98 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



President Van Hise of the Wisconsin University said in substance 

 recently in addressing a national association of educators: "The college 

 authorities should go into every high school of their States and present to 

 the pupils in the most forcible way the opportunities open to the graduates 

 of agricultural colleges. No kind of education today offers to its graduates 

 such sure and safe returns at such good compensation as are open to 

 young men who take a thorough course in agriculture." 



The Iowa State College has an annual enrollment of about 350 students 

 taking the four-year course in agriculture; and about 700 in the short 

 courses, making a total of over 1,000 agricultural students each year. We 

 have in addition over 100 veterinary students taking agricultural instruc- 

 tion. This surpasses the fondest dreams of those connected with the work 

 a few years ago. But the conditions of Iowa demand, and we should not 

 be satisfied until we have at least 1,000 students taking a collegiate course 

 in agriculture, and 10,000 taking short courses, ranging from one to three 

 years in agricultural high schools or academies. I confidently expect to see 

 this result attained in the near future. No investment that the State 

 could make would pay better dividends. 



The Iowa State College is doing much aside from the instruction of its 

 resident students. Through an extension staff, organized in accordance 

 with an act passed by the last Legislature,' it is conducting demonstration 

 experiments on ten county farms of the State, and giving instruction in 

 stock and grain judging, in growing crops, farm management, orcharding, 

 dairying, domestic science, soil fertility, good roads and other phases of 

 agriculture, in two regularly organied local short course schools; and in 

 farmers' institutes, in two-thirds of the counties of the State. It has 

 covered over 3,000 miles of railroad and reached 140,000 people by special 

 trains. For this work the railroads deserve the credit of furnishing free 

 train service and bearing all incidental expenses. 



The county farm experimental work and boys' and girls' club work 

 has been highly popular and produced good results. Sioux and Keokuk 

 counties have been particularly successful in the boys' and girls' club work. 



Three years ago the Sioux County Farmers' Institute passed a resolu- 

 tion asking the Board of Supervisors to set aside a plot of land upon the 

 County Farm and to also appropriate a sufficient sum of money to allow 

 Sioux county to establish a series of experiments, co-operating with the 

 Iowa Experiment Station at Ames. The Board of Supervisors took favora- 

 ble action and H. H. McKee, steward of the County Farm, was instructed 

 to take the work in hand. This was the beginning of the present move- 

 ment of County Experiment Stations. 



A prominent feature of the work has been the annual County Farm 

 picnic. People from all sections of the county come in to study the 

 various experiments and to visit, meet friends from distant parts of the 

 county and take part in the program that occurs during the day. 



The Board of Supervisors, consisting of B. F. Hawkins, H. J. Van de 

 Wan and J. C. Emery, co-operating with the Farmers' Institute and 

 assisted by the steward of the county farm, H. H. McKee, conceived the 

 plan of encouraging the farm boys and girls to take greater interest in 

 the Farmers' Institute work and to also determine the possibilities of 

 Sioux county corn soil. 



