LIFE AND WORK AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 195 



the productivity of the depleted soil. But at first 

 manures had to be hauled from the city, four hun- 

 dred feet below, and that was not only up-hill 

 business but resulted in seeding the farm with 

 every noxious weed known in the locality and these 

 gave us much hard work afterward to eradicate. 

 In order to make up the annual shortage of food 

 for the livestock I was compelled to rent some ad- 

 joining land; and it is only now, after more than 

 thirty years, that the necessity for supplementing 

 the eighty acres of arable land comprising the Uni- 

 versity Farm, has been met by the purchase of 

 eight hundred and thirty-eight adjoining acres. 



During all this early period I kept in mind the 

 two objects for which the University Farm should 

 be maintained : it was not only to be a model farm, 

 it was to serve as a practical laboratory for investi- 

 gation and instruction. It must therefore be large 

 and varied enough to provide the broadest view of 

 agricultural practice. As I now survey the agri- 

 cultural colleges after a full generation of experi- 

 mentation, I am struck by the fact that those which 

 have farms of considerable size (less than half a 

 score) and which have made the most extensive use 

 of them as an educational equipment, are now the 

 leaders in the promotion of scientific, practical and 



