of Farmers' Institutes and similar
occasions. The great majority of working farmers have not yet learned to
value and to use these privileges as they should; but the appreciative
ones who do use them are becoming constantly better informed about the
secrets of country life and the wonderful ways of nature. The great
national organization of the Grange, by its local discussions of farm
topics and its effective lecture work, is another of the great educational
forces in rural life, and the rural church and minister often have a fine
educational opportunity, especially in country communities where the
educational equipment is meager and the unmet need is great.

_Agricultural Colleges and their Extension Work_

Essentially a part of the government service, the state colleges of
agriculture with their learned faculties of rural experts are the ultimate
authorities in agriculture and all rural interests, and therefore are both
the climax and the ultimate source of education for country life. With the
remarkable popularity the past five years of rural study and the strong
trend toward the rural professions, the agricultural colleges are probably
growing faster than any other schools in the land. The Massachusetts State
College has doubled in numbers and doubtless in efficiency in the past
five years, and many other schools have shown remarkable development. With
a faculty of a hundred men, and a budget this year of half a million
dollars, the New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell has become
in reality a great school of liberal culture interpreted in terms of
country life. Its enrolment has multiplied by five in the past nine years.
The extension work accomplished by these and similar institutions is
wonderfully broad and more and more serviceable to the people of their
several states, as their community of interest is increasingly
appreciated. The teachers are no longer "mere book farmers." They are
constantly out among the people for every variety of social service; and
the people, once or twice a year during the great "Farmers' Weeks" flock
to the college by the hundred with no feeling of restraint but of actual
ownership.

It is thus, from the humblest "box-car school" to the great university,
that the people of the open country are being educated to appreciate their
privileges and to live a more effective country life. It is a great
educational movement, weak and halting here and there, but moving on with