any of the government bulletins and similar lit- 

 erature, seems to furnish a basis of fact for the contempt held 

 by many for all so-called " incidental " or " correlated " agri- 

 cultural work. The fact should not be overlooked, however, that 

 not a few high schools listing agriculture as a separate subject 

 for a half-year or longer are equally lacking in both the tools 

 and the methods of instruction. It will also be seen from the 

 notes on certain schools given in the next chapter, that a very 

 high grade of agricultural instruction is sometimes given in 

 connection with other science work. 



The following tables show the distribution according to 

 regions, type of schools, total enrollment in the various schools, 

 enrollment in the agricultural classes, proportion of such classes 

 to total enrollment, percentage from farm homes, and total 

 number of such pupils. All the remaining tables in this chap- 

 ter are based on returns received from the schools themselves. 



Tables 5, 6, and 7 show the distribution according to regions, 

 population, and number reporting more or less fully. The 



Table 5 

 Agriculture Taught as a Separate Study 



o The counties are kept separate in Tables s and 6 because they always run over 4,000 

 but are essentially rural in population, and often include no towns with over 4,000 popu- 

 lation. 



