schools so far as the ability of the students to grasp the subject matter is concerned, is, I believe, often more fanciful than real. At the risk of offending professional etiquette I venture to suggest that many courses in horticulture, as well as in other divisions of agriculture, do not as a rule require for their proper understanding, high mental discipline in the same sense as does higher mathematics. I can see no excuse for spending time in teaching many of the subjects which we do teach in our agricultural colleges except the one very good reason that students come to us without having had even the most elementary instruction in the application of science to agriculture.

To illustrate my point, I may cite a prominent state college offering a two year course in agriculture, for entrance to which practically the only requirement is, or was, that the applicant be eighteen years of age. The subjects offered in this two year course are, to a considerable extent, exactly the same as those offered to the regular college students, or are so similar that college students who are unable to schedule the subject in their regular section may take it with the two year section and receive college credit. Similarly, these two year students who are, or may subsequently be, able to qualify for college entrance, are given college credit to a large extent for the work done in the two year course. This is not meant as a reflection on the college. It is a statement of facts, and, so far as my knowledge goes, there is not a larger percentage of failures among the earnest students in the two year course than there is among the regular college students.

So far, I have said nothing about agriculture as an entrance subject to colleges of agriculture, which is, in reality, beside the point. It is encouraging to note, however, that every agricultural college in the United States now accepts agriculture as entrance credit, though in greatly varying degrees ranging from 2 to 4 Carnegie units.

To return to our problem: There are apparently four ways in which graduates of secondary schools of agriculture are receiving credit in course on entering the agricultural colleges.

(1) They are in some instances given credit outright on satisfying the department that they have thoroughly covered the subject. This is usually done only when the department has an intimate knowledge of the school and the character of its work.

(2) They may sustain an examination in the subject.

(3 They may sustain an examination in the part of the subject which they have covered in the secondary school and may complete the subject in the regular classes. This usually results in very little saving in actual time or energy.

(4) A method in force at the Minnesota State College of Agriculture, but nowhere else to my knowledge, does not require a student to take over again in college a course that he has substantially covered in the secondary school, but does require him to earn the full number of credits necessary for graduation by electing more advanced subjects. Though this does not result in the saving of time, it does permit the accomplishment of an amount of advanced

study not possible to the ordinary four year student, and which, other things being equal, should result in a much stronger and more thoroughly trained man.

In conclusion, I simply wish to repeat that we have the secondary school of agriculture in our midst; and from present indications, it is apparent that it will, like the poor, be always with us. In some instances these schools are directly related to the agricultural college of the state and to some extent are preparatory to it. In other states they are practically independent. In any case, if they continue to grow and to meet with popular favor as they have done in the past few years, it is apparent that they will soon come to merit some consideration in their efforts to so adjust their courses of study that they will not only meet the conditions of their own locality, but will to some extent be co-ordinate with those of the agricultural colleges.

PRESIDENT HEDRICK: Professor Wright has given us a very interesting and instructive paper, speaking, of course, more particularly from the standpoint of the secondary college. There are other men here connected with secondary colleges and a goodly number interested in the agricultural colleges. It seems to me the subject is one that particularly needs attention and especially from the standpoint of the men of the secondary colleges.

MR. HENDRICKSEN: I would like to ask which colleges in the United States and Canada offer courses in sub-tropical pomology. PROFESSOR WRIGHT: I would say that the University of California has recently established a course of this kind. I think it is not located at Berkely.

MR. HENDRICKSEN: Is such a course given at Cornell?

PROFESSOR WILSON: There was a course in sub-tropical pomology offered a few years ago during the lifetime of Professor Craig. Since his death it has not been given, but there is a plan to have it again in the near future and the plan is similar to that which Professor Wright has outlined.

PROFESSOR LEWIS: We have a course in Oregon in Sub-Tropical Pomology. We have about 100 students coming from regions where sub-tropical fruit is produced. In order to satify the demands of these young men we have put in a course dealing with sub-tropical fruits only.

PROFESSOR BRIERLEY: Our students at the State College of Washington who take up this study do not want particularly to go into the growing of tropical fruits, but take it as being of interest in a general horticultural way. We found quite a number asking to have such a course organized so they could take it, and such a course was arranged with two credits and we found there was a considerable amount of interest in it.

PROFESSORR BLAKE: It seems to me that it would be possible for the secondary schools to so conduct their horticultural work-elementary horticultural work-that these men could get some credit in the subject when entering college. I believe it is important that a man should be fully instructed in the fundamentals of propagation and nursery practice and it seems to me that if these

men from the secondary schools would come to us thoroughly fitted and informed in that particular branch, that it would be possible to give them credit. I know that many of the men who go out from college into investigational work, find problems that involve methods of propagation and simple principles of horticulture and that these principles often have a most important relation in the problems and I think that a student who is not thoroughly informed on those principles is handicapped, and I think it is possible for a good secondary school to fit some of its men so that they could get credit for their work in taking up a college course.

PRESIDENT HEDRICK: I cannot help but emphasize some of the points that Professor Wright brought out, namely: that the seeondary school of agriculture is with us, and we are going to have more and more of them in every state of the Union in time, and it seems to me that there work ought to co-ordinate with the work of the agricultural colleges proper, and, very largely, made training places, especially for primary work in horticulture and in agricul ture, for colleges of agriculture. It is a subject that I hope our committee having charge of college courses will discuss thoroughly this afternoon. We must pass on to the next paper, "Relation of Horticultural Practice and our Horticultural Curriculum," by Professor C. I. Lewis.

