108 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



" Already," he went on to say, " the work of the stations has 

 created an entirely new agricultural literature, and . . . laid the 

 foundations for a sound agricultural pedagogy, and . . . they must 

 ever sup^^ly the new materials by which the courses can be strength- 

 ened and improved. But their work has a far more fundamental 

 and far-reaching purpose ; namely, to make agriculture a progressive 

 industry and the masses of agricultural workers progressive men. 

 Many plans for rural improvement have been made by philanthro- 

 pists and statesmen, but they have largely been failures because they 

 were imposed on the unwilling minds and hearts of unprogressive 

 people. But if the rural people themselves awake and make their 

 plans of improvement we may surely expect wonderful things. As an 

 arouser of desire for improvement and a stimulator to intelligent 

 effort to make the country a better place to live and work in, the 

 agricidtural experiment station has its chief importance and its 

 highest mission. And it is for this service that the stations especially 

 commend themselves to all the friends of rural progress, for if these 

 fountains of new knowledge are kept strong and pure theii- waters 

 will spring up forever to replenish the life of countless generations 

 of rural people.'' 



