PROGRESS IN ACJRlCrLTURAL EBUCATICN. 607 



tools; in shops and factories one man does one tiling i>r a k-w things only. This 

 highly d('Vfl<>i)eil siK-cialization ]>n)(hices efficient lahor. A man nses a tof)l until he 

 understands it thomnghly, recognizes immediately any defect, acquires a feeling of 

 ownership in it, gives it constant care, and is often ahle to make improvements in 

 its construction. All this is very different in the experience of the farmer. He uses 

 one machine only a short time, and then must take up another. What is learned 

 ahoiit the construction and use of a machine at one time is largely lust hefore it is 

 again called into use. The result of all this is that the farmer fails to develop that 

 interest and mechanical sense which are necessary to the highest efficiency in the 

 operation of the complex machinery which now forms a ])art of the equipment of 

 every modern farm. 



The records of the last census show that over one hundred million dollars worth 

 of farm machinery is made and sold each year. The saving which would come to 

 tile people of this country hy extending the life of each machine one year would be 

 an immense addition to the annual profits of our farmers. This saving can be more 

 than realized and it can be augmented by the greater efficiency which would come 

 from ex[)ert care and management. At present it is notorious that the American 

 farmer, with all his mechanical aptitude and inventive skill, is behind the other 

 leading agricultural countries in his management and care of agricultural machinery. 

 It is believed that this is largely due to the neglect of this subject in our schools. In 

 (Jermany, France, and more recently in England, a well-erpiipped laboratory for 

 t«'sting agricultural machines and a museum filled with samiiles of machines of differ- 

 ent patterns for examination by students is held to l)e as essential to proper instruc- 

 tion as a chemical laboratory. The first floor of the agricultural high school at Berlin 

 contains a museum in which are found the Ijest types of agricultural implements of 

 the Tnitefl States, England, and (iermany. The student who makes proper use of 

 that mu.^eum has a better understanding of the principles which govern the construc- 

 tion of the tools he is to use and the modificatiims to conform to different uses than 

 it would be possible for him to acijuire in any other way, and it is a kind of training 

 especially deman<led by the conditions of American farm life. 



This training in the agricultural institutions of Germany is regarded there as of the 

 highest value not only by farmers l)ut by manufacturers. It gives them trained 

 workmen in their shoj)s; it gives them trained agents to extend their export trade 

 in different «-ountries. The miion of agricultural and mechanical knowledge in their 

 em])loyees and agents lias enabled German implement makers to greatly increase 

 their export trade, and it is believed that the same result would follow similar 

 training here. If we are to maintain our .standing as a producing and manufacturing 

 nation we mu.st maintain our superiority as designers and users of farm machinery, 

 and this can Ije best promoted by bringing the trained intelligem-e of the experts of 

 the Department of Agriculture and of the students and professors of our agricultural 

 colleges to liear on this proI>Iem. A few colleges have createtl departments for 

 instructi(jn in certain branches of rural engineeriiig, the dei>artments of irrigation 

 engineering in Colorado and California being illustrations of this, and a number of 

 colleges are now considering the establishment of courses in rural engineering with 

 farm mechanics as the lea<ling feature, and there is much interest in the develoi)ment 

 of these courses as independent lines of work. Among these are the I'olleges of 

 agriculture in Ilhnois, Wisconsin, Minnesotii, Iowa, and North Dakota. In each 

 ca.se this work has been inaugurated as a branch of instruction in agronomy. While 

 this may answer as a beginning, the importance of the allie<l branches of rural 

 engineering taken together t-ntitles it to be made an indej)endent dei)artment of 

 instruction, having equal rank with agronomy or animal industry as they have been 

 establisheil in a number of institutions. The scheme outline<l in the fifth report of 

 the committee on methods of teaching agriculture, and i)iiblishe<l in Circular 45 of 

 the Office of Experiment Stati<jns, brings together in a logical way the scattered 



