(1) All of the work must be done by the boy except the plowing.

(2) The corn grown on the acre shall be the property of the boy, whether he wins a

prize or not.

(3) The following basis shall be used in awarding the prizes:

(4) Boys must keep a record of the time spent in doing the work and of the expenditure for seed, fertilizer, etc.

(5) The amount of land used shall be 1 acre for each boy.

The contest in 1912 was well advertised, and great interest was manifested in it. It is hoped that results of considerable importance will follow.

Studies. The teacher in a one-room school has many things to do and very limited time to do them in. This is one of the prime reasons why the criticism holds true here, as in every place where the one-room school exists, that the curriculum of the country school contains little or nothing that distinctly prepares for country life. In spite of the fact that conditions are far better here than in many other rural communities, the fact is that each teacher in the county must conduct on the average 23 recitations per day with the average time allotted each recitation only 15 minutes. In the one-room school the number of recitations is even greater, being approximately 30 in each school. The time for each recitation is of course shorter, the average being 11 minutes. A program so full leaves opportunity for very little beyond the limits of the prescribed course of study, which contains only those subjects familiarly referred to as the "common branches." This course of study and the plan of work based upon it are prescribed by the county school commissioners, and are patterned largely after the town and city school course. It emphasizes, particularly in the higher grades, the cultural rather than the industrial. It needs to be revised for the country school. The curriculum does not take into account the special conditions under which the country pupil is to live and work. There is need of a fundamental readjustment which will in part take the form of the introduction of certain courses having direct bearing upon the country pupil's needs and in part take the form of a shift in emphasis throughout the entire course of study. It is not to be supposed that cultural studies should be dropped from the curriculum of the rural school. In certain instances they might well receive increased attention. The pupils might devote more time to music and drawing than they are now doing.

A beginning has already been made in the larger schools of the county toward this readjustment. Special courses have been introduced and in some instances special teachers have been procured to

train the pupils along certain practical lines. An inquiry was made as to the extent to which certain subjects, deemed of special importance for rural children, were taught. These subjects were nature study, elementary agriculture, domestic science, manual training, music, and drawing. The following table indicates the number of schools teaching each and the extent of the work. By "little" is meant that approximately from 15 to 30 minutes per week is given to talks, observation, or elementary exercises; by "medium" is meant that some systematic effort is made to teach the subject at prescribed periods throughout one or two years, enough time being given to it to assure some thoroughness; by "much" is meant that there is a full four years' course offered, with special teachers. The figures refer to the number of schools in which these studies are taught. Number of schools teaching certain subjects.

It will be noticed that the greater proportion of the schools give no time at all to these studies, while only a small number attempt to teach them thoroughly. Four high schools-Rockville, Gaithersburg, Brookeville, and Sandy Spring-each have a special teacher of domestic science; three schools-Rockville, Gaithersburg, and Kensington-share the time of one man as an instructor in manual training. Sandy Spring and Brookeville High Schools share between them the entire time of one man for teaching elementary agriculture. Rockville and Gaithersburg each have a commercial teacher. Sandy Spring has a special teacher giving her entire time to music. The Sandy Spring and Brookeville High Schools are probably the most interesting schools in the county in these respects. Each is a genuine rural high school, making definite and successful efforts to adapt their pupils to the conditions of country life.

Fifty-one schools have libraries varying in size from 1 volume to 2,000 volumes per school. The total number of volumes in all the schools is over 7,000, the average for each school reporting being about 138. The schools reporting libraries may be grouped as follows:

The books are mostly general literature, histories, essays, poetry, and fiction. For the most part the selection is from a list approved by the State board of education. About 50 per cent of the pupils above the fourth grade use the books more or less regularly.

Forty-six schools reported that they gave in 1911 a total of 151 public entertainments. These were variously literary or musical programs, home-talent plays, lectures, or celebrations arranged for various holidays. They were largely attended by the school patrons in most instances.

Nine schools are so located that they are affected by private or parochial schools. Several schools near the line of the District of Columbia lose a number of their pupils to the Washington City schools. The schools in Takoma Park are slightly affected by the Seventh Day Adventist Seminary. The Rockville High School is affected by the Rockville Academy.

High schools. There are in the county seven public high schools, located at Brookeville, Darnestown, Gaithersburg, Germantown, Poolesville, Rockville, and Sandy Spring. There is one in each of five election districts, Poolesville, Rockville, Colesville, Gaithersburg, Darnestown, and Damascus, and two in Olney. The school at Rockville is the county high school. It is the only high school in the county listed by the State department of education in "Public high schools of the first group." The Brookeville, Sandy Spring, and Gaithersburg High Schools are listed by the State department as schools of the "second group."

To be classed in the "first group" a high school must have 80 or more pupils, four or more academic teachers, a four-year course of at least 36 weeks a year, a course of study prescribed by the State department, and must conform to several other regulations of the State department. A "second group" school must have 35 or more pupils, two or more academic teachers, a three-year course of at least 36 weeks a year, and must conform to the regulations of the department. The State contributed to each of the schools in the second group $1,400 for the year ended in June, 1912, and to the Rockville High School $2,300.

Of the three graduates of Sandy Spring School in June, 1912, one entered the Pennsylvania State College and one the University of Virginia. Of the eight graduates of Brookeville, two entered the State Normal School at Baltimore, two the Western Maryland College, and one St. Johns College at Annapolis. None of the four graduates at Gaithersburg is in a higher institution, but two are teaching in the county.

The following table gives data regarding the seven schools:

III. SCHOOLS FOR COLORED CHILDREN.

Number, distribution, and kind. There are 30 schools for colored children in the county, one to every 103 of the colored population of school age. They are all elementary schools with six or fewer grades. The number of schools for colored children, by election districts, are as follows: Laytonsville, 3; Clarkesburg, 2; Poolesville, 3; Rockville, 2; Colesville, 3; Darnestown, 4; Bethesda (a colored school was opened in Bethesda district in September, 1912), 0; Olney, 4; Gaithersburg, 3; Potomac, 1; Barnesville, 2; Damascus, 1; Wheaton, 2; total, 30.

These schools are so located that there is no considerable settlement of negroes anywhere in the county without a school reasonably accessible. In the Bethesda district, which is the only district without a colored school, the children go to the schools in the District of Columbia.

The colored schools are a part of the county school system, controlled, supervised, and maintained in the same manner as the white schools, but there is a feeling among many in the county that few of the negroes are taxpayers and that, consequently, the support of their schools by the county is more or less of a missionary enterprise. The material equipment.-There are 28 school buildings, of which 23 are owned by the county and 5 are rented. One school holds its sessions in a church, and one occupies a room in a hall. These buildings contain in all 38 rooms, of which 34 were last year used for school purposes. Twenty-eight schools are one-room, one-teacher schools. This proportion raises the same problem as with the white schools. The colored children stand as much in need of training along industrial and agricultural lines as the white children. But the introduction of such courses into the curriculum of a oneroom school is impracticable without good teachers and adequate supervision.

The school rooms vary in size from 374 square feet to 1,000 square feet. The average-sized room contains about 560 square feet of floor space. In more than one-half of the schools this is not sufficient