practice work which in only the slightest degree could be regarded as of laboratory character.

No one who looks carefully into the history of land-grant colleges can fail to be impressed by their early struggles, by the groping character of educational policies, by the changing point of view of successive administrations, and by the progressive evolution of their objectives. Should agriculture be taught in the colleges specifically and primarily to make good farmers? Some administrators and faculties believed so and fought for the idea. Should it be taught primarily from a professional standpoint to develop teachers and leaders? This point of view was held by many. Much argument, much debate, and much shifting of institutional policies resulted.

Then came the agricultural experiment stations and with them a gradual building up of a body of agricultural science which helped to clarify thinking about the place that the agricultural institutions should hold in the educational system. The first of these experiment stations was organized in Connecticut in 1875. It was followed by 16 others in as many States within the next 10 years. The Federal Government was appealed to for funds for agricultural experiment station work in the several States and the Hatch Act of 1887 was the result. Many of the teachers who had training and experience in the basic sciences were eager to do experimental work relating to agricultural applications. Agricultural science now began to develop and brought new life to the work of teachers and students alike. Progress, at first slow, accelerated as the institutions caught the spirit of research and experimentation and as more funds became available from State and Federal sources. The colleges whose early practice it had been to emphasize strictly vocational teaching now acquired scientific information about plants and animals, soils, and management which fitted into the scheme of education of college grade intended by the land-grant act. Those in administrative authority in the colleges came to understand better the meanings and implications of the act.

The Federal Smith-Lever Extension Act in 1914 made specific provision for extension work in agriculture and home economics. The Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 further made possible agricultural teaching in the high schools for young men interested in the vocation of farming. As a result the land-grant colleges are now in a position to emphasize work of college grade, work dealing with basic sciences and agricultural science. On the other hand, no land-grant college curriculum in agriculture in 1927-28 specifies that the work shall consist exclusively of agricultural subjects. The sciences basic to agriculture, and the subjects of economics, sociology, English, and military education constitute more than 60 per cent of the subject

matter offered in the majority of the 4-year agricultural curricula to-day.

Simultaneously with the development of agricultural science, thinking about the purposes and objectives of agricultural education was clarified. While many outside of the colleges still have but a hazy notion, those responsible for the management and policies of these institutions have fairly clear conceptions about the aims and purposes of the work entrusted to them. This understanding has been promoted by annual conferences of the administrative officers of these institutions, at which objectives, aims, and purposes of agricultural education have been debated and discussed from many angles. Opinion has, therefore, crystallized to a point where a remarkable similarity of general objectives will be found in entirely different parts of the country. Almost invariably these objectives will be defined in terms of a broad education with specific training for work in the agricultural field and for service to society.

General aims.-The following are representative statements of the general aims as given by the catalogues of various institutions:

The 4-year plan of study offers an opportunity for a broad scientific education and for a certain amount of specialization in some chosen field of agriculture. ** * While the agricultural courses are designed to train students for the farm and life in the country they offer also an opportunity for a very broad, well-balanced education and at the same time may serve to fit men for a variety of very excellent positions in educational, scientific, and commercial work in connection with institutions and industries closely allied with agriculture.-PURDUE.

The object of this instruction is to train men and women for success in the vocation of agriculture. The college aims to educate farmers, farm managers, fruit growers, grain growers, dairymen, poultrymen, and stockmen. It prepares men for responsible positions as teachers in agricultural colleges, investigators in experiment stations, for extension work in agriculture and home economics, as teachers of vocational agriculture, and for service in the United States Department of Agriculture.-MISSOURI.

The regular 4-year course in agriculture has as its main objective the preparation of young men for the business of farming, for the pursuit of scientific investigation along some line of agriculture, for becoming county demonstration agents or extension workers, and for teaching in the high schools and agricultural colleges, and affords excellent preparation for young men who intend to follow business pursuits, especially for merchants and bankers.-TEXAS.

Our 4-year curriculum has two outstanding aims, preparation for actual farm management and preparation for rural leadership. We are not aiming to prepare scientific investigators, but say to all who enter the field of investigation that they must do graduate work. Since ours is a pioneer State it needs rural leadership. Our curriculum aims to train men to become county agents and teachers of vocational agriculture in Smith-Hughes high schools for these workers stand in positions of leadership.-NORTH DAKOTA,

It is the aim of the 4-year curriculum to train persons going into farming and into professions closely related to agriculture.-CORNELL.

The primary aim of the college in training men in agriculture is to fit them for service in which they will develop into agricultural leaders, either as farmers or in some other capacity, and as such, contribute to the up-building of rural institutions and the improvement of American country life.-KANSAS.

