STATE rOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. I29 



In these days a farmer needs training and broadening and 

 developing quite as much as does a lawyer, a doctor, or an engi- 

 neer. But this training and broadening may be given by means 

 of studies which shall have a more direct bearing upon daily life 

 than is the case with Greek, Latin, and Calculus. The most suc- 

 cessful man is he who has the ability to reach out into a broader 

 social and intellectual spnere : to think and reason and act with 

 assurance. Such a man will succeed whether he be on the farm, 

 in the school-room or in the counting house. 



There is a large element of uncertainty in all agricultural oper- 

 ations. What with changing weather conditions, untimely 

 frosts, varying soils, uncertain germination, fungous and para- 

 sitic diseases, injurious insects, birds and animals, there would 

 seem to be no end of the list of "unsolved problems" which the 

 farmer must meet. To solve these problems would seem almost 

 • a hopeless task for anyone — especially for a "theorist" in the 

 class-room. 



What, then, is the use, or the reason for the existence of the 

 agricultural college and experiment station ? A thorough study 

 of the laws of nature as applied to agriculture will reduce the 

 uncertainties to a minimum, and will raise the possibilities of 

 production to a maximum. The college brings to bear all of the 

 sciences related to the subject. Botany, chemistry, geology, ento- 

 mology, bacteriology, and many others, are all made to con- 

 tribute to the practical solution of the difficulties to which farmer 

 and gardener and fruit grower are heir. There are causes for 

 poor crops which may be overcome ; there are diseases of plants 

 and animals which may be prevented and cured ; there are physi- 

 cal and chemical and geological conditions which may be met 

 intelligently and successfully ; there are processes to be discov- 

 ered and taught that may promote productiveness when applied 

 to specific crops. 



There has, heretofore, in the language of a leading educator, 

 been "too little intellect and too much luck in the practical oper- 

 ation of agriculture and horticulture. There has been too little 

 live investigation and too much following in the rut made by 



others The enhanced power to produce comes from the 



intellect that commands the elements and harnesses the laws of 



