156 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High ScJiools 



Burkett, Stevens, and Hill, with practical demonstrations and 

 experiments in the school garden, or on the farm. The re- 

 spondent also adds " practical experience on the farm is also 

 counted, and if of two or more years may be sufficient without 

 the text book." 



Virginia. Agriculture is not accepted for entrance by the Uni- 

 versity of Virginia, although the subject is taught in its summer 

 school for high-school teachers. 



The relation of some of the above facts to local conditions 

 merits some attention. 



The attitude of the universities, with one exception, is as ad- 

 vanced as the state of agricultural instruction in the high schools 

 of the respective states, and in many cases is more so. 



Scarcely any candidates seem to have offered agriculture in 

 the literary department of universities which would accept it; 

 and the other colleges have not been called upon even to pass 

 on the question. Possibly this is because the young men who 

 could offer agriculture go to the agricultural colleges if to any. 



The number of high schools on the accredited list teaching 

 agriculture has been very small in most states. Until the past 

 year there have not been more than two or three each in lUinoi.s, 

 Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, and Tennessee, 

 and scarcely more than half a dozen in Kansas and Wisconsin. 

 (The University of Kansas but lately reported favorable to 

 accepting agriculture.) A majority of the high schools of 

 Indiana and Missouri teaching agriculture are the two-year and 

 three-year high schools. Most of those in Ohio, even though 

 four-year high schools, are one- and two-teacher schools. Ne- 

 braska has for some years made the best showing both in the 

 number of schools teaching agriculture, and in the ranking of 

 the schools doing so. The status has been changed materially 

 within the past year by the introduction of agricultural depart- 

 ments in ten Minnesota high schools, and of a four-year course 

 in agriculture in eleven Michigan schools. Several of the 

 eighty or more New York high schools with agriculture in their 

 training classes are also teaching it as a part of the regular 

 high-school course. A number of Illinois high schools have 

 recently taken teachers from the agricultural college. 



