AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 231 



not be inferior in any respect when suitably 

 maintained to any other in the Cornell group. 



Almost from the first I desired a farm labora- 

 tory. In all of the technical departments of the 

 University I saw men trying to learn how to do 

 things by doing them. Although I had made from 

 the first considerable use of portions of the small 

 college farm for this purpose, the attempt to give 

 students anything like skill or first-hand knowledge 

 by illustrations on such restricted space, was most 

 unsatisfactory. Three times I secured options on 

 adjacent farms and recommended their purchase 

 to the Trustees only to meet with refusal. The 

 Board had to be differently constituted before 

 more land would be granted for strictly educa- 

 tional purposes. 



At one time I nearly completed an arrangement 

 with a neighboring farmer who was childless, to 

 give the use of his farm to the College, the Uni- 

 versity agreeing to pay a stipulated rental for it 

 as long as he or his wife should live. At their 

 death the farm was to go to the University as a 

 gift. On this occasion my hopes ran high, for here 

 on this farm which had two sizable houses on it 

 I could carry out my cherished plans. I in- 

 tended to arrange the courses of study so that the 



