1902.] QUESTION-BOX. 1 57 



act, we shall have a body of men being trained in military 

 science. Then, in times of war, we shall not have the spec- 

 tacle we have seen in this outbreak, but we shall have an 

 effective body of men ready to go to work at once. 



The results have justified his prediction. In the Spanish 

 war a large body of volunteer troops was drilled by land-grant 

 college graduates. In our own State of Connecticut six 

 graduates of the Connecticut Agricultural College were made 

 noncommissioned officers and drilled troops for use in case 

 of need. These men were sergeants and corporals, and one 

 of them, gentlemen, died in his country's cause. We have a 

 tablet on our Chapel to his memory. 



The President. That question has been well answered, 

 I am sure. 



Secretary Brown. I have another question which I have 

 taken from the box. " What modification, if any, do you 

 think could well be made in the courses of study in order to 

 increase the number of students, and thus make the college 

 more profitable to the farmer?" 



Prof. R. W. Stimson. I told you this morning some of 

 the things we had done. Perhaps I did not make it suffi- 

 ciently clear that one of the very important features of the 

 present policy of the Connecticut Agricultural College is this : 

 We have taken the college from a position just a little out of 

 reach of the common schools and have put it back right at 

 the door of the common schools. That seemed to be the 

 first step toward making it more useful to the farming classes. 

 Now, if you have a boy fifteen years of age who has had the 

 advantage of an average common school education he will 

 be admitted to our regular four years course, and he will 

 be graduated and given the degree of Bachelor of Agriculture 

 or a suitable diploma of graduation. We have done this one 

 thing in the way of modifying our courses, that instead of 

 making a preparatory course a prerequisite to admission, and 

 then a four vears course on top of that, and then sending 



