Report of the Director. 23 



tural subjects — concretely, with the problems of increasing the, 

 productiveness and profitableness of farming. Gradually, however, 

 they have enlarged their scope to cover all the activities that are 

 peculiar or applicable to the open country as distinguished from 

 those that center mostly in the city, and to use these subjects broadly 

 as a means of training men for life and for general citizenship. Not 

 only must the productiveness of land be increased, but the ideals 

 of living must be elevated and all rural institutions must be quick- 

 ened. The modern agricultural college concerns itself with large 

 public questions of education, trade, transportation, and general 

 betterment, standing for all agencies that will aid in making the 

 farmer a more efficient producer of wealth and a more effective 

 citizen. In shorter words, the agricultural college stands for edu- 

 cation for country life. It is not a professional college. These 

 purposes are expressed in the Administration Act of our own Col- 

 lege of Agriculture, signed by the Governor on the 12th of April, 

 1906 : 



"The object of said college of agriculture shall be to improve the agricul- 

 tural methods of the state; to develop the agricultural resources of the 

 state in the production of crops of all kinds, in the rearing and breeding of 

 live-stock, in the manufacture of dairy and other products, in determining 

 better methods of handling and marketing such products, and in other ways ; 

 and to increase intelligence and elevate the standards of living in the rural 

 districts. For the attainment of these objects the college is authorized to 

 give instruction in the sciences, arts and practices relating thereto, in such 

 courses and in such manner as shall best serve the interests of the state; 

 to conduct extensive work in disseminating agricultural knowledge through- 

 out the state by means of experiments and demonstrations on farms and 

 gardens, investigations of the economic and social status of agriculture, 

 lectures, publication of bulletins and reports, and in such other ways as may 

 be deemed advisable in the furtherance of the aforesaid objects; to make 

 researches in the physical, chemical, biological and other problems of agri- 

 culture, the application of such investigations to the agriculture of New 

 York, and the publication of the results thereof." 



In organizing such a college the keynote should be quality. It 

 is gratifying to have a large number of students, for this indicates 

 the public estimate of the work ; but it is more important that every 

 kind of work be unexcelled for truthfulness and effectiveness. We 

 need several departments that are yet practically untouched ; but 

 there is greater need that all departments now established and pro- 

 jected be thoroughly officered and equipped. 



