52 



It is along these lines that the great educational effort of the 

 immediate future is to be made. 



(4) Since the success of the agricultural instruction in the 

 public schools will depend very largely on the teachers, the 

 Department should aid the agricultural colleges and other State 

 educational institutions in preparing and inaugurating training 

 courses for teachers of agriculture in secondary and elementary 

 schools. 



(5) Since agriculture as a fundamental industry is of vital 

 importance to all our people, the Department should present 

 such results of its work and of the work of the experiment 

 stations at home and abroad as are adapted to instructional 

 purposes in connection with nature study and elementary agri- 

 culture, in a form available to teachers and pupils in both country 

 and city, the object being to impress our youth with the dignity, 

 value, and attractiveness of country life and pursuits. 



A mass of information on the various activities of the 

 Department of Agriculture, which are not directly classifiable 

 under the head of agricultural education, is also contained in the 

 report of the Secretary. Among these may be specially noticed, 

 the search by agricultural explorers in foreign lands for new crops 

 at the instigation of the Bureau of Plant Industry. This has 

 resulted in the discovery and introduction of several new and 

 very promising varieties. 



The Department has also conducted a " campaign of educa- 

 tion " in the matter of seed supplied to farmers by testing, 

 for farmers and seedsmen, hundreds of samples of seeds and 

 encouraging good seed work by means of addresses at farmers' 

 institutes and other meetings. Fruit marketing, transportation, 

 and storage have been the object of special and interesting 

 investigation, arid great progress is reported to have been made, 

 in developing new crops by means of selection. By this means 

 a large variety of improved fruits and cereals is stated to have 

 been obtained. 



All this work has been carried on by the various Bureaux 

 of the Department, working in connection with the experiment 

 stations originally founded under the Hatch Act of 1887, for 

 which largely increased grants have since been voted by Con- 

 gress, until by present arrangements each State will receive 

 from Congress in 191 1 and onwards £6,000 sterling annually 

 for their maintenance. 



