131 



A sot of normal coursi's, to continue for several weol.s eaoli year, arranf^ed 

 to c-ovt'r the siteeialties that extension work in a}j:ricnitural (Hlueation is ealled 

 upon to teach, should he constructed, and faculties composed of expert specialists 

 should he enj,'ajred to f,Mve instruction. liy continini,' the attention of each nor- 

 mal student to the study of the particular suh.ject that he expects to teach in the 

 farmers' institute nm<-'h mitrht l)e accomplished in a reasonahle time. A 10- 

 weeks* course, ^'ivins '.^ hours each day to lectures on a specialty, M hours to 

 practical work. 2 hours for reference work in the lihrary and for special reading. 

 aTid 1 hour for lecture unon some iieneral suhject, would amount to S<;4 hours, all 

 devoled to instruction in the student's specialty, except the IM! hours jjiven to 

 hearing lectures upon general subjects. 



Experiments made show that no sinjile State is able at present to establish, 

 ecpiip. and jn-operly conduct a normal school such as extension work in aijricul- 

 tural education demands for the education of its lecturers. 



The first practical difliculty is that the nund>er of scholars in any one State 

 enterinj; such a school will lie com!)aratively small, rendering it almost impos- 

 silde, if they are divided into classes accordini; to their several specialties, to 

 have" classes of sufKcient size to warrant the expense. The second is that most 

 of the a^'ricultm-al collews are not yet sutliciently eipiipped in their teaching 

 force of exiK-rts to do more than cover a cpiite limited range of topics. The 

 tiiird and insurmountable dilhculty is that no one institution can afford to give 

 the use of its teaching force for the length of time needed to make a course 

 effective. If, however, several States were to unite in a normal school to be 

 held at dilTerent institutions each year, eipiipped with a teaching force con- 

 tributed by each, the dilliculties mentioned would be largely overcome. 



Interstate normal schools for the instruction of specialists in agricultural 

 extension work, the farmers' institute, tlie movable school, the practice farm, 

 and the demonstration Held would add innnensely to the service that the land- 

 grant colleges are now rendering, and would make possible the extension of 

 :igricultural instruction to an unlimited degree. 



In conclusion. C'ongress intended to swing wide the door of agricultural 

 education to farming people. If the land-grant colleges will ecpiip themselves 

 and occupy the entire field that agriculture offers for their effort; if they will 

 take advaiitage of the educational opiiortunities in aid of agriculture that lie 

 before them, they will do no injustice to any other interest that the two acts of 

 Congress require them to protect, and they will be but fulfilling their obligations 

 to the farming people of the United States. 



C. R. Van IIise, of Wisconsin. I desire to say a word or two in discussion 

 of one of the papers which has been presented, namely, that by I'resident 

 Kerr, of the Agricultural College of Utah. It seems to me that he has outlined 

 what is desirable in those cases where there is a subdivision of the university 

 effort within the State. But I believe that if the statements which President 

 Kerr has made are carried to their logical conclusion, and if they are measured 

 in the light of actual development, but one conclusion can follow where this 

 subdivision exists, namely, that there will be two or three institutions in the 

 State in which both liberal education and practical education are given. There 

 is no such thing as teaching practical education and application of science or 

 the application of knowledge to life, except you base that work upon a broad 

 foundation of pure knowledge. Therefore, one agricultural college after another 

 has been obliged to introduce history, political science. English, or modern 

 languages, and pure sciences in their courses in order to properly teach agri- 

 culture. If agriculture is so taught that it is more than manual training, this 

 can not be avoided. On the other hand, the university can not exist in the 

 realm of pure knowledge apart from practical effect. That makes it too theo- 

 retical an institution, and too far apart from the life of our people to win 

 their support. The university feature which exists must at various points 

 touch the people, and touch them closely, and therefore the university has 

 superimposed upon these literary courses, upon pure knowledge, various lines 

 of the applications of science, of knowledge, law. medicine, engineering, as well 

 as other applications. Therefore it is impossible to avoid overlapping. Those 

 States which have started out to maintain two or three institutions have 



