Consolidation is not always accompanied by transportation. A large number of small schools have been abandoned during the year and larger schools established without endangering the attendance record by placing the school too far away from its students. Approximately 150 small schools have been closed during the year and grouped into 50 or 75 larger units. Consolidations of this character have been going on for a number of years and need no further reference here.

It is encouraging to note that the campaigning which has been done in favor of consolidation with transportation is already showing results. In addition to the pioneer counties, Shelby and Madison, which have been using school wagons for a number of years in connection with their consolidated schools, we can now report three other counties which, for the first time this fall, have begun the experiment. It is true they are doing it on a small scale, but the reports which come from Weakley, Cheatham and Rhea, where wagons have recently been put into use, show that the policy is meeting with great favor among the people, and that there is every reason to hope for its extension.

CLUB WORK AMONG BOYS AND GIRLS.

Among the most efficient agencies which have been devised for vitalizing country schools and unifying the schools and comcommunity life are the clubs which have been organized among the young men and young women. The Boys' Corn Clubs have been in operation for several years and have had a most remarkable influence, material and otherwise, in this and other states. The present administration has done what it could to co-operate with the United States Government demonstrators in furthering the Corn Club movement, and it is gratifying to report that the number of clubs in the State have largely increased this year, and the records which are now coming in show that the efforts of the young men have been rewarded, not only in larger yields, but in better quality of product.

It was not until the present year that the Girls' Canning and Poultry Club work was inaugurated in Tennessee. Miss Virginia P. Moore, who has for a number of years efficiently carried on the school improvement work, was given the additional duties

of organizing Canning and Poultry Clubs-more familiarly known as "Tomato Clubs"-among the young women of the various counties of Tennessee. There was no effort on her part to put the work in a large number of counties this year, but rather to concentrate on a few where collaborators could be secured and the work could be carried on under intelligent supervision. The success of the movement has far surpassed all expectation. The young women have demonstrated their ability to make some contribution to economic and industrial life and have shown real business ability. Their work has attracted attention, not only in their particular counties, but at the State Fair and other places. I have asked Miss Moore to prepare a full report of her work, which has been done and appears at other places in this report.

As already indicated, this club work is far-reaching in its value, not only upon community life, but upon school life as well. One of the strongest criticisms of the school grows out of its artificiality, its aloofness from real life, its apparent lack of interest in life. The establishment of corn clubs and tomato clubs by the schools, and the participation of the young people in them will show that the schools are functioning for the industrial and economic life of the people, as well as the intellectual life, and will effectively dispose of all criticism. I wish we could correlate this club work more closely with the academic instruction which is now being given. I wish the State of Tennessee and the various counties could appoint supervisors to take charge of and develop it, and not depend, as they do now, upon the meager help which comes from the United States Department of Agriculture.

COUNTY SCHOOL FAIRS.

Another movement recently inaugurated in Tennessee which has done a great deal to develop the industrial features of country school work is the County School Fair. A number of counties during the present year have had splendid exhibits of their industrial work, especially those made by the corn clubs and tomato clubs. There may be mentioned in this connection exhibitions given in Lawrence, Wilson, Giles, Hamilton, Benton, Smith, and other counties, perhaps, which have not reported to

this office. But the most elaborate organization of the kind is the Montgomery County Industrial School Fair, which was held at Clarksville, November 15 and 16, of this year. The merchants of Clarksville and the surrounding county offered liberal prizes and stimulated the school children in all parts of the county to make entries. In an announcement published by the school people of the city and county the aims and purposes of the fair were thus set forth:

"The County Fair does its work in two directions. First, it sums up the work of the Boys' Corn Clubs and Girls' Tomato Clubs, the Sewing and Cooking Clubs, Poultry Clubs, etc., and associates the social life of the boy and girl with school life. Too long has the child been taught in the school room things foreign to his social environment. The parents, both in the country and in the city, have a right to expect their children to be better able to do the common things of life by attending school, whether they be in the corn field, in the kitchen, behind the counter or in the social club world. laboring to accomplish this in the school. mote the above named organizations, and the line of school improvement work, where it before has been neglected, and will encourage their continuance and enlargement in communities where they are already doing well. It gathers up results and thus gives forth enthusiasm, encouragement and definite direction for an enlargement of educational, economical and social work.

The School Fair is Second, it will proother features along

The School Fair is a composite picture of the children's work. As it will bring together exhibits from many schools of the county, it will enlarge the outlook of the school community and cause the children to measure themselves by the children of other schools.

The athletic contests, the declamations, the exhibits in corn raising, corn judging, tomato raising and tobacco; the exhibits in bread making, cake making and canning; the exhibits in sewing all brought together in well ordered display-are of great educational and social value. They teach definite purpose, they encourage persistent effort, they demand careful thought, they require the ability to follow directions which call for close attention and concentration, they teach self-control and fair

play, they enlarge the social horizon, they show the value of labor and the shallowness of luck."

The fair attracted wide attention and people from every section of the county, as well as visitors from the adjoining counties, were in attendance. It is the purpose of this Department to emphasize such exhibits and to encourage other counties to extend the work already begun and more thoroughly organize other school fairs during the coming fall. These movements are especially to be commended, for they stimulate industrial activities on the part of students, not only at the school, but in their homes, and whatever does this is doing a most valuable educational service.

EDUCATIONAL SITUATION IN TENNESSEE

1860-1912.

One of the chief functions of an educational report is to make comparisons between various periods which will show the progress that has been made. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction prepared a paper discussing Tennessee's Educational Recovery for the meeting of the Southern Commercial Congress, and that paper is here given to show, as far as statistics can show, the difference between the educational situation in 1860 and the present time:

"It is not possible to make any valuable comparisons between school conditions in Tennessee in 1860 and the present time, because of the lack of statistical information for the former period. There was a legal public school system in the State, had been since 1823, but in all the period before 1860, the benefits of public education were not generally diffused, nor was the system comparable in scope and efficiency with that which exists to-day, imperfect as the present system is. The office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction was created in 1835, but abolished in 1844, from which time until 1867 the State Treasurer was exofficio State Superintendent. Any school reports that were made during that period were only statistical tables setting forth the receipts from the State school taxes and their apportion

ment.