EDUCATION OF RURAL PEOPLE 117 



with country life, belongs to the educational institution. 

 The teaching of students of course is the province of 

 the schools. Originally the work of disseminating in- 

 formation belonged to boards of agriculture, but with 

 the rise of the extension service of the colleges and the 

 county farm bureaus, it is clear that their function is 

 also to spread information among all the farmers. 

 This division of labor has been agreed to by representa- 

 tives of the colleges and the state departments of agri- 

 culture. It only remains to carry out the purpose in 

 every state. Misunderstandings have arisen and there 

 has been loss of energy and efficiency on account of this 

 misunderstanding. It no longer should prevail. 



There needs to be wide extension of the system of 

 schools of agriculture, intended to be finishing schools, 

 not schools preparatory for college. Doubtless, the 

 boy graduating at such a school of agriculture should be 

 able to secure further education if he wants it. But we 

 cannot have an adequate system of agricultural educa- 

 tion unless we have abundant opportunities for training 

 for farming boys below the college age. Indeed, when 

 our system of agriculture is thoroughly developed, by 

 far the larger number of farmers who have studied ag- 

 riculture in school will be graduates not of agricultural 

 colleges, but of agricultural schools. It is to be hoped 

 that agricultural colleges will send out an increasing 

 number of men and women who will seek their living on 

 the farm. But perhaps the most important develop- 

 ment that can now take place in our agricultural educa- 

 tion consists in increasing very rapidly the number of 

 agricultural schools. 



If we are to develop a system of agricultural educa- 

 tion that will meet the demands of the time, we must 

 very soon secure greater unity in the management of 



