New Britain herald., 1914-08-07
STUDY AGRICULTURE
 OR DOMESTIC SCIENCE
Government to Cooperate With Co.,
 IcgeS Of Certain States.

! Washington, D. C., Aug. "A plan i whereby ten or more farmers or farm
 women can form home classes in ag- ;! riculture or domestic science and re- i ceive the text books, lectures, lantern slides, laboratory and cooking equip . ment necessary to conduct them has i been devised by the United States de- l partment of agriculture in co-opera- ! ton with the agricultural colleges of i certain states.
 l, The object of the plan is to make 1 accessible at home, to men and women i who have not the time or means to 1 attend the regular courses at the colleges, practical short courses in az l riculture and home management specially adapted to their districts. , These courses, which will consist of | fifteen to twenty lectures, and will consume five or more weeks. can be arranged to suit the spare time and convenience of each group of people. First Courses. The courses to be offered at first are poultry raising, fruit growing, sells, cheese manufacturing, dairying, butter making. and farm bookkeep- ing; and for the women especially, courses in the preparation, cooking and use of vegetab ble and cereal foods The department will supply lectures and lantern slides covering these sub- jects, and the states which have agreed to cooperate in the plan will lend to each group laboratory and cooking apparatus valued at $100 and 8 reference library. The text books and lectures will be made so complete that. each group can safely appoint one of it's members as study leader to direct the work of the course.
 When a group has decided to take up the work, the state which cooper ates sends an agent with the depart ment's representative to organize a sample class and assist the leader whom they elect in laying out the work and in showing him the best methods of procedure. The classes commonly are held from S:O0 to 12:0O iH the morning and from :00 to 400 in the afternoon, two or three days each week. Sessions are not held every day, so that the members will have time to attend to their farm duties in between their sessions as we'll as before and after the instruction period. The classes meet commonly at the most convenient farmhouse During the morning hours, textbook work is done.
 
 conducted. and the women who have courses have practical lessons in cooking.
 Work Left to Leader.
 As soon as a class is established, the state organizer withdraws to start class in some other district. The work thereafter is left in charge of the lead r. hn ct hx from the college or the department in carrying on the work.
 As there is no regularly paid in- structor, classes can be carried on all over the state as rapidly as the col lege organizer can visit the groups, and as quickly as the laboratory sets supplied by the college become avail able. The local leader will preside during the reading of the lectures and references, for which full texts and lantern slides are supplied by the department. He will also be responsible for the laboratory equip ment. Every one who completes the course will receive a certificate from the state college.
 Not all of the states have yet agreed to cooperate in this plan. Last win ter experime ents along these lines were carried out successfully in Pennsyl- vania, and this has stimulated an in- terest in the method of other states In one of the Pennsylvania classes more men applied than could be ac- commodated, and all of the twenty men and fifteen women who began the course completed it. Pennsylvania Is now arranging for more classes, while Massachusetts, Michigan, Vermont and Florida expect to take up the work. Other states such as Maine, New York New Jersey and Delaware have signified their willingness to co-op- crate.