602 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



the phases of the moon and the movement of other heavenly bodies. 

 The idea that it involved much more than skill and intuition and 

 brawn, or was teachable except as a practical art, or that experi- 

 ence and tradition could be extended and interpreted in the light 

 of science, was new and restricted. It was only the farseeing who 

 I'ealized these possibilities. The farmers who had received a college 

 education were not more successful than those who had not, for 

 they found their education bore no relation to their business and 

 they must go to school to the successful men of their neighborhood. 

 Except for the broader vision it gave them, the influence of their 

 education in advancing agriculture was negligible. 



We have now become so accustomed to these three agencies for 

 Hgi'icultural advancement, it would seem that their significance and 

 great importance should always have been recognized. The struggle 

 and opposition of a few years ago is lost sight of, and it is difficult 

 to realize what an innovation their establishment marked. The 

 re\'iew of the conditions under which these movements began, the 

 history of their progress, and the measuring of their influence and 

 position formed, therefore, matters of rare interest at the recent 

 convention. 



Such reviews were ably presented by Dr. W. O. Thompson for 

 the land-grant colleges. Dr. A. C. True for the Federal Department 

 of Agriculture, and Dr. H. C. White for the experiment stations. 

 These papers, together with the presidential address of Dr. W. E. 

 Stone and a paper by Dean Davenport on the American agricultural 

 college, constituted the special anniversary features of the conven- 

 tion. Bt vote of the association these papers are to be printed 

 separately from the proceedings for more extended distribution and 

 use. Those relating to the land-grant colleges will here be consid- 

 ered, reserving for a future issue the anniversary of agricultural 

 experimentation as embodied in the National Department of Agri- 

 culture and the American system of experiment stations. 



In the presidential address of Dr. Stone and the historical paper 

 of Dean Davenport, the history of these colleges was drawn upon to 

 show something of the vicissitudes they have passed through, the 

 dangers which still confront them, and the position they have at- 

 tained in the field of education. 



Dean Davenport characterized the history of the agricultural 

 college as forty years of apparent failure and a dozen years of daz- 

 zling success. From the fact that the fundamental ideas underlying 

 them were new and radical, they had to meet the conservatism of the 

 older and well established institutions. In their early history they 

 experienced an attitude of indifference, mistrust, and general lack 

 of confidence. " Farmers did not believe in their principles. Edu- 



