232 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



senior work at the College would be completed 

 early in April, at which time the entire senior class 

 would be taken to the farm, together with a suit- 

 able number of instructors in farm practice, and 

 a few domestics to care for the farm houses 

 where they would live. Here with a small dairy, 

 tools, implements and workstock, the ordinary 

 farm operations (except the harvesting of corn, 

 wheat, etc.) could be carried on in a practical, 

 systematic way. The students could be required to 

 do continuous, productive labor long enough to 

 learn the meaning of a day's work. I believed 

 that this sort of training would greatly improve 

 their judgment and would give them a better hold 

 on the complexities and difficulties of farm life. 



But all this came to naught because I could not 

 convert the authorities to my scheme; and I was 

 compelled to recommend for graduation for many 

 years students who had no acquaintance whatever 

 with farm practice. At the present time it is per- 

 fectly apparent that the technical departments 

 throughout the country which have been able to 

 give thorough training in doing things are over- 

 run with students and have attained wide and de- 

 servedly high reputations. And yet, even now, in 

 certain lines of agricultural instruction, almost no 



