Teaching.— The courses offered by the in stitution are usually of two classes; long courses, four years of the usual length of a col lege year; and short courses which are com monly two years in length but of only 10 or 12 weeks duration each year In addition most institutions make special provision for the adult student who cannot meet the entrance standards.
The admission requirements to the four-year courses are in general as high as those for ad mission to other college courses. The comple tion of the course leads to the degree of B.S. or B.S.A. The subjects taught include such basic sciences as chemistry, botany, zoology, mathematics, geology and meteorology. In addition English and political economy are usu ally required subjects. The applied subjects are represented by farm crops, .farm manage ment, rural engineering, soils, breeding, agron omy, animal husbandry, rural or agricultural economics, poultry husbandry, rural education, entomology, fruit growing, vegetable garden ing, floriculture, forestry, landscape art, dairy industry and agricultural chemistry. The rela tion between the basic and applied subjects varies in the different institutions but usually it comes between the limits of one-third and one-half.
During the year of 1915-16 there were 16,008 students in the four-year courses and in addition 10,332 students in one- and two-year courses. To these figures should be added 2,053 four-year students in agricultural col leges for negroes. This is quite in contrast with the early experience of the colleges when they had almost no student body. Statistics from bulletin number 10 of the Carnegie Foundation show the student body in these institutions grew rapidly from 1894-95, 2,712, to 1914, 14,844.
Since the land grant colleges are supported by the State and National governments, they have felt the need from an early date of pro viding instruction through short or winter courses for students who did not have the time to attend during the regular academic year or who may have lacked entrance requirements. Many early attempts were made at courses of this character but the University of Wisconsin is generally credited with having established the short course on its present day basis. This course was opened in 1888 and has run each year since that time. These courses vary in
length at different institutions but usually they are from 4 to 12 weeks in length•and continue for one or two years. The work that is offered is of an extremely practical nature. That it is meeting a demand is attested by the fact that there were 14,108 short-course students in the colleges of agriculture during the year of 1915 16. It is quite likely that with the development of agricultural instruction in the public high schools and special secondary schools that this phase of the work may decline at the colleges.
In recent years many of the colleges are offering summer courses of 6 to 12 weeks' dura tion to teachers. The need for this work has been especially pronounced as a result of the development of agricultural instruction in the elementary and secondary public schools.
Research.— Almost from the beginning of instruction in the colleges of agriculture some of the instructors devoted a portion of their time to investigation. This was made necessary by the relatively small body of agricultural knowledge that was established on a scientific basis and organized for teaching purposes. As a result of provisions of the Federal acts en couraging agricultural research most of the ex periment stations are organized at the State colleges of agriculture. Commonly, the inves tigator is a member of both college and experi ment station staffs. The results of the experi mental work are usually distributed by means of bulletins that are published both in technical and popular form. See AGRICULTURAL EXPERI MENT STATION.
Extension. This term is usually applied to the instructional work that is conducted with students who are not resident at the college.
It covers a wide range of activities such as cor respondence courses, which have been espe cially developed in Pennsylvania and California, demonstration schools, farmers' institutes, demonstration plots, lectures, reading courses, county agents, home demonstration agents and boys' and girls' club work. Almost from the beginning colleges of agriculture have felt the pressure for such work, because they are State supported and also as they had to establish themselves with the farmers.