Report of the Director. 25 



and eventually it may be necessary to establish such work as a sepa- 

 rate field or entity. It is for Cornell University to establish a 

 standard for postgraduate study in agriculture, for there seems to 

 be little understanding of what such work should be. 



It may be useful to display the kinds of academic teaching which 

 a really vital agricultural college should cover. While it is the pur- 

 pose of such an institution to train men and women rather than 

 to develop subjects, yet the subject-matter is the means of train- 

 ing, and the pursuit of it should have direct effect on the business 

 of farming itself and on the meaning of country life. The primary 

 or fundamental field in which a college of agriculture should operate, 

 so far as subject-matter is concerned, is in increasing production. 

 Before pursuing the special agricultural subjects, however, the stu- 

 dent should be well grounded in fundamental subjects. Aside from 

 studies developing self-expression (as language and drawing) the 

 student should have training in such sciences as physics, chemistry, 

 geology, biology, physiology, meteorology, climatology. Leaving 

 out of count, in this discussion, the fundamental arts and sciences, 

 the special classes of subjects that are related directly to production 

 are as follows : ^ 



A — ^The crop-growing group ; including : 



(i) Fertility of the land (agricultural chemistry, "Soils"). 



(2) The breeding of plants. 



(3) The diseases and disabilities of plants. 



(4) Plans and practices in the growing and handling of kinds of 



crops (applications of agronomy, horticulture, and forestry). 



B — The animal-growing group ; including : 

 (i) The feeding of animals. 



(2) The breeding of animals.. 



(3) The diseases and ailments of animals. 



(4) Plans and practices in the rearing and handling of kinds of 



animals (including applications of collegiate departments known 

 as animal husbandry, poultry husbandry, and the like). 



Aside from these central and more or less technical agricultural 

 subjects, there are other departments corollary to them or essen- 

 tial to an institution that stands for agriculture and country life 

 in the broadest way. These other lines of teaching are as follows : 



I. Farm Mechanics and Machinery. — The use of machinery has 

 now come to be a permanent part of the equipment for good agri- 

 culture, and the kinds of machines are legion. The principles that 

 are involved in farm machinery, and the practice, cannot be ade- 



