No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 625 



blindness, "They also serve who only stand and wait." But Milton 

 produced after that two of the greatest poems in the English lan- 

 guage, "Paradise Lost" and "Paradise Regained." To these two 

 classes, if they persist, there is no hope. 



It has only been during the last 50 years that there has been any 

 effort toward agricultural education. It is only at its beginning. 

 But during that time it has gone by leaps and bounds. Agriculture 

 has awakened from its long sleep and it is my opinion that it is 

 to-day the most promising profession. What has injured agriculture 

 as an occupation in the past is the way that certain classes have 

 looked down upon it as an inferior calling, and even to a certain ex- 

 tent, by the farmers themselves — that most any one could farm. But 

 this, in the light of our present knowledge, is an exploded theory, 

 and that farming needs more ability than any other calling. An 

 agricultural educator recently said at a banquet given at Cornell 

 University after the Governor of New York had signed a bill appro- 

 priating |240,000 to the agricultural school, that "the farmer boy 

 used to be looked down upon, to-day he was looked at, and to 

 morrow he would be looked up to." 



During the limited time that is allotted to me to speak this even 

 ing, I can only mention the ideas that I would like to describe more 

 fully but time forbids. 



That which I wish to place emphasis upon is, that the farmer must 

 become educated, in not only his own work, but in the general knowl- 

 edge of the world. By this means he will become a force in the 

 affairs of state as well as his own. He will not be looked down 

 upon but will grace the occupation that he has so nobly chosen, like 

 Cincinnatus, the Boman general, whom the Roman consuls went 

 to, begging him to take command of the army against the enemy. 

 They found him plowing in a field. He at first declined, but being 

 urged to do so for the good of Rome, he accepted, defeated the 

 enemy and saved Rome. Then the consuls wanted to make him Em- 

 peror, but he declined, saying that his farm needed his services 

 more than Rome. This is one of the grandest examples written on 

 the pages of history. 



During the period of the settlement of our country, it mattered 

 little whether the farmer had an education or not as he manufac- 

 tured all he needed. The failure of crops in some distant country 

 mattered little as he could not ship his products if he had any to 

 sell. But how different it is to-day, with rural free delivery, the 

 telephone and telegraph and fast trains. He is only a few hours 

 distant from our large cities with all the advantages of their 

 markets. The farmer is living to-day in that "Golden Age" which 

 has served so often as the subject for school orations. Truly a new 

 earth is dawning on the American farmer and the times demand 

 that he be qualified to meet this new state of affairs. It is to-day, 

 as it will be in the millenium, when we compare the present with 

 the past: "The former things have passed away, and all things have 

 become new." The resources of our American farms are wonder- 

 ful when properly tilled and the demand is for skilled men to bring 

 forth its hidden wealth, and education is the only means by which 

 they may be able to accomplish the end. The farmer's life to-day 

 is not what it has been, one of toil and drudgery; but on the other 

 40—6—1905 



