STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 201 



have become as familiar as household words in connection with 

 the work of this Society, and as benefactors of the State. 



If I can not directly participate in your counsels or assist you 

 in your work, I can at least appreciate the value of your work. 

 And I especially desire that, as I speak to you to-night, you 

 shall not look upon me with a kind of pity, as a mere theorist 

 who knows nothing about the mysteries of practical agriculture. 

 It is true that even a theorist may reach his conclusions from a 

 larger induction than the practical man, and so the geologist 

 may be a safer guide in mining than is the practical miner. But 

 I am not even a theorist. My early years were spent on a farm, 

 where I became familiar in a practical way with the whole rou- 

 tine of a farmer's life, including what will some day be more 

 important in Minnesota than it appears to be regarded now, ro- 

 tation of crops, and the care and feeding of cattle for beef as 

 well as for dairy purposes. I learned how to do things by doing 

 them. I know perfectly well what a farmer's life is; what his 

 work is; and I believe I know what his needs are so far as they 

 relate to education and preparation for his work. This is my 

 only justification for appearing before you at all. While I rec- 

 ognize the fact that the field of knowledge is too wide for any 

 man to be familiar with the whole of it, and while I appreciate 

 the fact that you undoubtedly know vastly more than I about 

 agriculture, I yet modestly hope to lead you along certain lines 

 of thought which will pay for the time and attention which you 

 may give me. I propose to speak upon the subject of agricul- 

 tural education. I shall first notice very briefly the historical 

 progress of agriculture. I shall then inquire what has been 

 done for agricultural education in Minnesota, and finally, I shall 

 try to show what is needed for the 'future. 



If we examine carefully the history of agriculture, we shall be 

 impressed with the very great simplicity and crudeness of the 

 agencies employed in early times to aid the farmer in his work; 

 we shall be astonished at the slow progress made among the 

 Greeks and Romans, and in the mediteval ages in Europe gen- 

 erally; and in all the world, down even to a comparatively re- 

 cent time; and we shall be delighted at the rapid strides which 

 agriculture has made in the last half century, not only in re- 

 spect to machines employed to save human labor, but also in 

 the understanding of scientific principles and their application 

 to farming. It is noticeable that the rapid and marked im- 

 provement in agriculture dates from the time when agricultural 

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