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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and generously made provision for the 

 financial support of its first session. 



The Association of American Agri- 

 cultural Colleges and Experiment Sta- 

 tions at its convention in 1901 favored 

 the plan for the school and voted that, 

 if the success of the first session seemed 

 to justify its continuance, it be made a 

 cooperative enterprise under the con- 

 trol of the association. Hon. James 

 Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture, also 

 expressed his cordial approval of this 

 movement, and, on his advice, Dr. A. 

 C. True, director of the Office of Ex- 

 periment Stations, consented to act as 

 dean and other officers of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture to be members of 

 its faculty. Under these favorable aus- 

 pices there was a little difficulty in se- 

 curing a strong faculty. As actually 

 organized this included 35 men, of 

 whom 26 are professors in agricultural 

 colleges, 7 are leading officers of the 

 Department of Agriculture, and 2 are 

 officers of the New York State Experi- 

 ment Stations. Courses were offered in 

 agronomy, zootechny, dairying, and 

 breeding of plants and animals. The 

 school was housed in the substantial 

 and well-equipped agricultural building 

 of the university, where were illus- 

 trated the most approved apparatus of 

 instruction in soil physics, dairying 

 and other agricultural subjects. Be- 

 sides the livestock of the university 

 farm, leading breeders of Ohio fur- 

 nished choice animals for the stock- 

 judging exercises. 



General problems of agricultural sci- 

 ence and pedagogy were discussed at 

 the inaugural exercises and at Satur- 

 day morning conferences. Among the 

 topics thus treated were the history of 

 agricultural education and research in 

 the United States; the organization of 

 agricultural education in colleges, sec- 

 ondary schools, nature study courses, 

 correspondence courses, farmers' insti- 

 tutes and various forms of unversity 

 extension; what constitutes a science 

 of agriculture; educational values of 

 courses in agriculture; methods and 



values of cooperative experiments. 

 Through social assemblies, visits to 

 typical Ohio farms, and much informal 

 discussion wherever the students met 

 each other, the educational influences 

 of the school were greatly extended. 

 Seventy-five students were in attend- 

 ance. These were drawn from 28 states 

 and territories, including such widely 

 separated regions as Maine, Oregon, 

 California, New Mexico and Alabama. 

 There was one student from Canada 

 and one from the Argentine Republic. 

 There was also one woman, and the col- 

 ored race was represented by teachers 

 from the Tuskegee Institute and the 

 North Carolina Agricultural College. 

 Twenty-seven of the students are pro- 

 fessors or assistant professors in agri- 

 cultural colleges, thirty-one are assist- 

 ants in the agricultural colleges and ex- 

 periment stations, nine are recent col- 

 lege graduates, and eight are engaged 

 in farming. 



Considering the character of the fac- 

 ulty and students, it goes without say- 

 ing that the whole period of the ses- 

 sion was occupied with the most ear- 

 nest and profitable work. Without 

 doubt the influence of this school will 

 be felt throughout the country in the 

 improvement of courses of instruction 

 in agriculture and the strengthening 

 of the lines and methods of investiga- 

 tion of agricultural subjects. In other 

 ways the school will exert a beneficial 

 influence. So rapid has been the accu- 

 mulation of materials for a real sci- 

 ence of agriculture during the past few 

 years that even professional students 

 of agriculture have not realized how 

 large a mass of knowledge is already 

 available for molding into a system- 

 atic body of truth which may be util- 

 ized for pedagogic purposes, as well as 

 for inductions of scientific and prac- 

 tical value. The summaries given by 

 the experts gathered at this graduate 

 school have emphasized this fact and 

 shown in a striking manner that agri- 

 cultural education and research may 

 now be properly and efficiently organ- 