PROFESSOR LEWIS: Before reading this paper I wish to state that I am not expressing at this time my own ideas. I prefer not to do that, but rather present to you a paper which opens up this question for discussion. As far as the practical or laboratory work is concerned some people call me radical, but I might say that the more experience I have in teaching the more firmly I become convinced of the great value of horticultural practice in the horticultural curriculum.

THE RELATION OF HORTICULTURAL PRACTICES TO THE HORTI.

CULTURAL CURRICULUM.

BY C. I. LEWIS, Oregon Agricultural College, Corvallis, Oregon.

There is no more appropriate question at present that the Society of Horticultural Science can discuss than the status of our horti cultural teaching in this country. One of the most vital questions and one of the first that I believe should attract our attention is the Relation of Horticultural Practice to the Horticultural Curriculum.

What is expected of the horticultural graduate? Complaints are reaching me from time to time that our horticultural graduates are deficient, that they are unable to meet the demands placed upon them. I have noted in one of the organs of the National Nurserymen that it will be necessary to establish special schools to train men for the nursery business, since the agricultural colleges are not meeting this need. It becomes necessary for us, then, to inves tigate such charges carefully and determine whether or not they are correct and if correct how we are to face them.

How does our horticultural graduate compare with a graduate of medicine, of law, in business for example? If you had illness in your family whom would you choose for your family physician-a young medical graduate who had never had experience? No, you would expect that young man to ally himself with some reputable physician and to attain a certain amount of experience before you would call upon him as your family physician. Likewise, you would not call on an inexperienced law graduate to defend a case in which your entire fortune was at stake. Are we not, then, expecting too much of the horticultural graduate from the agricultural college? Perhaps we are, but it is only natural, since they are vocational schools to a very large extent, to have people expect that our men should be well versed in the practical side of horticulture when they leave the agricultural college. Undoubtedly more is expected from them than from professional school graduates. Granting this is true, are we turning out men who have not had sufficient horticultural training? Are we sending from our Colleges men who have never sprayed or pruned a tree, men who cannot plow, who cannot hitch up a team of horses, who have never had the routine training necessary in floriculture, landscape gardening, or vegetable growing? How does our horticultural graduate compare in efficiency with a graduate from a technical school? Is the amount of laboratory work that we are now giving equivalent to such work of the engineering course?

If our graduates are lacking in practical training can we in any way remedy that condition? If so, how? Can we do more than we are now doing to give these young men the training that the world is demanding? If so, how can this training be secured? To answer this, first, we must ask ourselves the following questions:

(1) What is the field of the horticultural graduate? First, it is professional, taking him into the work of the agricultural colleges and experiment stations, into the service of the state and government, or some of the numerous teaching or extension branches. Second, it is purely practical, as superintendency of orchards, management of greenhouses, as an organizer and superintendent of canneries or evaporators, and of other similar lines; or third, it fits him for a life work so that he can conduct his own business and can be recognized as an authority in the community in which he locates. It is evident that there are a number of paths open to him. Possibly we shall have to modify the training we give him so that we can the better fit him for his chosen career.

(2) Shall we follow the European system of establishing trade schools? We are all familiar with the type of schools which have been established and conducted for many years in such countries as England, Germany, France, and Holland. Is it desirable for us to establish such schools in this country? This is a debatable question, yet the writer feels that we should hesitate before we launch into such a system of education for this country. If we do not favor the trade school have we a better substitute?

(3) Shall we require more secondary training in horticulture? In other words, shall we demand that the high schools give certain preliminary work so that we shall be enabled to turn out a better product? Many high schools and secondary schools of agriculture are doing this work. However, many city boys, who would follow horticultural pursuits, do not have the vocational training of the rural high school or secondary school of agriculture. Already in some of our agricultural colleges we have a hard problem to solve, as the entering class is not standardized. We are receiving men of varied training and trying to harmonize them after they enter the institution. This is a delicate task.

(4) Shall we establish secondary schools or trade schools within our colleges? This has been done in a number of institutions. Such schools are now being conducted in a number of our colleges and there is a feeling in some cases decidedly in their favor. Other colleges have felt that they were a failure and have discontinued such schools. In some cases such schools were a stepping stone to the collegiate course, and in others they were conducted as an inde pendent course, having no future relation to the college course. Whether or not such schools shall be established and maintained is a problem which needs much thought and discussion before we should attempt to come to an arbitrary conclusion.

(5) Shall we require horticultural experience before a man can register in our college courses? I have had letters from horticul turists in various parts of the United States asking for my opinion on this question. I feel that, if it were possible to enforce such a regulation, it would be very desirable in that it would undoubtedly give us a better class of students with which to work. I sincerely doubt, however, the feasibility of such a plan. Very few presdents of boards of regents would concur with such entrance requirements. They would feel that the state schools should not in this way discriminate and that we would be working a hardship on many young men and women who need the horticultural training.

(6) Can we increase the number of credits for the four-year course by teaching horticulture during the entire year? I mean by this, shall we require students to remain with us during the sum mer time. Undoubtedly the best training in horticulture can be secured during the summer months. Thus students could be given work not only at the agricultural college but traveling schools could be established, in which the young men could be taken to various parts of the state where they could make special observations and obtain desired experience. Some institutions have already tried this method. The greatest objection that I can see to the summer school system idea is that a large percentage of our young men who come to the agricultural colleges are either needed at home during the summer months or else need such months in which to earn money in order that they can complete their college work. (7) Shall we require the horticultural graduate to spend a cer tain time in practical work after graduating? In other words, shall we say to him, "We cannot give you an unqualified recommenda tion until you have served in a practical position for a definite