190 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 



to see that the young men, through their contact with local 

 needs and problems reinforced by a technical training in 

 agriculture, might be made useful in supplying to their 

 neighbors and to others who might become a part of the 

 agricultural community the technical information so es- 

 sential for the successful farming of the lighter soils 

 of southern New Jersey. Throughout the fall of 1893 

 and the following spring and summer Professor Sabso- 

 vich never missed an opportunity to encourage them in 

 their preparation for college and to tell them of the 

 opportunities for service that would open to them after 

 they would have acquired the necessary training and 

 preparation. He saw very clearly then that special prob- 

 lems of fertilization, special types of crops, the control 

 of injurious insects and of fungus diseases, the feeding 

 of livestock and many other problems were insistent and 

 would become more insistent as time went on. 



The Trustees of the Baron de Hirsch Fund, to whom 

 Professor Sabsovich broached the subject of establishing 

 an agricultural school, were not entirely ready to accept 

 his suggestions. Not being as intimate as he was with 

 the local conditions and needs, they could not see the 

 connection between technical training and successful 

 farming in Cape May County. In spite of lack of en- 

 couragement and in many instances of actual discourage- 

 ment, Professor Sabsovich never lost faith in the ultimate 

 success of his plan and urged whenever and wherever he 

 could that funds be made available for systematic instruc- 

 tion in agriculture. 



Finally a modest beginning was made in 1895, when 

 instruction was more or less regularly organized for a 

 group of the sons of local farmers. This instruction 

 included classroom training in certain general subjects 

 like arithmetic, modern history and geography, as well 



