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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL. No. 1041 



year are Dean E. A. Burnett, of Nebraska, 

 chairman; Director W. R. Dodson, of Louisi- 

 ana, secretary; and W. H. Beal, of the OfSce 

 of Experiment Stations, recording secretary. 



The section on extension work held a joint 

 session with the American Association of 

 Farmers' Institute Workers, at which Dr. A. 

 C. True took up the question of the use of the 

 Smith-Lever fund for farmers' institutes as a 

 phase of extension work. In this he drew at- 

 tention to the strictly educational character of 

 the extension work contemplated by the act 

 and the great stress laid on practical demon- 

 strations. The farmers' institutes, therefore, 

 come within the provisions of the law only so 

 far as they may be agencies through which 

 the colleges can carry on work of this type. 

 Where the institute system is directly con- 

 nected with the colleges it is believed that 

 they may be easily modified and restricted in 

 scope so as to give them a distinctive place in 

 the extension system. In states where the in- 

 stitutes are under the direction of other agen- 

 cies, their maintenance apparently does not 

 come within the provisions of the law, though 

 there may be cooperation and participation by 

 the college staffs. The eventual establishment 

 of a county agent system will also affect the 

 situation. Conditions as to farmers' insti- 

 tute administration at present vary so widely 

 in different states that apparently the first 

 need is a standardization of the institute. 



The relation of farmers' institutes to or- 

 ganized extension agencies was also discussed 

 by G. I. Christie, of Indiana. He believed 

 that the institute is fulfilling a practical need 

 but should be correlated with other extension 

 work and brought under the supervision of the 



As an example of a model farmers' institute 

 address. Director C. E. Thorne, of Ohio, gave 

 a paper on " Maintaining Crop Production." 

 Former Dean L. H. Bailey, of Cornell Uni- 

 versity, closed the joint session with an ad- 

 dress on " The Present Responsibility of the 

 Kural People." This had special reference to 

 the conditions brought about by the European 

 war and emphasized the political responsibility 

 of rural people in the progress of the nation. 



The extension section also took up the prob- 

 lem of placing county agents in effective 

 touch with farmers. C. B. Smith, of the 

 States Relations Committee, indicated as 

 among the essentials the employment of a well- 

 trained representative, the making of a com^ 

 plete survey of the agricultural conditions, 

 and the securing of the cooperation of the ex- 

 isting organizations, working through groups 

 wherever possible. C. R. Titlow, of West Vir- 

 ginia, also advocated the utilizing of existing 

 organizations, both oiEcial and non-official, 

 and presented a chart showing graphically the 

 correlation of the various agencies. 



C. D. Jarvis, of Connecticut, discussed the 

 planning of extension work by means of defi- 

 nite written projects, favoring in addition to 

 the federal requirements a seasonal schedule 

 for workers. K. L. Hatch, of Wisconsin, sub- 

 mitted a report from the committee on the 

 training of extension teachers, advocating the 

 provision of technical training along the spe- 

 cial line of prospective extension work and in- 

 struction in the art of teaching. He suggested 

 that the time necessary for this training might 

 be secured by eliminating requirements of for- 

 eign languages and mathematics. Teachers 

 of approved ability in secondary agricultural 

 schools were suggested as a promising source 

 of supply for extension work. The officers 

 elected for the ensuing year were R. D. Hetzel, 

 of Oregon, chairman; C. R. Titlow, secretary, 

 and John Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, record- 

 ing secretary. Howard L. Knight 



THE CONVOCATION WEEK MEETING OF 

 SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES 



The American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science and the national scientific 

 societies named below will meet at Philadel- 

 phia, during convocation week, beginning on 

 December 28, 1914: 



American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science. — President, Dr. Charles W. Eliot, Har- 

 vard University; retiring president, Professor 

 Edmund B. Wilson, Columbia University; perma- 

 nent secretary. Dr. L. O. Howard, Smithsonian 

 Institution, Washington, D. C; general secretary, 



