STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 77 



access most of all to that great class whose daily life and labor have to do 

 with the ereat facts and the gigantic forces of nature. Never, till it shall 

 enlist in its service the millions whose lives are spent in the open fields, 

 ami sliall make them participants in its studies and trutiis, can the stu- 

 dents of nature hope to bring her magnificent domains within the scope 

 of an all-comprehending observation. 



Thus tiie love of man, the love of country and the love of truth, all urge 

 to the higiier education of the industrial classes, if such education is 

 possible. 



And it is possible. The demand for agricultural education was not a 

 blunder. It was based on the well considered fact that agriculture itself 

 involved forces and operations which can only be understood through 

 scientific study, and can onlj' be improved and perfected by the careful 

 application of scientific principles. 



The agriculture of the world demanded a new consideration of its process 

 and a more perfect mastery of its principles. The multiplying wants of 

 the civilized nations called for a more intelligent husbandry to support 

 the increasing millions who were being withdrawn from the fields to toil 

 in the new manufactories and to prosecute the new arts which civiliza- 

 tion had introduced. 



The conclusion was neither untimely nor unreasonable, that educational 

 forces and institutions might be invoked to aid agriculture, as they had 

 already aided the other pursuits of men. Schools had been established 

 for the so-called, and often mis-called, ' learned professions.' They had 

 improved the theories and the practice of law, medicine and theology. 

 In engineering, architecture, mining and other useful and fine arts, edu- 

 cation had been found so useful and powerful an aid to national progress, 

 as to awaken the attention and cammand the support of enlightened and 

 rival Gdvernments. It was neither un%vise nor unreasonable to suppose 

 that larming, this broadest and, at bottom, most scientific of the indus- 

 trial arts, might also be successfully fostered by schools of learning. 



The agricultural college is as logical a conclusion of 19th century 

 thought, as the old-fashioned college was of the thought of the 15th 

 century. 



FALSE AND UNREASONABLE EXPECTATIONS. 



It is not strange that amid the popular agitation which preceded the 

 establishment of these colleges in our country, many exaggerated expecta- 

 tions should have been formed, and that absurd predictions should have 

 been made, both as to their character and their success. The mind of 

 man always tends to-extremes, and imagination stands ready to usurp the 

 oflice of reason, and to substitute its dreams for the dictates of common 

 sense. Human hope is always impatient of time and urgent for imme- 

 diate fruit. 



It is not strange that many of these expectations have becnnlisappointed, 

 nor that being disappointed, they have driven some to the conclusion that 

 agricultural colleges have proved a failure. The failure has been that of 



