HOME ECONOMICS AND EDUCATION 689 



eludes soils, plants, animal husbandry, dairying, rural architecture, 

 blacksmithing, carpentry, and mechanical drawing, for boys; and 

 cooking, laundering, sewing, millinery, floriculture, household bac- 

 teriology and physics, home nursing, and home management and 

 decoration, for girls, besides English, United States history, civil 

 government, and commercial arithmetic for both boys ana girls. 

 Tuition is free. (Ex. S. Circ. 106.) 



Some ways in which these schools help the farmer are as fol- 

 lows: Prepare plans for farm buildings; make suggestions for re- 

 modeling old buildings ; build forms for and supervise the construc- 

 tion of cement silos, water troughs, and similar structures; test all 

 kinds of dairy products; assist in the selecting of farm animals; 

 plan drainage systems; test farm seeds for germination; test cattle 

 for tuberculosis; test soils and recommend systems of rotation. (Ex. 

 S. Bui. 42.) 



From a recent compilation of data concerning the status of sec- 

 ondary agricultural instruction in the United States at the close of 

 the year ended June 30, 1909, it appears that there were 60 agri- 

 cultural high schools or definitely secondary agricultural courses 

 in colleges, between 300 and 400 public high schools and academies 

 teaching agriculture, 109 state or county normal schools, and 16 

 agricultural colleges training young men and women to teach the 

 more elementary phases of agriculture, and quite a number of 

 private colleges and schools giving instruction in agriculture of sec- 

 ondary grade or correspondence courses which are approximately of 

 secondary grade, making in all about 500 institutions giving sec- 

 ondary instruction in agriculture. (A. R. E. S. 1909.) 



Normal Schools. The particular work of the normal school 

 is to prepare young people to teach school. Whatever else it may do 

 can not be considered normal school work. (E. S. Cir. 90.) 



The normal schools all over the country are responding as rap- 

 idly as their resources will permit to the demands made upon them 

 for teachers having some knowledge of the principles of agricul- 

 ture. Among the more recent legislative acts bearing on this phase 

 of the educational movement is that of the legislature of Texas, 

 which at its last session appropriated $2,000 a year for two years to 

 each of its three state normal schools, for the purpose of installing, 

 equipping, and maintaining departments of agriculture, manual 

 training, and domestic science. The act also made provision for 

 the introduction of teachers' courses in elementary agriculture in 

 the summer sessions of these three normal schools. For the support 

 of this work $3,000 annually was appropriated to be divided equally 

 among the six institutions. 



The normal and industrial schools for girls at Rock Hill, S. C. ; 

 Milledgeville, Ga. ; Montevallo, Ala. ; Columous, Miss. ; and Denton, 

 Tex., are among the institutions which now have definite depart- 

 ments of agriculture and provide courses of instruction in this 

 subject for the young women who attend their classes. 



The normal schools of Illinois during the past year have come 

 into closer touch with the interests of their farming constituency 



