courses of agriculture a comprehensive scheme of instruction should be adopted, and that all the topics should be included which are necessary to a clear understanding of the proper relations of the different parts of the subjects. We hold that there is such a thing as a science of agriculture, secondary and complex in its nature, and deriving its facts and principles very largely, if not wholly, from other more primary sciences, but after all to be differentiated as a distinct entity from the other sciences, however dependent it may be on them for its materials. And we urge that one radical defect of agricultural instruction thus far has been that so much of the teaching of agricultural subjects has been done in a disjointed way by experts in different branches of science. The student has therefore often not had the subject of agriculture presented to him as a connected whole with related parts, and has for this reason failed to appreciate that there was any such thing as a science of agriculture, or has not learned to make any useful application of what he has learned in various sciences to either the theory or the practice of agriculture. Thus, we believe, for example, that however much the student may have learned or will learn about the physiology of plants, or the physics of soils, or the chemistry of fertilizers, at some period in his agricultural course he should have all these subjects grouped together in a course in agronomy and there learn their relation to each other and to the methods employed in the production of crops in actual agricultural practice. If the student has had considerable previous training in vegetable physiology, soil physics, and agricultural chemistry, the wise teacher will take advantage of this by quizzes or a system of references, and rejoice in the opportunity this gives him to enter more deeply into complex topics of agricultural science and practice involving a combination of the preliminary sciences; or if a more complete course in these other sciences awaits the student, the teacher of any branch of agriculture should confine himself to such an outline as will show the necessary relation of these sciences to the science and practice of agriculture, and deeply impress upon the student the great desirability of his improving every opportunity for wider scientific training if he would most thoroly comprehend the intricacies and subtleties of the science of agriculture. In our view, the teaching of any secondary science such as meteorology, geography, medicine, or agriculture, involves a pedagogical scheme which brings together into a consistent whole whatever more or less disconnected facts and principles of other sciences related to the composite science have already been learned by the student, and which at the same time leads the student to desire to broaden and deepen his acquaintance with the basal sciences, however long he may study the composite one. One of the great pedagogical advantages, as it seems to us, which such a science as that of agriculture enjoys is that it necessitates a broadly related knowledge of a number of basal sciences. If generally and efficiently taught in our colleges, it will do much to counteract the pernicious influences of a narrow specialism which has in recent years been fostered by a false eclecticism. This requires, however, that agriculture in its scientific and practical aspects shall be treated as a distinct entity and not be hopelessly dismembered in the scheme of college instruction.

(3) While we have held somewhat rigidly to the foregoing pedagogical

considerations, we have, nevertheless, attempted to make a scheme sufficiently elastic to readily adapt itself to the requirements of institutions having considerable variations in the grade of agricultural instruction, and differing widely in the number of teachers and of courses in scientific and other subjects. For this reason we have refrained from making definite suggestions regarding the amount of time to be given to different topics, and have called attention to the fact that the number of different kinds of plants and animals which it will be well to consider in detail will properly vary with circumstances. The kind of agriculture in the environment of any institution will naturally suggest the various limitations of this branch of the agricultural course, but aside from this such conditions as lack of teachers or equipment will largely determine the extension or restriction of these topics.

While the reports of this committee have been presented merely as progress reports and the indorsement of the Association has not been asked for thus far, it is believed that its work has already done much toward bringing to a focus the efforts of the colleges to strengthen their courses in agriculture.

As a result of this movement in the agricultural colleges and their Association, legislatures and boards of trustees are moving much more rapidly and generously in the direction of erecting and equipping buildings in which the several branches of agriculture may be taught by the laboratory methods common in the teaching of kindred subjects. Instead of a single professor of agriculture we now more frequently find a corps of specialists dividing agricultural topics between them. The development of the work of the agricultural experiment stations established under the Act of Congress of March 2, 1887, as departments of the agricultural colleges has made it comparatively easy to accomplish this specialization in both the college and the station. The station needs the agricultural specialists for its investigations, and when the college realizes that agriculture should also be divided for purposes of instruction, an arrangement is easily and naturally made by which these specialists give a part of their time to teaching.

DIRECTOR OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS,

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
WASHINGTON, D. C.

