y BULLETIN 592, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
third year, horticulture; fourth year, rural economics and farm 
management and rural engineering. It is not essential that this order 
shall be maintained in all cases. In districts where fruit’growing or 
vegetable gardening are the predominating agricultural industries, it 
may be preferable to have horticulture in the first year and let the 
students learn the fundamentals of plant production in their applica- 
tion to fruit growing, vegetable gardening, and floriculture. 
The topics within each course and their order of presentation must 
be adapted also to meet local needs. It is left with the local teacher 
to work out a seasonal sequence where such is desired. The teacher 
also should emphasize topics of local importance at the expense of 
those not having local value. For example, lesson outlines cover 
both grapes and strawberries. It may happen that strawberries are 
very important in a section to which grapes are not suited; as it will 
not be necessary to spend much time with grapes, more time will be 
available for strawberries. Likewise, with more comprehensive 
subjects the needs of the local community should receive the most 
consideration. 
It must be left with the local teacher also to adapt the courses to 
the individual needs and capacities of his students. Students who 
have had a course in botany and a course in crop production will be 
able to go deeper into a subject like plant breeding than will those 
who are just beginning these studies. Students who have had shop- 
work in their elementary courses and mathematics and physics in 
their high-school course will be capable of more advanced work in 
rural engineering than students without such preparation. 
ELECTIVE COURSES. 
Although something may be done within a given course to meet the 
needs of a community or a special group of students, it may be neces- 
sary to modify an entire curriculum in order to accomplish this pur- 
pose successfully. After the students have a foundation in the 
fundamentals of crop production and animal husbandry, which are 
needed in all sections, their work may be conducted along more 
special lines. While it is presumed that all students will need farm 
management and rural engineering, the school may not be prepared 
to do justice to these courses as it would to some other branches of 
agriculture. Wherever it is possible a number of elective courses 
should be offered in the third and fourth years. In order to do justice 
to extra courses, where there is but one teacher, it will be necessary 
to combine classes and offer some of the courses in alternate years. 
From the following suggested courses it should be possible to make a 
selection which will meet most conditions in the South: 
Field crops, } unit.—A special course in field crops should be an 
outgrowth of the general course in soils and crops. The course 
