33 



cated and trained in the fnndnmontal prinriplos n]>()ii which tlic industry rests 

 as to eiialde tlieni to a.i;nH' as a unit upon essentials. 



It may l)e said also that this education of which we speak is not selfish in its 

 chafacter. for while it com-erns directly the farmer and the farmer's interests, 

 the actual result of the hroader dissemination of exact knowledj^e will ulti- 

 mately redound to the henetit of the entire iK'ople engaj^ed in whatever line of 

 industry. This doubtless is true in a decree of all forms of education. Never- 

 theless it .seems to me that this educati(»u. which is so intimately related to the 

 issues of life, must he considered of relatively ;,'reater importance than any other, 

 for it is. in the lonj,' run, a preretiuisite either to the material enjoyment or to 

 the usefulness of man, whatever his education may have been in other direc- 

 tions. This view is based upon the fact that the capital stock of any counti-y. 

 and, therefore, its present and pros])ective wealth, as well as the means whereby 

 the wealth may he utilized for the upliftin.tr (tf mankind, lies in the natural re- 

 sources of that country. In an aj^ricultural country these resources are in the 

 soil, and since the value of the soil, or its sustained jiower to produce crops, is 

 measured by the content of nitrot^'en. iihos])horic acid, and jjotash, together with 

 the conditions which m.ike them available to plants, it follows that the future 

 Itrogress of that country is measured by the intelli^'ence with which these con- 

 stituent elements are used. The wasteful use of these, either in the systems 

 of farm practice adoi)ted or in the crude transformations that take place in 

 their manufacture and distribution, must reduce the possible value of the 

 resources, and, therefore, the adeiiuate return in culture or material wealth, 

 which alone permits of tlu-se enjoyments accompanyinjj a hi.i:her civilization. 



It is a notorious fact that the farm practice in this country ui) to the present 

 time has been wastefid in all these directions, and while this wasteful i)ractice 

 can not he char.i^ed exclusively to ignorance on the part of the farmers them- 

 selves, the result is identical, and unless we increase our knowledge of the 

 means by which the natural forces which are always active may be understood 

 and controlled by the mass of farmers, the time is not far distant when this 

 country, in common with older countries, will be confronted with the problem 

 of feeding the people. 



I am well aware that these natural forces of sun, air, water, and tempera- 

 ture, and the principles upon which the sciences of geologj', of chemistry, of 

 biology, and of physics are based, and which are all concerned in the proper utili- 

 zation of these constituents of our soils, and consequently the true progress of 

 the nation, have existed since the beginning of time. Real progress in their 

 application was not apparent, however, until the investigations of the geologist, 

 the chemist, the botanist, and the physicist had established a reasonable basis 

 for a theory that would account for the various phenomena involved in the 

 work, and it is through the broader dissemination of the results of the work of 

 these investigators in other countries that the latter have been enabled to main- 

 tain and increase the fertility of their soils and to provide a larger measure 

 for the feeding of their people. The conservation of those basic elements in the 

 countries in question is partly facilitated, too, by the disregard of these prin- 

 ciples in our country. There is. I admit, no inunediate danger of a shortage 

 of agricultural products in this country ; neither is there any immediate danger 

 of a general dissemination of knowledge that will result in materially chang- 

 ing our farm practice. It is a gradual i)rocess in either case, but unless more 

 active measures be taken and strenuous efforts made to provide for the future, 

 the rate of progress made by our nation in all those directions, which has made 

 us truly great, will he materially reduced. 



Aside from the primary problem of producing crops, and of conserving at the 

 same time the principal elements involved in their growth, we must recognize 

 that the allied problems of labor, transportation, social conditions, political and 

 economic forces, which create so much dissatisfaction and unrest among the 

 farmers, as among others, are the result, in part at least, of the ignorance of 

 the fundamental principles upon which the industry rests. It is a common 

 saying that farming as a business depends more upon the man thiiu upon the 

 conditions, and if we will follow up this matter we shall find that where the 

 individual is successful, he is so because he has either b.v intuition or force of 

 character succeeded in educating himself. He has acquired, by his experience 

 and contact with men, those attributes which compel success, which the agri- 

 cultural college is destined to give. Take the question of labor, which is such 

 an important problem at the present time in our Eastern States and in the 

 vicinity of large cities in all sections of the country. There can be no good 



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