No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 327 



was almost entirely from the practical side. This was necessarily so 

 because there was little or no agricultural literature ; there was little 

 in the way of definite facts relating to agriculture; there was no 

 problem of food supply for the working masses. In most of the 

 states the agricultural colleges were located as separate institutions 

 and not combined with the state university. The reason for this 

 was because it was feared that the students in agriculture would be 

 looked down upon by the other students; that to be known as a 

 student of agriculture in a great university would be rather a dis- 

 grace, and that those who might wish to take the agricultural work 

 would become lonesome and shift over into the other courses of the 

 university. But in a few of the states the agricultural college was 

 combined with the state university, and in most cases where this 

 was done the agricultural college has now become the big college of 

 the institution and the students are proud to be known as students of 

 agriculture. City men as well as farm boys are registering for the 

 courses and agriculture is now the popular thing. When the agricul- 

 tural colleges were established it was expected that they would have 

 a marked effect upon the farming industry- They were to bring 

 about an educated country population; they were to result in the 

 conservation of our agricultural resources, and through them was 

 an attractive country life to be made possible. These hopes were 

 not realized, and it was soon found that if agricultural education 

 was to be developed there must be some foundation of agriculture 

 science. This resulted in the federal law establishing agricultural 

 experiment stations in all of the states, and in those states where ex- 

 periment stations had not already been established it was required 

 that the experiment station should be established in connection with 

 the agricultural college. 



The work of these experiment stations has become the greatest 

 factor in agricultural education in our day. They have made pos- 

 sible a science of agriculture; they have established the basis for 

 work of our agricultural colleges. In many cases the man who is 

 working quietly in his laboratory day after da}-, month after month, 

 and year after year may be the man to whom we are indebted for the 

 most important results in relation to agriculture. The man who at- 

 tracts the attention may be the successful teacher or lecturer; he 

 may be the man who can most successfully organize farmers' institute 

 trade, in other words the most successful advertiser. If our work 

 in agricultural education in this country is to be developed this will 

 come about only through the increased support and development of 

 our agricultural experiment stations ; in careful scientific work of the 

 investigator is necessary as a basis for instruction in the class-room. 

 Therefore it is important that every state shall see that its agricul- 

 tural experiment station is liberally supported ; that the investigators 

 are given unlimited opportunity for research work because much as 

 we have accomplished we are just at the threshold of agricultural 

 science. 



While there is no question about the great value which resulted 

 from the early work of the agricultural colleges yet the results were 

 in a direction entirely unlooked for by those who were responsible 

 for the colleges. The graduates of the college became teachers, ex- 

 periment station workers, lecturers, scientific investigators in the 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture; they even became lawyers, doctors, 



