12 Journal of AgricvMure, Victoria. [10 Jan., 1919. 



the agriculturist, or the man of commerce, seems to spring from the 

 conviction that a well rounded and comprehensive system of education, 

 freely available for all citizens, is essential for the maintenance and well- 

 being of a Democracy. The Americans also hold that an efficient 

 system of agricultural education is an absolute necessity for national 

 progress. They contend that money spent on agricultural education 

 and development is a wise national investment which is repaid to the 

 nation many times over in the form of increased national prosperity. 



The Americans have the reputation of being a business-like and 

 practical nation, requiring a dollar's worth of result for every dollar of 

 expenditure; but on no form of education have the individual States 

 or the Federal Government spent money so freely as on agricultural 

 education. 



The bill for agricultural education, research, and extension approxi- 

 mates £12,000,000. This is a large sum to spend on agricultural 

 education. What, it may be asked, do the Americans expect in return 

 for this expenditure? Let me briefly set out their objective in agricul- 

 tural education, and how they propose realizing it. 



"What is the aim of agricultural education in the United States? 

 I asked many of the leading agricultural authorities this question, and 

 they were all in general agreement upon the fundamental aims. Dr. 

 Davenport, one of America's foremost agriculturists, put the general 

 view very clearly. He said that the fundamental purpose of agri- 

 cultural education is the development of agriculture as a productive 

 occupation, and of the agricultural people as an important part of the 

 social and political fabric. 



Development is the central thought in educational activity, and the 

 development of American agriculture to its highest possible limit, both 

 as a business and as a mode of life, is the purpose for which the colleges 

 and experiment stations were founded and supported by the public. 

 The development of agriculture until it shall be profitable, productive, 

 permanent, until the rural districts are comfortable, and the rural people 

 are educated — these are the specific aims of American educationists. 



Agriculture must be profitable because farming is a business, and the 

 first and fundamental step in its development is to put it on a paying 

 basis. The colleges and experimental stations have devoted their main 

 efforts to increasing the profits of farming. In the past farming was 

 not a capitalized industry, and failure was almost impossible. But 

 from now on farming is to be a capitalized occupation, and failure will 

 be relatively easy, for the new discoveries of science, while they tend to 

 establish the business on a sounder basis, do not make it easier for 

 novices and men of low capacity. 



It is not enough for America that its agriculture shall be profitable; 

 it must also be productive. For while America took 300 years to get 

 a population of 5,000,000 of people, it has increased its population by 

 over 100,000,000 during the last 90 years. 



If population increases during the next 50 years at the same rate as 

 it has during the past 25 years, then America will have a population 

 equal to China inside of 50 years. It is the business of agriculture to 

 learn how to feed this rapidly increasing population, and feed them 

 well. Unless American agriculture can rise to its task, then within the 

 life-time of children born to-day, scarcity of labour will be a matter oT 



