Introduction 3 



The source material has been, first, direct data on the high 

 schools themselves : ( i ) Questionaire replies from superinten- 

 dents, principals, and special teachers of agriculture; (2) cata- 

 logues, class material, and other records furnished by these 

 schools; (3) personal visits to selected schools scattered from 

 the Atlantic Coast to the Missouri River; and (4) some little 

 material furnished by the state reports. Second, contributory 

 data : ( i ) Documentary data and personal visits to summer 

 schools attempting to help the high-school teachers; (2) returns 

 from officers of administration and graduates of agricultural 

 colleges, bearing on the salary question; (3) data from special 

 agricultural schools, bearing on certain phases of the general 

 question; and (4) special reports of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, of the Bureau of Education, of state boards 

 of agriculture, of the National Education Association, various 

 addresses, and miscellaneous sources. 



So far as possible, the replies have been reduced to similar 

 terms so as to make comparable as large a number of schools 

 as possible. But owing to omissions of certain items in the 

 replies, the number of such comparable cases is considerably 

 smaller than the number even of the fuller replies, ranging from 

 fifty per cent to ninety per cent, according to the items com- 

 pared. It has been possible to supply estimates of population, 

 enrollment, etc., in no small degree from the state reports of 

 Nebraska and Ohio, which states include over one-half of the 

 schools reporting. 



