4 EXPERIMENT STATION KECOKD. 



ivmiiin \ (M'v close, for tlu'v arc imitually (Icpciideiit ; but it will need 

 (Mciitually to develop a corps of ti'ained institute workers as a nucleus 

 around which to rally the assistance* of tli<> colleoc ;ind station workers 

 and others. 



This is the present tendency, and there was (piite o('iu'i'al a<>'reenicnt 

 at tile Toronto nieetino' as to the (pialilications which these workers 

 sliould possess. They should first of all l)e men well educated in the 

 principles and practice of agriculture, and should keep themselves 

 well informed throu<;h readino- and contact with the experiment sta- 

 tions and agricultural colleges and with the centers of agricultural 

 activity. The}- should be specialists in the sense that they (h'vote 

 themselves primarilv to some division of thesubjectof agricultuic and 

 aim to keep posted upon that. The da}' for the all-around worker who 

 is a sort of encyclopedia of universal knowledge iias passed in most 

 States. Agriculture is too vast a subject for any one man to cover, and 

 the fund of knowledge is being added to too rapidly. They should, of 

 course, have practical experience and be in thorough sympathy with 

 farm life; and in addition to native ability the}' must needs be trained 

 for institute work. 



Such a class of specialists can not be brought together in a few 

 months. They must be developed graduallv, as our agricultural 

 instructors and our station experts have been. Much time will be 

 required, and hence the desirabilit}' of working in that direction. 



In the meantime much can be done in training the institute forces 

 for the season's campaign. This is already engaging the attention of 

 institute directors, and in several States a beginning ha.-: been made. 

 The New York State department of agriculture will hold a normal 

 institute for the technical instruction of institute workers during two 

 weeks of November. One week of the meeting will be held at the 

 College of Agriculture at Cornell University and one week at the agri- 

 cultural experiment station at Geneva. The plan of bringing the work 

 ers together for conference at the agricultural college once a year has 

 been highly commended; and in several States steps have been taken 

 to introduce a normal school plan for training lecturers as a part of 

 their institute system. It is hoped that this Department may be able 

 to contribute, directly and indirectly, toward the better equipment 

 and training of these forces. 



The States will not long refuse to appropriate money to place so 

 laudable and popular a work as that of the farmers' institutes on a 

 substantial and independent basis; and the development of interest 

 in agricultural education of different forms will promote this end. 



The Mount Hermon School, near Northfield, Mass., founded by the 

 late D. L. Mood3% has decided to establish an agricultural department 

 and to offer courses of instruction in that subject. This step on the 

 part of one of the largest secondary schools in the United States will 



