PROGRESS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 585 



ment has l)een to change the relation of the natural sciences to agricuUure in the 

 Pflioiiie of instruction in tlic agricultural colleges. As long a? agriculture wa-s taught 

 almost wholly on a practical hasis and without much regard to its j)edagogical for- 

 mulation, the teachers of the natural sciences were called upon not only to develop 

 the relations of these sciences to agriculture in their courses of instruction, but to 

 give instruction in strictly agricultural subjects, and this was rlonc to a considfral)le 

 ext<'nt, especially in chemistry and botiiny. Out of this grew a series of text-books 

 an<i manuals in which the general i>rincij)les of these sciences were more or less 

 extensively CI Mnbincd with statements of their relations to the theory and practice 

 of agricidtun". Thus we havt' books on agricultural chemistry, agricultural botany, 

 agricultural i)hysics, etc. The preparation of such books wa.s a very useful work. 

 They helped to turn the attention of scientists to the importance of the prol)lems of 

 agriculture anil thus le<l to the furtlier investigation of these problems; they brought 

 together many facts ami principles out of which in large measure; the science of 

 agriculture itself is now being constructed. But this method of procedure, as we 

 can now see, had also some unfortunate results from which we are seeking to escape 

 through the nion' thorough formuhition of the science of agriculture and of courses 

 based thereon, and the readjustment of the courses in the natural sciences to meet 

 this new conclitioii of agricultural jiedagogy. 



< )ne result of the prolonged study of the relations of science to agriculture was to 

 lead l)oth teacher and student too far afield in the pursuit of problems which, though 

 imjMtrtant scientifically, and even economically, had too remote connection with 

 agriculture itself to make it worth while for the student whose aim was to be a 

 master of the theory and practice of agriculture to follow after them. Thus, for 

 exampU', agriiultural chemistry <leveloped a system of analysis of fertilizers, feeding 

 stuffs, and ailulterate<l products which in the minds of many teachers came to be so 

 j)rominent a part of this branch of chemistry that it often assumeil an undue impor- 

 tance in the general agricultural courses in our colleges. Now, we shall always need 

 expert analysts of fertilizers ami feeiling stuffs, and special courses for the training 

 of thosi' <'xperts should be offered in our agricultural colleges. But these should be 

 clearly differentiated from the courses intendeil to lay the foundations for the scien- 

 tific study of agriculture. Under the old system the emphasis was often laid so much 

 on analytical work that the colleges produced many analysts an<l but few agricultural 

 experts. So in lM)tany it is easily possible, for example, to lay so much stn-ss on 

 studies of fungi and bacteria, or grasses, that the stu<lents are led to .strive to become 

 experts in vegetable pathology or agrostology. It is true we need many more such 

 experts, but, nevertheless, it should not be the object of botanical studies underlying 

 the general course in agriculture to aim at the training of ])athological experts, or 

 agrostologists, or any other kin<l of botanical experts. While l)otanical experts and 

 agriciillunil cxiierts may for a lime profitably study botany together their j)athg 

 shouM soon diverge, and this must be kept in miml l)y teachers of botany. 



Another unfortiHiate result of the ol<l arrangement of courses in our agricultural 

 colleges was that the study of the general jirinciples an<l outlines of the various natu- 

 ral sciences was often unwisely abridged, in order to give more attention to their 

 economic appIi<ations. This has perhajis not been so much the fault of the s<-ience 

 teachers as of the managers of the agricultural colleges. The attempt to create u 

 vt'ry practic-al atmosphere in these institutions luis often led t« great disregard of 

 estjiblished jwdagogical j>rinciples in the tt-aching of the complex subject,s relating 

 to agriculture :ind other arts. Nothing is more lirndy established in pedagogical 

 science than the iirincijde that, before proceeding to the study of complex jiroblems, 

 the ]>upil should become act|uaint«'<l with the elementsiry facta ami ]>rincii)les 

 involved in the solution of these prol)lems. It is also v«'ry generally agree<l that an 

 outline study <if a general subject which will enable the j>ui»il to have some coini>re- 



