370 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



in any degree the very pleasant relations which have existed for so 

 many years with the members of the Board of Agriculture and with 

 other agricultural organizations in this State; and while we are look- 

 ing toward, and confidently anticipating a very much larger devel- 

 opment in the Department of Agriculture at the State College, I 

 hope to keep somewhat in touch with them in the future as I have in 

 the past. 



Let me say one thing more: It seems to me that this change is a 

 significant one, because it is a more marked, and to me of course 

 very flattering recognition of the importance of abstract research 

 into the fundamental principles underlying the art of agriculture. 

 Those of us who can look back fifteen or twenty years, can readily 

 see what this means. Those who can remember the general estima- 

 tion in which such investigations were held twenty years ago, the at- 

 titude of the agricultural press and of agricultural meetings, farm- 

 ers' institutes and boards of agriculture toward them, will see that 

 a very marked progress has been made within a decade; that the fun- 

 damental importance of scientific research — research into princi 

 pies as distinguished from the investigations into the applications of 

 principles and practice has made tremendous strides, and I believe 

 nowhere is it more marked than in Pennsylvania, and I trust that the 

 work of this new department of the College, while it will necessarily 

 be abstract, which will sometimes seem to have very little relation to 

 important practical problems, yet I venture to hope that in the long 

 run, it may be as practically serviceable to the agricultural interests 

 of Pennsylvania as any other line of work which the institution may 

 undertake. 



COL. WOODWARD: Mr. Chairman, I simply want to make a 

 statement in regard to the future of the Department of Agriculture 

 at the State College. We have undertaken a new organization; we 

 believe that Pennsylvania is now ripe for wonderful and new devel- 

 opments in agriculture, and we realize that under the organization 

 of agriculture in this State, the State College must be kept abreast 

 of the needs of the people engaged in the various lines of agricul- 

 tural industry. 



We have undertaken to secure leaders in the work. What we 

 have done in some directions you have seen this morning, and I want 

 to say to you that we are looking earnestly and seriously ^and con- 

 stantly for men to take the lead, in agricultural education in the 

 various branches of the work. We are looking for large men, we 

 are looking for capable men, for men old enough to be thoroughly 

 equipped for the work, and yet young enough to have an opportunity 

 to make a record for themselves in life, and anxious and energetic 

 enough to make that record. The gentleman whom we have in 

 view at present, I shall not be able to name in connection with the 

 direction of the State Experiment Station, but I want to say to you 

 that we have in view and have strong hopes of securing the ser- 

 vices of a man who is conceded by some of the best agricultural au- 

 thorities in the State to stand not lower than third in the list of 

 men available for the position, a man of large experience, of largely 

 developed equipment, great ability and nationally of recognized 

 worth in the agricultural line. We hope to secure the services of 

 that man. I simply wanted to make this statement for the encour- 

 agement of my friends upon the Board so that they may realize 



