506 EXPEEIMENT STATION EECORD. 



provision of assistants, and considerable progress has been made in 

 making the teaching schedule conform to a reasonable standard of 

 time, especially in the case of heads of departments. The colleges 

 connected with universities have usually profited by the scale recog- 

 nized in other departments of the institution, and those which have 

 not might well continue to urge for the agricultural faculty the same 

 standards for class room duties as other departments. 



There should be the same opportunity for study and investigation 

 open to the agricultural faculty as to that of other colleges, and no- 

 where will it prove more helpful. Here as elsewhere the instructor 

 who is ambitious for the success of his work will be active in the 

 efforts for increasing his efficiency. This will often take the form of 

 studies of methods of teaching, the preparation of text-books or man- 

 uals, and the devising of materials for illustration, a field presenting 

 great opportunity for advancing agricultural instruction. It is to 

 the men of these institutions that we naturally look for active study 

 of teaching methods and the improvement of agricultural instruction ; 

 but apparently these matters have received less systematic attention 

 than they deserve. 



Then there is a touch with the progress of science to be maintained 

 through scientific societies, and the teacher can not afford to go 

 empty-handed to these meetings or to seem to have no part in this 

 forward movement. His own name suffers eventually as does that of 

 the institution, for there is an implied lack of life and vigor in a col- 

 lege or a department which has no part in the acquiring of knowledge. 

 It is fair to expect productive ability of some form in the agricultural 

 college instructor as well as in the teaching force of other educational 

 institutions, and the agricultural teacher can hardly be content to let 

 his life work be measured wholly by the record of the class room. 



There is no more reason why all investigation and research in agri- 

 culture at the agricultural colleges should be confined to the experi- 

 ment station force than there is why all the teaching should be 

 restricted to the college faculty. The station men are preferably 

 assigned mainly to the station work, but the advantage to them of 

 some opportunity to come into contact with the teaching of the class 

 room and the lecture platform is quite generally recognized and 

 provided. The advantage to the teacher of following out some lines 

 of investigation in his field is perhaps equally recognized theoret- 

 ically, but it has not been expressed in practice nearly as generally. 

 The obstacles to it are not believed to be insurmountable, as a rule, if 

 the real spirit for it is present. 



In some notable cases the earlier teachers in the agricultural col- 

 leges were quite active in research and carried on studies wliich had 

 great influence in paving the way for agricultural experiment sta- 

 tions in this country. This was done under far less stimulating and 

 favorable conditions than prevail at the present time. But since the 