The aim of the 4-year curriculum is to provide such training in the scientific agriculture and the cultural subjects as will best prepare graduates to engage in the pursuit of practical agriculture or related activities and to furnish the background and foundation for research or teaching.-MINNESOTA.

The aims of the college of agriculture are: (a) To give students a broad, liberal education with agriculture as the basis; (b) to prepare them for the agricultural profession, especially for the farm and for business closely related to agriculture; (c) to develop the ability and the desire to lead; and (d) to foster a spirit of service to society.-WASHINGTON.

Specific aims.-Specific aims of agricultural education were given by some 40 institutions participating in this study. The majority of these specified preparation of persons for the following callings as a major objective of the 4-year curricula: Farmer, high-school teacher, county agent and extension specialist, florist, landscape architect, nurseryman, plant quarantine inspector, seed company salesman, sales manager for fertilizer companies, farm real estate agent, city milk inspector, rural banker, editor, and agricultural journalist. Research and experiment station work in connection with the landgrant colleges, the United States Department of Agriculture, and commercial and industrial organizations where research is required is a specified aim of many institutions. In such cases it usually is made clear that to enter upon occupations of this character more than the four years' work in undergraduate agriculture is necessary. Graduate work over periods of from one to several years must be pursued in order to qualify for positions of this kind.

Preparation for such work as managing farm organizations, managing irrigation districts, serving as plant-breeding specialists with seed companies, and as technical workers with farm machinery manufacturers are other enterprises mentioned as specific aims by a number of institutions.

Within the past few years 4-year curricula entitled "agricultural business," "agricultural administration," and "agricultural economics" have been introduced by a number of institutions. The specified purposes of these curricula are preparation for rural banking, marketing of agricultural products, the appraisal, sale, and development of land, hardware and farm implement retailing, and agricultural journalism.

The examples of general and specific aims here given indicate clearly the comprehensive purposes of the regular undergraduate in

struction in agriculture in the land-grant colleges from the educational, vocational, and professional standpoints. Broadly summarized, these purposes are: (a) To provide a well-balanced education built on agricultural and basic sciences with economics, English, and the arts as a background; (b) to prepare young men and women for interesting, useful, and remunerative work in the broad field of agriculture and agricultural business; and (c) to help them to become interested in and give service to society by successfully conducting the agricultural work and enterprises in which they are engaged.

Aims of short courses.-Shorter courses than four years are given in the majority of the agricultural colleges. Practically all of them, whether of college grade or subcollegiate, have specific vocational aims. They are intended for those who are eager to avail themselves of the opportunities for agricultural instruction but who, for one reason or another, are able to attend college for comparatively short periods only. Training is given in such work for the occupations of farmer, farm foreman, forest ranger, herdsman, gardener, florist, milk inspector, ice-cream maker, cheese maker, hay dealer, lumber dealer, and other vocations. Thousands of men and women who have taken such courses show in their daily vocations that the aims and objectives of this work have been realized.

Chapter II.—Organization

Purpose and type.-While there is much similarity in organization in all the land-grant colleges and universities there is one difference between them that is of major importance. In the typical university form of organization, one individual known as the dean of agriculture is usually responsible directly to the president for the agricultural work of the institution in the three fields of resident teaching, research, and extension. In the college type of organization three officers known as directors or deans of resident teaching, directors of research and of extension, are each responsible for one division of work. In a number of instances one of these officers is responsible to the president for two divisions, such as resident teaching and research. He then usually has the title of dean and director.

Where a dean of agriculture is responsible for all of the agricultural work of the institution it usually is necessary for him to have three officers reporting to him, each one directly responsible for the details of administration of one of the three divisions of work. They may have the titles of assistant deans, assistant directors, or directors, in accordance with the terminology that best fits the institution as a whole. Under this type of organization one of the important duties of the dean is to see to it that the work in the three lines of service under his supervision and direction is fully coordinated so that resident teaching, research, and extension function as one team for the best interests of the students and people of the State.

Where the college type of organization is used, the responsibility for coordination and teamwork in the three divisions rests directly on the president of the institution. Where his other duties are not too heavy for him to give ample time to this very important function and where his training, experience, and point of view are such that he naturally and easily performs it, this system is workable and effective. Where this is not the case there is little doubt that the agricultural work of the institution is best served if one officer is given the responsibility for the organization and coordination of the three functions of resident instruction, research, and extension. Both in the college and university type of organization, the work of resident instruction in agriculture normally is further subdivided