AGRICULTURAL EDUCATIO 



or asbes for corn, or plaster for grass, a dozen talking farmers would give their views, gen- 

 erally contradictory, and then the chairman of the meeting or some venerable gentleman 

 would get up and say that in a year or two 'our agricultural college will be established, and 

 then we shall have experiments that will settle the matter and give definite answers to all 

 these questions. ' 



"The agricultural college was to tell us the best time to cut hay and the best way to feed 

 it. It was to tell us whether it would pay to chaff fodder or to cook it. It was to tell us 

 what is the best breed of horses, cows, sheep, and swine. It was to tell us whether it would 



Kay to use this or that commercial manure. It was to tell us which crop was most profita- 

 le; whether, after deducting expenses, we could make most money from a crop of wheat, 

 hirk-v, oats, rye, corn, pease, beans, potatoes, grass, or roots. It was to answer the great 

 question, ' Does farming pay?' and woe to the professor if he did not answer it in the af- 

 firmative. We were to have a 'model farm* and an experimental station combined. The 

 whole farm was to be devoted to trying experiments, and be made to pay into the bargain. 



"I need not tell you that such expectations could not be realized. As a rule the experi- 

 ments made at our agricultural colleges have been of little interest or value. They have 

 settled nothing. Unless there is a better system adopted' they never will give us the in- 

 formation we so much need. The great trouble has been the desire to make popular experi- 

 ments, such as cooking food for stock or testing commercial fertilizers. 



The Michigan Agricultural College is a bright exception to this dark picture. It lias 

 made some most important experiments. They have been evidently planned with great 

 thought and after patient investigation. They are not hap-bazard experiments. They were 

 made with a definite object. They bear the marks of scrupulous accuracy. Nothing is 

 covered up, nothing omitted. We have all the details, and can draw our own conclusions 

 from the results. They are not 'pen-and-ink experiments.' No one doubts their entire 

 trustworthiness. They are not common experiments, such as any of us can make, and 

 ought to make, on our own farms. Thev are scientific experiments. They are not designed 

 to tell us merely whether an Essex or a Berkshire pig will make the most pork from 100 Ibs. 

 of corn, but they are designed to tell us why. 



And this is what we want And I must do Professor Miles the justice, and it is nothing 

 more than justice, to say that his experiments on pigs have thrown more light on the ra- 

 tionale of pig-feeding than any other experiments of which I have any knowledge. They 

 supplied the missing link. Lawes and Gilbert's grand experiments, continued on a large 

 scale for several years, were with pigs nine months old. Dr. Miles in some cases commenced 

 his experiments when the pigs were only two weeks old, and filled up the gap. If he never 

 makes another experiment his name will occupy an honorable place in agricultural literature 

 for years to come. But I hope his useful life will long be spared, and that the intelligent 

 farmers of Michigan will stand by him and encourage him in his work. I know something 

 of the labor of making scientific experiments. I know how difficult it Is to plan an experi- 

 ment which shall afford any definite conclusions. We have thousands of so-called agricul- 

 tural experiments, interesting so far as they go, but they are mere fragments. They are in- 

 conclusive and often contradictory. We need definite knowledge in regard to fundamental 

 principles. We must have this knowledge before we can make rapid advances. One man 

 makes an experiment which shows a great saving in cooking food for hogs ; another proves 

 from an equally satisfactory experiment that it does not pay. Both are doubtless right : it 

 depends on circumstances, the breed, age, condition, etc., of the pigs ; and before we can 

 know when it will and when it will not pay to cook food for pigs, we must know more in 

 regard to the processes of digestion and assimilation. Dr. Mile?, by his experiments at the 

 Michigan Agricultural College, has thrown more light on these fundamental questions than 

 any other investigator. 



" But 1 am saying much more than I intended. You ask me if " from a practical point 

 of view, it would be desirable to continue at the Michigan Acricultural College the same 

 system of experimenting, or would it be better to adopt seme other methods?" By all 

 means continue them. It will be a serious loss to agriculture if the experiments are discon- 

 tinued. The Michigan Agricultural College now stands at the head of all similar institu- 

 tions in this country. It is an honor to the State and to the country at large. Other 

 methods should be added as the occasion requires, but the general design of the experiments 

 can not lie changed for the better. Above all do not aim to make popular experiments. 

 Do not waste the time of scientific men and the money of the State in making experiments 

 which provi nothing when you have got them. Any farmer in Michigan can ascertain 

 whether plaster is a useful fertilizer on his farm for corn. What the college should aim at 

 is, to first find out whether it does good on certain crops on the college farm, and tfun to 

 ascertain, if possible, why it does good on some crops and not on others. This is what wr 

 want agricultural colleges and experimental farms for. They must make investigation.* 

 which require more time, money, patience, and scientific apparatus than those of us who 

 are exclusively engaged in the busy duties of the farm can afford to bestow. Do not let 

 your scientific men at the college waste their time in ascertaining facts which we can find 



