Chap. 253.—An ACT to provide for instruction in agriculture, domestic art
and sciences, and manual training in public high schools.

Approved March 16, 1910.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That in at leas
one public high school, to be selected by the State board of education it
each congressional district of the State, a thorough course in agriculture,
the domestic arts and sciences and manual training shall be given in
addition to the academic course prescribed for such high schools, and
at least one-fourth of the school time shall be devoted to these subjects.

2. Not less than five acres of land, convenient to each of said
schools, shall be acquired by lease, purchase or donation for the purpose
of providing practical demonstration in agricultural science. The culti-
vation of these lands, as far as practicable, shall be done by the students
themselves. A careful account shall be kept of the product of each
student’s labor, showing how it is disposed of and the prices received
on the products which are sold. The proceeds of such sales shall be
applied or used under general regulations adopted by the district school
board of the county in which the agricultural school is located, which
regulations must be approved by the State board of education.

3. Suitable buildings shall be provided and properly equipped for the
purposes of said scheols, including workshops, planned for practical in-
struction in elementary manual training, in bench work, and in other
forms of shop work applicable to rural life.

4. All female students attending the high schools provided for under
this act shall be instructed in the domestic arts and sciences, and suitable
equipment for such instruction shall be provided by the district school
boards out of the funds applicable to the maintenance and equipment of
the school. Said female students may also take the agricultural course,
if they so desire.

5. The agricultural high schools established under this act may be
used as centers for directing the demonstration farm work and other
extension work throughout the bounds of the several congressional dis-
tricts, and shall be conducted under such rules and regulations as the
State board of education and the president of the Virginia College of
Agriculture and Polytechnic Institute may prescribe.

6. For the fiscal year ending the twenty-eighth day of February,
nineteen hundred and eleven, the sum of thirty thousand dollars, or so
much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated out of the sum
turned over to the State board of education for apportionment among the
schools of the primary and grammar grades, the said thirty thousand
dollars to be used for the purpose of cargying out the provisions of this
act.

”. For the fiscal year.ending the twenty-eighth day of February
nineteen hundred and twelve, and annually thereafter, the sum of thirty
thousand dollars is hereby appropriated out of the sum turned over tc
the State board of education for apportionment among the schools ot
the primary and grammar grades for the purpose of carrying out the
provisions of this act. And for the said last named fiscal year, the fur.
ther sum of twenty-five thousand dollars is hereby appropriated out 0!
any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated to be used for the
special purpose of providing buildings and equipment for said schools
And for the said last named fiscal year the further sum of ten thousanc
dollars is hereby appropriated out of the sum turned over to the Stat
board of education for apportionment among the schools of the primar}
and grammar grades for the purpose of providing for the traveling, de
monstration and extension work to be connected with the said high
school. All of the sums appropriated by this section of this act shall
be turned over to the State board of education, to be by that board appor-
tioned and expended as provided by the terms of this act.