594 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



by tlie farmers of its State in their demands upon it. Dr. Jordan stated that 

 the primary and the chief product Or an experiment station shoukl be scien- 

 tific truths that are a real addition to agricultural knowledge, resting on 

 sound and adequate investigations and capable of apiilication to the varying 

 farm conditions in the State which it serves. The station worker should be, 

 he believed, first of all a man of high scientific attainments. It was not re- 

 garded as essential that he be experienced in the art of agriculture, although 

 " he should be familiar with the agricultural conditions and practices that 

 relate to his particular field of investigation." He should be fundamentally a 

 seeker after truth for truth's sake, keenly alive to his responsibility as a leader, 

 and with a strong sympathy with the problems of the farm. The farmers of a 

 State, he declared, are entitled to the utmost results possible, but there can not 

 safely be coercion by insistence upon a time limit. Nor should the station be 

 hampered by requests for popular instruction nor for formulating rules of 

 farm practice for individual needs, although " the obligation of an experiment 

 station to point the way to the application of knowledge to farm practice should 

 be fully recognized and fully met." He believed that there existed in indis- 

 criminate extension of public assistance in agriculture a possible danger of 

 impairing individual or community initiative and responsibility. In his opinion 

 most careful differentiation was necessary between the things which should be 

 done for the farmer and those which he should do for himself. 



Iowa College. — At the two-weeks' short course held at the college, beginning 

 January 4, the total enrollment reached nearly 800, chiefly in live stock and 

 grain judging. It had been expected that the holding of local short courses at 

 twenty points in the State would lead to a diminution in the attendance, but 

 the effect seemed rather to stimulate additional intei-est, all previous records be- 

 ing broken. Meetings were held during the course by several State agricultural 

 organizations, and there were also a large number of demonstrations, lectures 

 by well-known speakers, an exhibition of automobiles adapted to farm condi- 

 tions, and a competitive judging contest. 



W. H. Peters, assistant professor of animal husbandry, and F. G. Churchill, 

 assistant in chemistry, have accepted appointments at the Manitoba College of 

 Agriculture, the former as professor of animal husbandry and the latter as 

 lecturer in soil physics. 



Kansas College. — C. G. Elling, assistant animal husbandman, has resigned 

 to accept a commercial position in Cuba. 



Maine University. — The dedication of the new agricultural building took 

 place January 20. The speakers included Hon. E. B. Winslow, of the board of 

 trustees. Governor B. M. Fernald, State commissioner -of Agriculture A. W. 

 Gilman, State Superintendent of Schools Payson Smith, and Dean Hurd. The 

 dedicatory address was by Dean Davenport of the Illinois University and Sta- 

 tion, his subject being The Development of our American Agriculture, What It 

 Is, and What It ]\Ieans. In this address the vital public interest in a successful 

 agriculture was pointed out, and the fundamental purpose of agricultural 

 education and research was defined as the development of agriculture as a 

 productive occupation and of tlie agricultural people as a numerous and impor- 

 tant part of the social and political fabric. The details of this development 

 were considered to consist in making agriculture profitable, productive, and per- 

 manent, the country both comfortable and beautiful, and its people broadly 

 educated. 



The new hall of agriculture is a three-story and basement brick structure of 

 Tudor style, 100 by 63 ft., and costing about .$50,000. In the basement are 

 located an animal operating room, laboratories for veterinary science, forestry, 

 soil chemistry, and soil physics, a photograplij- room and rooms for the storage 



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