318 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



have failed to realize upon. They should lead college presidents and 

 hoards of control to deal with this question as one of the most vital 

 at present affecting experiment station work; and it is especially desir- 

 able that it he looked squarely in the face and considered impartially 

 at this time, when plans are being made for the use of larger funds to 

 strengthen and develop the station work. 



Another line of discussion touching the experiment stations was the 

 provision for extension work as a branch of the agricultural college. 

 There was a more general recognition of the fact that the agricultural 

 college logically embraces three distinct branches or departments of 

 work, viz. the experiment station or research department, the depart- 

 ment of instruction, and the department for extension work. Presi- 

 dent Butterfield declared that "to carry out the function of the 

 agricultural college we need a vast enlargement of extension work 

 among farmers, 1 ' which should be dignified by a standing in the col- 

 lege coordinate with research and the teaching of students. It should 

 rank as a distinct department "with a faculty of men whose chief 

 business is to teach the people who can not come to the college." 



Among the lines of work assigned to this extension department were 

 included the farmers' institutes, reading courses, extension lectures, 

 the carrying on of cooperative and demonstration experiments, the 

 editing and distributing of such compilations of practical information 

 as now appear under the guise of experiment station bulletins, and 

 eventually relieving the station of the bulk of its correspondence. 



It was frankly admitted that the compiled popular publications which 

 the stations have been practically forced into issuing as a matter of 

 protection of their time are not properly station bulletins, and create 

 a wrong idea as to the character of work which the stations are put- 

 ting out. Like much of the station correspondence, it was held to 

 belong in the extension department. The demand for the information 

 and the personal inquiries have grown up with and out of the experi- 

 ment stations, which have created a thirst among farmers for more 

 up-to-date knowledge and for advice, which they turn to the station 

 men to supply. 



There was a strong sentiment voiced by a number of speakers that 

 if the experiment stations are to fulfill in the highest degree the expec- 

 tations which have been placed in them as agencies for research in 

 agriculture — for adding to our fund of scientific knowledge and apply- 

 ing it to the practical problems in agriculture — they must cease to be 

 all things to all men, they must be relieved of this great drain upon 

 them, and allowed to devote themselves to their special field. 



To meet this demand a special agency is needed for disseminating 

 and demonstrating new discoveries and new methods; and the exten- 

 sion department, which is alread}^ organized and in operation at Cor- 



