216 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



official and representative. It will bring all the farmers of the State 

 into more intimate knowledge and touch with the work of the college 

 and station, and will help to give the various agricultural organiza- 

 tions an individual interest in the institution. It is a recognition of 

 the relation of the college of agriculture to the farmers of the State, 

 and of the fact that the college to be most effective should understand 

 and appreciate the agricultural needs, problems, and aims of that class 

 of people. 



Professor Bailey's remarks to the delegates upon the purpose of 

 the college farm are of interest as representing the prevailing 

 views of agricultural educators upon this point and as showing the 

 gradual evolution of ideas which has taken place. The purpose of 

 the farm in connection with collegiate instruction in agriculture has 

 been a fruitful topic of discussion ever since the establishment of agri- 

 cultural colleges, and the prevalent notion regarding its relation to 

 instruction has undergone many changes. 



Professor Bailey presented abstracts of letters bearing upon this point 

 from deans and professors in some of the leading agricultural colleges. 

 The general consensus of opinion was that the college farm should be 

 looked upon as an outdoor laboratory for instruction in those things 

 which require contact with practical things, rather than as a model 

 farm or one for growing maximum crops or for giving students a 

 large amount of practical training. 



"It seems to me," Professor Bailey said, "that we have now come 

 to the final and proper stage or idea, that the college or university 

 farm must be a laboratory. The pattern farm, model farm, com- 

 mercial farm, and illustration farm are all incidental and secondary 

 to this general purpose. ... A college farm is a means to an end. 

 The end is the teaching of students; the growing of maximum crops 

 may or may not be the best way of attaining this end. We hope to 

 conduct our farms on the best business principles and in conformity 

 with the very best farm practices; we expect to make them interest- 

 ing and attractive to students and visitors; nevertheless, the laboratory 

 utilization of these areas is to be our first consideration. If we are 

 not using farms as a means of training men, then we are not using 

 them for pedagogical purposes, and the future will not justify our 

 possession of them." 



