i88 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Sclwols 



istry of soils . . ." (Twelve other subjects are also enu- 

 merated.) 



The legislature of Texas in 1909 passed the following law 

 providing state aid for establishing departments of agriculture, 

 but expressly forbidding aid in maintaining them after the first 

 year : 



It shall be the duty of the state board of education to dupli- 

 cate by an appropriation out of money provided by this act, 

 any amount not less than five hundred dollars ($500) and not 

 more than two thousand dollars ($2,000) that shall have been 

 appropriated and set apart by the trustees of any common school 

 district for the purpose of establishing, equipping, and maintain- 

 ing departments in their respective schools for giving instruction 

 in agriculture, including such courses in manual training and 

 domestic economy as are subsidiary to agriculture; provided, 

 such appropriation or donation shall not be made more than 

 twice to the same school, and provided that in granting such 

 appropriations to high schools the state board of education shall 

 consider the geographical location of the school applying, with 

 a view of locating if possible one school in each of the sena- 

 torial districts of the state. The board of trustees of a school 

 seeking aid in establishing, equipping, and maintaining in their 

 high schools a department for the teaching of agriculture, in- 

 cluding such courses in manual training and domestic economy 

 as are subsidiary to agriculture, shall provide ample room and 

 laboratories for instruction in botany, zoolog}', and such other 

 elementary sciences as are necessary to instruction in secondary 

 agriculture, and shall provide a tract of land conveniently located, 

 which shall be sufficiently large and well adapted to the produc- 

 tion of farm and garden plants, and shall employ a teacher who 

 has received special training in agriculture and allied branches. 

 The state superintendent of public instruction shall make full 

 and accurate investigation of the school property, appliances, 

 and ground possessed by any board of trustees that may seek 

 aid under the provisions of this act, and he shall also inquire 

 into the qualifications of the teacher or teachers who are to give 

 instruction in agriculture, manual training, and domestic economy 

 in the school or schools seeking aid under the provisions of this 

 act, and shall make a report of the result of his investigation 

 to the state board of education, together with his conclusions and 

 recommendations touching the same. The state board of edu- 

 cation shall grant aid to those high schools that have complied 

 with the provisions of this act and that have been recommended 

 by the state superintendent of public instruction and that shall 



