Report of the President. 9 



" The time has arrived for considering the needs of the near future and 

 adopting a carefully-thought-out policy of development which will place 

 these State Colleges in condition to meet the demands which will be 

 placed upon them. For this purpose, the situation has been studied and 

 plans made for the development of the Colleges, which are intended to 

 secure maximum efficiency with least expenditure for construction and 

 maintenance." 



The Function of the College of Agriculture. 



" This College undertakes to teach its students and the farmers of the 

 State how to make lands more productive and farming more profitable, 

 and to educate the people for a better country life. The College not only 

 teaches, but conducts research and experimentation, largely through the 

 Experiment Station which is maintained primarily by federal funds. 



" The extension work of the College includes reading-courses, coopera- 

 tive experiments and demonstrations on farms, orchard, farm and soil 

 surveys, lectures in schools, correspondence, popular publications, ex- 

 hibits at county and state fairs and expositions, demonstrations and 

 lectures on special farm railroad trains, and the like, and reaches the 

 farmers and their problems in the places where the problems are." 



Present Condition of the College of Agriculture. 



" The College of Agriculture at Cornell University became a State 

 College by legislative act in 1904 appropriating $250,000 for buildings ; 

 and by the later administration act of 1906. The establishment of the 

 College as a State institution gave great impetus to the work and indicated 

 many additional lines of effort. The number of students rapidly increased 

 from 296 in 1904 to 655 in 1907-8, when the new buildings were first 

 occupied. These students were well accommodated. The next year the 

 registration reached 840, and the laboratories and other facilities were 

 taxed to the utmost. This year, 1909-10, the registration has already 

 reached 963.* 



" This crowding has produced a serious and critical condition. In the 

 Departments of Poultry Husbandry, Plant Physiolog)^ Plant Patholog}^ 

 Entomology and Biology, many students have been denied registration. 

 In many laboratory courses, students have been turned away for lack of 

 room. In teaching agriculture, laboratory practice is essential. The 



* The complete registration for the year 1909- 1910, as shown in the accompanying 

 report of the Acting Director, was 968. This year a tremendous and unprecedented 

 increase in enrollment has taken place. The records to date (Nov. 30, 1910) show an 

 enrollment of 1230 students, an increase of 262 over the total enrollment of 1909-10, 

 the largest single year's increase in the history of the college. 