A. C. TRUE

VII

BOOKS FOR TEACHERS IN SECONDARY

SCHOOLS

The following list of books has been prepared on the theory that every good secondary school should place before its teachers a numbers of the best and most helpful books bearing directly on their work. Even in places where a large and wellselected department of education exists in public or other libraries, the value of such a collection in the school building, if possible in a room set aside for the exclusive use of the teaching force, is obvious. It is eminently to the advantage of the school work that its staff should have immediate access to the best current educational periodicals, to the standard works on the history of education, to the biographies of great educators, and to works on the theory and practice of their profession. This may be taken for granted. A brief explanation of the principles governing the selection of the books enumerated in this list may forestall criticism and prove suggestive in the formation and purchase of other teachers' libraries.

Secondary schools occupy a most trying position in the educational world. Their students are in the adolescent age. Their courses of study are somewhat more logical than those of the upper elementary grades, and much less free than those of the college. Their teachers should be persons familiar with the broad range of their subjects, while compelled to tread repeatedly a narrow and short portion of it. Correlation of studies, saving of time, drill and discipline, routine, iteration and reiteration, necessarily absorb the greatest part of their attention. Therefore, their professional reading should largely be directed toward correcting the natural tendency of their work to make them slaves of routine, to narrow their sympathies, and to separate them from the ever-widening circle of

knowledge and fresh investigation. Accordingly, this list includes much biography, history, and what I have somewhat loosely termed philosophy of education.

I take it that the large proportion of biography does not need defense. Biography is not, perhaps, history to the historian of the severe type; but the study of it is most certainly a source of inspiration, a comfort, and a spur.

With regard to the selection of works on the history of education, a word will suffice. The general works treating of the subject in a large way will, of course, pass muster easily; but the others have been chosen advisedly, not because they form all that is esteemed valuable, but because they represent typical institutions, countries, or phases of education. As this list has been prepared for the Academic Department of the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, a certain regard has been had to the history of local and neighboring institutions. Changes in the books on these subjects can, of course, be made in supplying schools in other parts of the country.

It will be noticed that English secondary schools receive considerable attention. This arises from the conviction that we have much to learn in our own work from the men who have brought the great public schools of England to so high a state. While conditions in the two countries are very different, the children are much the same; and we can learn much, if we will, from these historic and most efficient schools.

No attempt has been made here at close classification; nor is any defense presented for certain anomalies which every librarian and student will easily detect. A large and liberal heading under which books may be purchased is a highly desirable thing. After they are bought, close classification may profitably be employed in shelving them.

Many books that are usually found in the bibliographies of education are not in this list-greatly to its advantage, in my opinion. The purpose that the books are to serve has excluded much that is good, while it is hoped that it has not retained more than a minimum of that which is weak or bad. It will be noticed that all books in this list are in the English language. This limitation has not been adopted without due

thought and deliberation. It is confidently believed that the decision in this matter will commend itself to the better judgment of those who have occasion to consult this list, either to guide their own reading, or in purchasing.

To Mr. Lawrence C. Hull, head of the Academic Department of the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, this list owes its inception, and to his constant criticism and suggestion is due whatever excellence it possesses. I desire to express my hearty thanks to him and to Professors Elmer E. Brown, Paul H. Hanus, and B. A. Hinsdale, and to President William H. Payne, for helpful suggestions and criticisms.

POLYTECHNIC Institute,

WILLIAM WARNER BISHOP

BROOKLYN, N. Y.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ENCYCLOPEDIAS

1. Bureau of Education, Interior Department, Analytical Catalog and Index to Barnard's American journal of education, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1892 (free).

2. Hall, G. Stanley. Bibliography of education. Boston: Heath, 1886. $1.50.

3. Monroe, Will. S. Bibliography of education (International Education Series). New York: Appleton, 1897. $2.00.

4. Kiddle and Schem. The cyclopædia of education.

Steiger, 1877. $1.50.

New York:

5. Sonnenschein's Cyclopædia of education. Syracuse, N. Y.: Bardeen, 1890. $3.75.

JOURNALS

6. American journal of sociology. Quarterly. Chicago: Chicago University Press. $2.00.

7. The Bookman.

Monthly. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co. $2.00.

8. Critic. Monthly. New York: Putnam. $3.00.

9. Columbia University quarterly. New York: Columbia University Press. $1.00.

10. EDUCATIONAL REVIEW. Monthly. New York: Educational Review Publishing Co. $3.00.

11. Journal of education. Monthly. London: Wm. Rice. 7s.

12. National Educational Association. Journal of proceedings and addresses. Chicago: Chicago University Press (order thru the secretary of the association, Dr. Irwin Shepard, Winona, Minn.). $2.00.

13. New England journal of education. Monthly. Boston: New England Publishing Co. $2.50.

14. New York education.

1.00.

Monthly. Albany: N. Y. Education Co.