AGRICULTURE 



104 



AGRICULTURE 



izing of the work of instruction in the elemen- 

 tary school has ever met so ready a response 

 on the part of the people. There is every 

 reason to believe that agricultural instruction 

 will become a regular feature in rural and 

 small town schools in all agricultural sections. 



An important accompaniment of this move- 

 ment has been the organization of agricultural 

 clubs for boys and girls, and the interest which 

 these clubs have aroused among the farmers 

 themselves in all sections of the country (see 

 BOYS' AND GIRLS' CLUBS). W.F.Z. 



Agricultural Experiment Stations or Farms 



There would appear to be little excuse for 

 owner or tenant on a farm of average fertility 

 to be a poor farmer. Ignorance of correct agri- 

 cultural methods prevailed widely until about 

 the year 1860; but the country was new, both in 

 the United States and Canada, land was plen- 

 tiful, and its richness for crop production had 

 in no sense been exhausted. The need for sci- 

 entific farming had not developed, and prob- 

 ably would in any event have received scant 

 consideration at a time when foundations were 

 being laid, when expansion was a dominant 

 idea and men struggled to gain secure foot- 

 hold in a wilderness. The farmer knew of 

 agriculture only what he learned from experi- 

 ence or from his neighbors. 



The agriculturist knew why the "back forty" 

 acres would grow wheat, but possibly he was 

 puzzled to know why certain other crops on 

 the same land were less successful. He found 

 that the same crop for several years in suc- 

 cession exhausted the soil, but nobody told him 

 how to feed the soil to continue its produc- 

 tiveness or how to manage crop rotation. 



In the United States. In 1837 an English- 

 man named Lawes began experiments on his 

 Rothamsted estate to learn the effect of bone 

 superphosphate on soils. That was the begin- 

 ning of the story of fertilizers, as we know 

 them. The first experiments were so success- 

 ful that they were broadened, and to-day the 

 Rothamsted experimental station is accounted 

 the greatest in the world. The Rothamsted 

 idea reached America, and in the United States, 

 between 1858 and 1862, experiments were con- 

 ducted in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Mary- 

 land. The first agricultural experiment station 

 regularly organized in America was in connec- 

 tion with Wesleyan University, Middletown, 

 Conn., in 1875. It was supported partly by 

 gifts of money and by small state appropria- 

 tions. The record of growth in number of 

 stations from this modest beginning, when less 

 than $4,000 per year was available, to present 

 proportions would be an uninteresting recital. 

 It will merely be noted that in 1887 there were 

 seventeen experiment stations, located in four- 



teen states, and that in 1916 there were in ex- 

 istence sixty-six stations in the forty-eight 

 states, no state being without one. There is 

 not the slightest reason except inertia on the 

 part of the farmer why he should not go to 

 school the year round and become a scientific 

 agriculturist while remaining on his farm. It 

 may be stated, too, that this education costs 

 him practically nothing. 



Support. What are the various activities of 

 these numerous experiment stations, and how 

 are they supported? Since their success was 

 first demonstrated it has not been difficult to 

 finance them. The national government has 

 been generous; the state governments have re- 

 sponded to heavy demands. Largely the sta- 

 tions are established in connection with agri- 

 cultural colleges and share with the latter in 

 state appropriations. The Federal government 

 makes an annual appropriation of $30,000 to 

 each state for the support of its station or 

 stations, and an added $15,000 yearly to each 

 state for carrying on original research work. 

 Local state appropriations vary widely. 



Scope of Work. That there may be little 

 duplication of work, each station, as a rule, car- 

 ries on one special line of original investigation 

 while working in wider fields to meet local de- 

 mands. The local work in each state includes 

 investigations relating to the following : 



The soil its chemistry, physics and biology. 

 This field includes drainage, irrigation, tillage, 

 crop fertility, rotation of crops and fertilizers. 



Plant life its physiology, chemistry, nutritive 

 value and history. New varieties are studied ; in- 

 creased productiveness is sought ; new methods 

 of selection and breeding are investigated ; in- 

 jurious insects and bacteria are studied with a 

 view to eradication, and preservation of forests 

 and reforestation receive attention. 



Animals breeds ; diseases and their control ; 

 chemistry of foods ; dairying ; feeding ; etc. 



The matters undertaken in the line of orig- 

 inal research, through which there will come 

 some day a thoroughly organized science of 

 farming, include the following: the chemistry 

 of cream and milk and the construction of 

 creameries; the care of poultry; butter-mak- 

 ing; plant breeding; new diseases of plants; 



