844 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



the (Iclt'iiiiiiuition to scciiro a thoroughly competent director and corps 

 ol" Nsorkcrs, i.s lui c\id(!iice that the authorities have awakened to the 

 needs and the opportunities for dev(;lopinj^ the threat productive indus- 

 try of the ishuid and placing- it upon a more rational and progressive 

 hasis. The develoi)ment of thv. station under Director Karle Avill be 

 followed with nmcli interest by his many friends in this country. 



The inauguration exercises of the new agricultural course at Mount 

 Hermon School for Boys, near Northfield, took place April 18. The 

 occasion was the annual commencement of the school, and the exer- 

 cises served to give formal recognition and prominence to this new 

 course, which was started last fall. 



The principal address was made l^y Prof. L. H. Bailey, wdio spoke 

 upon the place of agricultural instruction in the college and school 

 curriculum. His remarks showed the steady growth of interest in 

 the teaching of agriculture, the various forms which this is now tak- 

 ing, and the more general recognition accorded to it for its educational 

 value and its utility as a preparation for dail}^ life. 



While the Mount Hermon agricidtural course is in a sense an experi- 

 ment, it is one in which the friends of agricultural education have great 

 faith. The conditions afforded at the school for developing such a 

 course seem in man}^ respects ideal. A farm of a thousand acres is 

 already at hand; the Northfield schools furnish a large market for its 

 products; over 400 boys are in attendance, who are required to do 

 a stipulated amount of manual labor every day about the college 

 buildings or on the farm; and many of the boys come from country 

 districts, with a desire to learn something which will be of direct 

 ad\'antage to them when the}^ return to their homes. It only remains 

 to make the labor required of the bo3^s instructive and attractive, to 

 systematize it, and to combine with it theoretical instruction which 

 will teacli the reason for the methods practiced. 



It will require money to develop the new department, })ut under 

 the old system the farm has been a source of considerable expense, 

 and the saving which is ))eing effected in the operating expenses and 

 the increased returns from the improved system of farming will in 

 part provide the necessary means. And in the past it has not been 

 the rule at the Moody schools that new^ developments have been 

 cluM'ked ])y lack of funds; a way has been found for providing means 

 after the wisdom of the undertaking has become manifest. 



In the death of Hon. Le\i Stockbridge, of Massachusetts, a familiar 

 landmark in the tield of agricultural education has passed away. For 

 nearly a (juartcr of a century he was a prominent and influential figure 

 in the development of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, and in 

 securing for it the recognition and financial support of the State. He 

 was identified with the college from its inception, urging upon the 



