Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/264

•system of higlier education in the sciences and industries by the Association of American Agri- cultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, the Office of Experiment Stations of the Department of Agi'iculture, and the Buieau of Education of the Department of the Interior. The colleges of agriculture may be divided into three classes, according to the general differences in their organization: (1) Colleges having only courses in agriculture; ( 2 ) agricultural and mechanical colleges: and (3) colleges (or schools or depart- ments) of agriculture in universities. The Mas- sachusetts Agricultural College is the only purely agricultural college in this country. Twenty- seven States and Territories have agricultural and mechanical colleges, and in twenty the courses in agriculture are connected with the State universities. Harvard t'niversity also offers courses in agriculture through the Bussey Insti- tution. The college course in agriculture in most of these institutions extends through four years and leads to a bachelor's degree. It varies consideralily in different institutions, as regards the requirements both for admission and for graduation. In some cases students are admitted directly from the common schools, while in others the entrance requirements are on a level with those of higher grade colleges. In 1901 there were nearly 7000 students in the agricultural courses in these colleges. Short courses of a more elementary and practical nature also are given in many of these colleges. Special schools have been organized in a few institutions, notably a dairy school in the University of Wisconsin, and a sug- ar-makers" school at Xew Orleans, in connection with the Louisiana State University. Various forms of university extension w'ork in agriculture are largely engaged in by these colleges, through the farmers' institutes (see Farmers' Insti- tute) and home reading courses, and, broadly speaking, through the publications of the experi- ment stations. Thus far. comparatively little has been done in the United States toward the establishment of schools of agriculture of secondary or high- school grade. The most successful school of this kind is that maintained at the University of Minnesota. A similar school has been estab- lished at the University of Nebraska. The agri- cultural courses maintained in a number of the institutions for colored students in the South are of this grade, notably at Hampton, Va.. and Tuskegee, Ala. A few private schools of agri- culture have recently been established. There is some agitation in favor of the introduction of agriculture in the public high schools. Nature study is being rajjidly introduced into the common schools, and more or less successful attempts are being made in a number of the States, especially New York, Indiana, and Penn- sylvania, to adapt teaching in this subject to the requirements of the rural schools. British Empire. A chair of agriculture in the University of Edinburgh was founded and endowed as early as 1790, and a professorship of rural economy was established in the Univer- sity of Oxford in 1796. A professorship of agri- culture has recently (1899) been founded in the University of Cambridge. The Albert Institu- tion at Olasnevin. near Dublin, has existed since 1838, and the Royal Agricultural College, Ciren- cester, since 184.5. Other important centres of agricultural education in Great Britain are the College of Agriculture, Downton, near Salisbury; the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical Col- lege, Glasgow; the University College of North Wales, Bangor; the University College of Wales, .berystwith; the Durham 'College of Sci- ence, Newcastle-on-Tyne: the Oxford Extension College, Reading; the University of Aberdeen; and Yorkshire College, Leeds. Grants of money in aid of education in agri- culture are nuide through the board of agricul- ture. Instruction in agriculture is given in a number of the rural schools. Special attention is being given to practical training in dairying, and schools and classes in this subject are main- tained in a number of places. Traveling schools, equipped with modern dairy apparatus, have attracted much attention in recent years. In Canada, the agricultural college at Guelph, Ontario, is a very successful institution. There are a number of secondary schools of agi'iculture in Quebec and Nova Scotia, and there is a dairy school in New Brunswick. Provision has recent- ly been made for instruction in agriculture in normal and public schools in different parts of the Dominion. In Australia, there are agricultural colleges at Gatton, Queensland; Richmond. New South Wales: Roseworthy, South Australia; and Dook- ie and Longerenong, Victoria. Agricultural in- struction is also given by traveling experts at- tached to the colonial departments of agriculture. In New Zealand is the Canterbury Agricultural College at Lincoln, and in Cape Colony there is i a school of agriculture at Elsenburg. France. An elaborate system of agricultural education is maintained under the auspices of the national government. At the head of this system stands tile Institut yational Agronomique at Paris, in which instruction of university grade is given in agricultural science, supple- mented by laboratory and field practice. Next in order are the national schools of agriculture, in which theoretical and practical instruction are combined. These are located at Grignon, Rennes, and Montpellier. A third class includes the secondary agricultural schools for the chil- dren of farmers, who receive theoretical and practical instruction under competent agricul- turists, and at the same time perform all the work necessary to carrj' on the scliool farm. In many of these schools general agriculture is tauglit, but some are devoted to special lines, such as viticidture. dairying, or irrigation. An- other and older kind of agricultural schools comprises those in which a system of apprentice- ship is employed. On the completion of his term, the student receives a small sum of money as compensation for his labor. These schools are no longer popular, and have materially decreased in number. Since 1S79, instruction in the elements of agri- culture, horticulture, and natural liistory lias been obligatory in the normal and primary schools of France. In each department of the country a professor of agriculture is appointed to prepare a course of instruction in agriculture for the normal school, to hold farmers' meetings for the dissemination of information regarding improved agricultural methods, and to main- tain model fields of demonstration. Besides, chairs of agriculture have been established in many lyceums and colleges throughout France. Important special schools are the dairy school at Mamirolle. the school of agricultural indus- tries at Douai, the school of horticulture at Ver-