906 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



necessary foi* the strictly aj>ricnltiiral subjects. In comparison with 

 the ohl-time professor of aoricultiire who covered the whole range of 

 agriculture and frequently had other duties as well, the present dif- 

 ferentiation stands out in strong contrast, making for increased 

 specialization and efficiency. In many cases much of the field now 

 occupied by agricultural instructors w^as formerly covered by the 

 teachers of the primary sciences, often resulting in a divorce of 

 science and practice. The natural consequence was that tlie instruc- 

 tion in agriculture Avas often given over to practical men without 

 much scientific training. There was comparatively little attention 

 given to the building up of agricultural courses on a sound peda- 

 gogic basis; and agriculture as a subject of college instruction fell 

 into more or less contempt among educators and students. 



In most of the colleges the agricultural faculty is increasing 

 rapidly, and the old-time professor of agriculture has become as much 

 of an anomaly at the present day as a professor of natural science 

 would be in a college of science. 



As showing the change in material equipment and facilities for 

 instruction, an appeal was read from Prof. Levi Stockbridge's report 

 for 1873 for " a lecture room, suitably furnished with appropriate 

 emblems and diagrams, and adjoining cabinet and museum rooms 

 supplied with everything needed to make the instruction of the pro- 

 fessor of agriculture as interesting and useful as possible.'' Such an 

 ajDpeal seems to-day almost pathetic. The sj^ecial building for agri- 

 culture has become almost a connnonplace and an accepted necessity 

 at the agricultural college, with laboratories of various kinds and 

 rooms for" every description of indoor work. Incidentally it was 

 mentioned that the new agricultural building at Cornell contains 

 47 rooms for dairying alone. 



Along with these changes in methods of teaching, development of 

 the teaching force, and the like, has come as a lesson of the past a 

 higher and broader conception of the mission of these colleges and 

 the functions of education. This has been an important develop- 

 ment, and one to which attention was naturally called on such an 

 occasion. 



President Koosevelt in his address, in speaking of the mission and 

 the limitations of these institutions, laid down the broad principle 

 that '' no industrial school can turn out a finished journeyman, but 

 it can furnish the material out of which a finished journeyman can 

 be made." This is an important and pertinent statement, which 

 applies with special force to the agricultural college. Their attempt 

 to turn out finished farmers has led them into error in planning their 

 courses, affected their educational ideals, and brought upon them 

 criticism as severe as did their early failure to accomplish that end. 



