534 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



to be taught in the public schools, in this great State, whose university 

 has more than seventeen hundred students, there are only thirty-four 

 in the School of Agriculture, and of the forty-six graduates last year, 

 there were but two students in this branch, while law, medicine and 

 mining were well represented. This is not as it should be, and indicates 

 that farming is far in the rear ofi other industries. The boys and girls 

 on the farm are generally discontented as a result of improper training 

 and treatment. The work is trying and the tools are poor. There is 

 too little sunshine and too much gloom. John's hog is too often con- 

 verted into father's money. All this discourages and tends to drive them 

 from the farm. Our literature drives them away from their prosaic life 

 into what they believe to be the active and ideal. They read of the 

 office boy who advances to the head of the firm, and of the servant girl 

 who becomes a princess. They compare this with their own monotonous 

 routine, and dream of great things beyond the farm. Our books and 

 magazines are filled with achievements of "Captains of Industry" but 

 not one word is said of the privates of honest toil. We hear too much 

 of "Money Kings" and "Social Queens," and too ' little of honest men 

 and virtuous women. 



Sentiment is against the farmer. His name has been the synonym 

 for the uncouth, the uncultured, the great unwashed. He has been the 

 subject for the comic illustrator. Tradition always pictures him among 

 the gullible; fakirs reckon him among their sure victims, and that he 

 is always on the outlook for a gold brick. All this exaggeration by press 

 and public has its effect upon the sensitive boy and girl. Most of us 

 remember when we would prefer to pull weeds at home rather than un- 

 dergo the fire of the critical, mocking eyes on the village street, all too 

 conscious of our awkward appearance. To overcome all this the farmer 

 must assert his individuality. He must make his infiuence felt. By 

 bringing into his calling a degree of culture he can command his right- 

 ful place in the social and political world. 



He requires a broad scientific knowledge. He deals with plants, and 

 ^must know botany. His range embraces animals; he must study natural 

 history; he must have a knowledge of chemistry and understand the 

 principles of business. The birds are his friends and he must perfect 

 them. In fact, he comes in direct touch with nature, and is himself a 

 child of nature. With all his technical knowledge he must not forget 

 his civic duties. In our country he wields a political influence that can 

 not be ignored. This should be directed by intelligence, for it is the 

 only guarantee of liberty. 



Having endeavored to show why the farmer should be educated, let 

 us briefly consider the means by which this may be secured. 



Missouri has made an effort to teach the elements of agriculture in 

 the common schools. This is not enough. The public school course is 

 already too crowded and we must not expect more than a foundation of 

 an education to be furnished in it. No one expects law or medicine to be 

 taught in the common school, and why should we expect a science as 

 complex as either of these to • receive the attention it requires. The 



