No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 873 



culture about a million annually. I am not saying that they give 

 too much to one and too little to the other. I am simply asking the 

 question whether, instead of the Federal Government relying on the 

 states for help, it would not be more natural for the states to turn 

 to the National Government for help. 



Now, agriculture may be promoted along three or four lines: First, 

 by making public all matters of public importance; second, by the 

 passage and execution of wise laws, and, third, by a course of knowl- 

 edge relative to agriculture, and fourth, by a diffusion of knowledge 

 relative to agriculture. This State has, in the wisdom of its Legis- 

 lature, passed bills of the utmost importance to the farmer of the 

 State, and the State is to be congratulated upon the manner in 

 which these laws have been executed. I know something of the way 

 in which these laws are executed in other states, and I am glad to 

 say something in behalf of the w'ork in this State. In one particular, 

 however, we need legislation, and that is the matter of the parcels 

 post. 



The discovery of a new truth is the work of investigation, and 

 requires seme work on the part of the investigator. This work has 

 been largely done by the State College of Pennsylvania, and many 

 far-reaching questions have been elucidated. The time has come, 

 however, when the hundred-acre farm in Centre county, and the lab- 

 oratory of the Experiment Station, can no longer cope with the sit- 

 uation. Our coming Experiment Station will have the same dimen- 

 sions as the State of Pennsylvania. Let me r,ive you an illustration: 

 There is at Pennsylvania State College the series of fertilizer ex- 

 periments which has been conducted for twenty-five years. We are 

 this year beginning the twenty-fifth of the series. Now, this informa- 

 tion is very valuable to the farmer who has the same type of soil 

 that we have there in Centre county, twelve hundred feet above 

 the sea level; but to the farmer down here in Chester county, three 

 hundred feet above the sea level, with a different type of soil, it 

 will do no good. We must thoroughly study the soil of Pennsyl- 

 vaniia, and then we will know where there exists in Pennsylvania 

 the same type of soil as exists on the farm at the Experiment Sta- 

 tion, and then we can confidently say to that man, "This is the fer- 

 tilizer for your use"; but when we come to other soil types, we 

 must first experiment on these soil types before we can proceed in- 

 telligently. This is only one of the many instances we can give, and 

 where we can take the work out of the Experiment Station right 

 down to the farmer. 



In the diffusion of knowledge there are many agencies, including 

 agricultural publications, Farmers' Institutes and the Agricultural 

 College, but the time has come, in my judgment, when we should 

 take another step. In my opinion, the time has come when we should 

 introduce agriculture into the High Schools. Now, I don't suppose 

 there is any question on the part of anybody as to the desirability 

 of doing so, but the question is, how are you going to do it? There 

 are, I am told, two hundred and sixty-two Township High Schools in 

 the State of Pennsylvania, and I understand the Commissioner of 

 Education says that agriculture must be taught in these schools, but 

 the question is how? How many years would it take at State Col- 

 lege to teach those boys and girls to fit them to teach agriculture 

 in the High Schools, and if we got the girls, how many would stay 

 18—6—1907. 



