Report of the Director. 15 



" An effort was made last winter to^establish in the^CoUege a course 

 of lectures on the sciences relating to agriculture for the benefit of the 

 j'oung farmers of the state who are unable to pursue an extended and 

 regular course of study. The scheme proposed four lectures a day 

 for ten weeks. It was to be illustrated and made as serviceable as 

 possible by the use of the excellent facilities of the institution. No 

 entrance examinations were required. The scheme was widely 

 advertised, but there was no adequate response. Seven applicants 

 appeared, but it was not deemed right to devote the necessary time 

 and effort required for the lectures to so small a number." 



The following winter a more ambitious effort was made of four 

 weeks duration, and it met with success. This enterprise, however, 

 was not so much a short course for students as a lecture course for 

 farmers. 



In the annual reports of the following November (1879) Professor 

 N. S. Townshend writes as follows: 



"The short course to farmers given at the University during 

 January, 1897, may properly be noticed here. 



"To make the State University more immediately serviceable to 

 the agricultural interests of the state, the Board of Trustees deter- 

 mined to provide a course of free lectures on topics of practical interest 

 to farmers. These lectures were given by the professors of the 

 University beginning January 9 and continued four weeks, four or 

 more lectures each day. The experiment was a decided success; 

 the total number of farmers in attendance exceeded 100, and the 

 regular daily attendance was upwards of 50. 



"At the close of this course of lectures those who had attended, 

 formally and unanimously expressed their satisfaction with the 

 course of instruction, and united in a request that a similar course 

 should be given at the University in January, 1880." 



This course was not continued long. 



The short course in agriculture at the University of Wisconsin 

 opened the first of January, 1886, and continued 12 weeks with 

 an attendance of 19 pupils. This is without doubt the oldest 

 short course which has continued growing in attendance. In 1890 

 there was added a course in dairying, which was practically a short 

 course in that line and a branch of the regular short course. Two 

 students registered that year and 70 the next. 



Following these early experiments winter-course instruction in 

 agriculture has now been established in the following institutions: 



South Dakota Agricultural College Brookings, S. D. 



Purdue University " Lafayette, Ind. 



Colorado State Agricultural College Fort Collins, Colo. 



Michigan State Agricultural College / Agricultural College, Michi- 

 gan. 



University of California Berkeley, Cal. (in 1903 had 



29 students in dairying). 



University of Minnesota St. Anthony Park, Minn. 



Massachusetts State College of Agriculture Amherst, Mass. 



