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maintains satisfactorily throughout the year a course in elementary agriculture and horticulture with supervised home gardens or projects and an uncertificated teacher may receive not to exceed $8 for the trustees and $15 for the teacher; with a certificated teacher not to exceed $20 for the trustees and $38 for the teacher. In addition, where a well-conducted school farm or garden of six square rods is maintained the grant may not exceed, with an uncertificated teacher, $12 to the trustees and $23 to the teacher; with a certificated teacher, $30 to the trustees and $57 to the teacher.

FRANCE.

The first horticultural school for women in France, a higher school of horticulture for young women, was opened in the latter part of 1913 at Brie-Comte-Robert, near Paris, under the auspices of the Union for the Agricultural and Horticultural Instruction of Women. The minister of agriculture of France issued a circular addressed to the directors of the departmental agricultural services authorizing them to organize farm women's clubs in as many communities as possible, for the promotion and dissemination of instruction in home. economics and agriculture. These clubs are to supplement the instruction given in the three-month courses now operating in France and in the post-scholastic home economics schools to aid former students of these schools to perfect their studies and to give women in general an opportunity to procure a professional domestic knowledge.

The clubs of each department are to be federated, and these departmental federations combined into a national federation of farm women's clubs, to be administered by a central committee at the seat of the ministry of agriculture.

GERMANY.

A private experiment was begun in April, 1913, at the A. and F. Simon institution at Hannover, near Peine, in the training of teachers in gardening and manual training. The instruction is given in two half-year courses, comprising in the summer practical gardening 20 hours, woodworking 4, paste work 3, drawing 3, horticulture 4, chemistry 2, physics 2, political economy 2, and pedagogics 4 hours; and in the winter, wood and metal work 24 hours, paste work 4, gardening 4, drawing 4, chemistry 2, physics 2, and methods 4 hours. The director is assisted by an experienced horticulturist and manualtraining instructor. The school has an area of 50 acres, 44 of which are planted to fruits and vegetables grown for profit.

It is concluded after five years of agricultural instruction in the German Army that, while opinions as to the value and results of this instruction are not yet everywhere crystallized, the efforts that have been put forth have proved correspondingly beneficial.

A movement on foot in Germany looks to the reorganization of its higher horticultural institutions at Dahlem, Geisenheim, and Proskau, whereby each institution would specialize in one of the principal branches of horticulture, instead of competing with each other in covering the whole field of horticulture as at present. Each institution would still provide a preliminary course in the fundamentals of horticulture, so that students could readily change from one institution to another for specialization.

INDIA AND CEYLON.

A new agricultural school was opened in Bangalore, Mysore, in 1913 to turn out "efficient and intelligent agriculturists." A twoyear course is provided the first year, including practical and theoretical agriculture, elementary and soil physics, elementary chemistry, biology, anatomy and physiology, and farm mechanics. These subjects are continued during the second year, with additional work in mycology, agricultural engineering, veterinary science, and entomology.

Plans are being made for the establishment of a tropical agricultural college on the grounds of the Gangaroowa Experimental Station, where a tract of 400 acres is available. It is estimated that the main college building and equipment and quarters for the staff and students will cost from $97,300 to $129,770. It is expected that the staff of the Ceylon department of agriculture will be available for a portion of the instruction work, but that a botanist will also be needed.

RUSSIA.

The 1914 budget contains an estimated expenditure for agricultural purposes of £16,638,600, an increase of £2,335,500 over 1913. The largest item is that of £5,300,000 for land organization and agricultural industries, which includes the maintenance of experimental and demonstration agencies, general measures for the development and improvement of various agricultural industries, including forestry, and assistance to peasants in districts under land organization. An allotment of £1,178,700 is estimated for drainage, ir rigation, and peat cutting. The allotments for agricultural education and horse breeding are largely increased.

EDUCATIONAL WORK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

In his message to the Sixty-third Congress the President of the United States said:

It has, singularly enough, come to pass that we have allowed the industry of our farms to lag behind the other activities of the country in its development. I need not stop to tell you how fundamental to the life of the Nation is the production of its food. Our thoughts may ordinarily be concentrated upon the cities and the hives of industry,

upon the cries of the crowded market place, and the clangor of the factory, but it is from the quiet interspaces of the open valleys and the free hillsides that we draw the sources of life and of prosperity, from the farm and the ranch, from the forest and the mine. Without these every street would be silent, every office deserted, every factory fallen into disrepair. And yet the farmer does not stand upon the same footing with the forester and the miner in the market of credit. He is the servant of the seasons. Nature determines how long he must wait for his crops, and will not be hurried in her processes. He may give his note, but the season of its maturity depends upon the season when his crop matures and lies at the gates of the market where his products are sold. And the security he gives is of a character not known in the broker's office or as familiarly as it might be on the counter of the banker.

The Agricultural Department of the Government is seeking to assist as never before to make farming an efficient business, of wide cooperative effort, in quick touch with the markets for foodstuffs. The farmers and the Government will henceforth work together as real partners in this field, where we now begin to see our way very clearly and where many intelligent plans are already being put into execution. The Treasury of the United States has, by a timely and well-considered distribution of its deposits, facilitated the moving of the crops in the present season and prevented the scarcity of available funds too often experienced at such times. But we must not allow ourselves to depend upon extraordinary expedients. We must add the means by which the farmer may make his credit constantly and easily available, and command when he will the capital by which to support and expand his business. We lag behind many other great countries of the modern world in attempting to do this. Systems of rural credit have been studied and developed on the other side of the water while we left our farmers to shift for themselves in the ordinary money market. You have but to look about you in any rural district to see the result, the handicap and embarrassment which have been put upon those who produce our food.

The Chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry states, concerning the results of demonstration work in boys' and girls' clubs in the North, that the boys' and girls' club work of the Northern, Central, and Western States has grown from no enrollment in 1912 to a total enrollment of 110,077 at the present time. Enrollments for the present fiscal year are in the following club projects: Corn, market garden, garden and canning, potato, alfalfa, poultry, apple, pig, milk testing and milk record keeping, and other miscellaneous clubs which meet the particular need of the section in which they are organized.

The cooperative relations existing between the State colleges of agriculture and the other institutions, associations, and individuals of the State and the United States Department of Agriculture have been very greatly strengthened during the past year. In every instance the State institutions are urging the department to contribute more to the work, not only from the standpoint of financial assistance, but are asking for more Farmers' Bulletins, follow-up instructions, and field leadership.

According to the reports of State leaders in charge of club work, collaborators, etc., $53,850 has been spent during the fiscal year for prizes, premiums, free trips, etc., for the direct encouragement of the boys' and girls' club work in the 33 Northern, Central, and Western States. Most of this has been spent defraying the expenses of 1,156

champions from counties to attend short courses at the college of agriculture, parties to attend the State fairs, other schools, and to defray the expenses of the champions from 15 States to Washington, D. C., in December, 1913. Very little of this money has been given as cash premiums, most of it being in the forms above mentioned or in the form of farm machinery, kitchen equipment, clothing, purebred stock, hogs, poultry, and in some instances a clear title to a piece of land. The fact that the club work is conducted on an economic and practical basis makes every club member a prize winner, for he is able to make a net profit from his club plat.

Among the benefits to the State derived from the boys' and girls' club movement, the following are mentioned by one of the State leaders: (1) Promotes sound farming through right beginning, (2) prepares for our organized modern social life through early selfgovernment, (3) establishes the financial independence of the child through his own activity, (4) frequently interests the father in modern methods through the child, and (5) vitalizes school agriculture and all the teaching of the rural school.

In the canning clubs of the Southern States there were 33,060 girls enrolled in 1913. The 4,202 girls who sent in reports put up 1,032,115 cans of tomatoes and 522,147 cans of other products, worth $180,420.05.

The business men of Louisville, Ky., offered a trophy to be awarded at the Conference for Education in the South for the best record of canning club work done by a team of 10 girls from any Southern State. The trophy consisted of a silver medallion bust of the late Dr. Seaman A. Knapp, founder of the farm demonstration work, and 10 silver pendants, each containing a smaller reproduction of the medallion, to be presented to each of the girls represented in the prize winning. Exhibits and records were shown from each of the 15 Southern States, and all of them were excellent and attractive. they were inspected by thousands of visitors.

The 10 canning-club girls of Mississippi who won the girls' trophy for their State produced 27,850 pounds of tomatoes from their tenthacre gardens. From these plats these 10 girls canned 29,379 No. 2 cans of vegetables. The value of these products, including the vegetables used at home, was $1,179.92, and the total profit $868.66. The average cost of gardening and canning per 10 acres was $29.93. The best individual record in tomato growing in the United States in 1913 was made by Miss Clyde Sullivan, a 14-year-old canning-club member of Ousley, Ga., who produced 5,354 pounds of tomatoes on one-tenth acre, and canned 2,254 No. 2 cans, 212 No. 3 cans, and made 60 pints of catsup. The entire receipts from this one-tenth acre were $229.26, and the profit $132.39. The best county record is that of

Etowah County, Ala., where 104 girls reported more than 30,000 No. 3 cans of tomatoes, having a value of $3,600.

In 15 Southern States last year 91,196 boys were members of corn clubs. Each one planted and cultivated 1 acre; more than 400 of these boys produced over 100 bushels each. Walker Lee Dunson, of Alabama, grew 232.7 bushels, at a cost of 19.9 cents a bushel. This is the best record ever made in corn clubs, and one of the best in the history of corn production.

The influence of the training received in boys' corn clubs is frequently shown in the future history of the boys. In one agricultural college alone there were 52 corn-club boys in 1913. Many girls also, becoming interested in canning, have taken the domestic science course in the normal and industrial colleges.

The direct work of the Forest Service with schools was confined to supplying, on request, illustrative material, publications, and information through correspondence. Nearly 8,000 lantern slides, in 142 sets, were loaned. Most of these sets were accompanied by lecture outlines. Photographic prints were supplied to 68 persons for use in schools, and photograph exhibits were loaned to 54 schools and libraries.

In continuance of the previous policy of the Office of Public Roads, nine young men were appointed to the position of civil engineer student during the year. Appointments to this position are made from an eligible list established through examination by the Civil Service Commission. The examination is open only to graduates of the engineering institutions of the country, and it is intended that the position shall provide for a limited number of such graduates, and particularly for a postgraduate course in highway engineering. During the year 331 lectures and addresses were delivered in 46 States by 35 of the representatives of the office. All these lectures were of a practical or scientific character, and many of them were illustrated with lantern slides. They were given mostly at farmers' meetings and rural conventions. Several papers were read at colleges and universities and before scientific organizations and societies. The Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry reports that the pigclub work taken up in 1912, in cooperation with the Louisiana State University, has been continued. Similar work was begun in Alabama and Georgia in 1913, in cooperation with the State agricultural colleges. This work has been growing rapidly. During the summer of 1913, in Louisiana, 1,500 boys were enrolled and in Alabama about 500. The Georgia work was not begun until the fall of 1913. The enrollment of pig-club members for the year 1914 closed May 1. At that time there were in Louisiana 2,500 members, in Alabama 1,800, and in Georgia 980.

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