236 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



maverick. Since coming to California I have seen 

 two agricultural college graduates occupying hon- 

 orable and responsible positions and otherwise 

 able men in some directions, put to shame because 

 they were deficient in the basic knowledge of their 

 calling. In the early days, the agricultural stu- 

 dents were generally directly from the farm and 

 while the colleges were blazing the way there was 

 nothing to do but wink at their deficiencies. Al- 

 though I myself was one of the pioneers I did 

 everything in my power to bridge the gap between 

 practice and science but always came short of 

 doing so, for one man cannot be all things to all 

 men in agriculture any more than in other callings. 

 In some lines instruction has been greatly im- 

 proved since my time; for instance, students in 

 dairy husbandry learn how to make butter and 

 cheese by making butter and cheese; they know 

 when a can is clean by making it clean, while for- 

 merly we talked about dairying in the class-room. 

 But in general the agricultural colleges are still 

 reprehensibly negligent in allowing students to 

 graduate who are top-heavy with science. For 

 this lack of practical dexterity sometimes the ex- 

 cuse is made that four years at college is not suffi- 

 cient time for students to acquire a moderate pro- 

 ficiency in those studies which are chiefly useful 



