2i8 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN FOREIGN" COUNTRIES. 



By W. E. DE EIEMER, M. A. 



^ I ^IIE recent death, at the closing of the year 1898, of the la- 

 -L mented Senator Justin S. Morrill, who, as being the author 

 of the Land-Grant College Act, is justly styled the father of agri- 

 cultural education in the United States, seems to suggest the desira- 

 bility of taking a survey of agricultural education as it at present 

 exists in other countries than our own. 



Since the pursuit of agriculture is one which concerns more of 

 the people of our globe than any other pursuit, the necessity for 

 scientific training for agriculturists becomes more and more evident 

 to educated people. It is true that the cultivators of the soil do not 

 generally admit the need of special schooling. At the beginning of 

 this century very few educators, even, thought so. It was supposed 

 that tilling the soil had nothing to do with schools, and that science 

 had no connection with plowing and sowing. Agricultural lecture- 

 ships were established early in the eighteenth century in several- 

 European universities, but they were regarded as curiosities of the 

 age — superfluities of culture, rather than aids to the cultivator. 

 Earmers themselves were supposed to be the only competent teach- 

 ers of agriculture, and experience the only possible guide. But it 

 has become apparent that no farmer's experience is broad enough 

 to be adapted to all soils and climates. The successful farmer has 

 come to regard the land which he o\vns as a wonderful machine 

 which, if rightly managed, will turn out the most costly and per- 

 fect product; but which, if neglected or ignorantly handled, will 

 disappoint his high hopes and possibly impoverish its owner. The 

 development of commerce which so easily introduces the wheat 

 and potatoes and other products of our country into competition 

 with the grain produced in a distant land has taught the producers 

 of this generation, and especially the citizen of European countries, 

 that the farmer who can produce the largest crop of grain from 

 the fewest acres, at the lowest price for the best cereal or vegetable, 

 is the only successful cultivator. The nation which succeeds best 

 in this direction with all its soil products is the one which is sure 

 to have the " balance of trade " always in its favor. 



The United States awoke to this idea when, in 1862, Congress 

 passed the Land-Grant College Act, allotting Government lands in 

 every State to aid in founding agricultural colleges. The country 

 became more profoundly moved by this idea when, in 1887, Con- 

 gress passed the Hatch Act, granting annually to each State the 

 sum of fifteen thousand dollars to organize and perpetuate agri- 



