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NATURE 



[December 20, 1917 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION AND 

 RESEARCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 



IN the latest bulletin of the Carnegie Foundation 

 for the Advancement of Teaiching' ^lan elaborate 

 account is presented of the course of legislation 

 in America which led to the foundation and en- 

 dowment of the agricultural colleges and experi- 

 ment stations. The former are known as the 

 "land-grant" colleges, and this publication ex- 

 plains how this name arose. The foundation of 

 these colleges, of which each of the States 

 in America possesses at least one, dates 

 from 1862, when the Morrill Act of that year ap- 

 propriated the proceeds of six and one-third million 

 acres of public lands for the purpose of founding 

 in each State of the Union a College of * ' Agricul- 

 ture and the Mechanic Arts." For many years 

 after their foundation the land-grant colleges did 

 not confine themselves to agriculture, and up to 

 the close of the nineteenth century the number of 

 students who graduated in agriculture was com- 

 paratively small. 



In 1890 further endowments were voted by 

 Congress, which by annual increments finally 

 reached 5000Z. per annum for each State in the 

 Union. Again, in 1907, the annual subvention to 

 each State was raised to io,oooL per annum. In 

 the meantime a step of great consequence was 

 taken, one which has done much to stimulate 

 agricultural education and research in the United 

 States. This was the establishment of experiment 

 stations in connection with the land-grant colleges 

 as a result of the famous Hatch Act of 1887, which 

 appropriated 3000L per annum for each of these 

 stations. By 1906, when an Act was passed rais- 

 ing the appropriation for each station to 6000?., 

 forty-eight of these stations had been established. 

 Again, in 1914, further appropriations were voted 

 for college "extension" work, beginning with 

 2000Z. for each State, to be followed by annual in- 

 crements of indefinite amount until the aggregate 

 appropriations for this purpose in the whole 

 country should reach a sum of 8oo,oooL But still 

 Congress was not satisfied. By an Act passed this 

 year further appropriations were sanctioned for the 

 furtherance of agricultural education, which by 

 1926 will amount to 6oo,oooL per annum. Ex- 

 cluding the appropriations in aid of extension 

 work, the aggregate Federal grants in aid of 

 higher agricultural education and research are now 

 I, i75,oooL per annum. The individual States of the 

 Union have also increased their aid pari passu, so 

 that in 191 5 the total income of the colleges and 

 experiment stations had reached the astonishing 

 figure of 7,200,oooL The expenditure on higher 

 agricultural education and research in England and 

 Wales has a sorry appearance if contrasted with 

 these remarkable figures. The normal State ex- 

 penditure per annum In England and Wales is 

 about 20,oooI. for higher education and 35,000!. 



1 Bulletin No. lo, " Federal Aid for Vocational Education." By Dr. 

 I. L. Kandel. (New York City : Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement 

 of Teaching.) 



for research, not much more than what one State 

 in America receives for similar purposes. 



The author of the bulletin under notice expresses 

 some alarm at the rapidity of recent developments. 

 He appears to think that there is still too much 

 fluidity of opinion in regard to the scope and 

 methods of vocational education, and that the 

 money available will be squandered on unfruitful 

 educational experiments. However that may oe, it 

 is surely a healthy sign that public opinion, as re- 

 flected by the Legislature, recognises the ne^^d for 

 better scientific and technical training. 



It is somewhat remarkable to find that attention 

 has been given to military training in the land- 

 grant colleges ever since their foundation. Special 

 officers are detailed to take charge of the instruc- 

 tion in military subjects. 



A remarkable feature of the development of 

 agricultural education in America is the sudden 

 leap upwards which the number of students of 

 agriculture has taken since 1906. In that year 

 the total number of students was nearly 3000; 

 in 191 4 the figure was nearly 15,000. The bulle- 

 tin fails to give any satisfactory , reason for the 

 suddenness with which the change set In. We 

 venture to suggest that the demand for higher 

 education in agriculture may have been stimulated 

 by the extensive programme of demonstration 

 fields upon which many of the States have re- 

 cently embarked. These demonstration fields are 

 designed to provide object-lessons of Improved 

 practice, and the extent to which they have been 

 scattered over the country far surpasses anything 

 that has ever been attempted here. 



What Is the lesson for this country from this 

 record of American experience and ^ progress? 

 Surely, that we, too, should have faith and the 

 courage to spend, especially on research. To 

 begin with, some of the expenditure might be un- 

 fruitful, but one of the main obstacles to progress 

 in the past has been the failure of agricultural 

 research to attract the best scientific talent, a 

 failure in large part due to the fact that the study 

 of the sciences bearing on agriculture offered no 

 career. Even as matters stand, the salaries of 

 the teaching and research posts are Inadequate, 

 and In view of the rising demand for scientific 

 work in the industries generally, the Inadequacy 

 is becoming more acute. 



DR. A. M. W. DOWNING, F.R.S. 



DR. ARTHUR MATTHEW WELD DOWN- 

 ING, whose death was, announced m 

 Nature of December 13, was born in Ireland on 

 April 13, 1850, being the youngest son of the late 

 Mr. A. M. Downing. He graduated at Trinity 

 College, Dublin, where he gained the gold medal 

 of his year In mathematics. He went soon after- 

 wards to the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 

 where he was an assistant for twenty years. He 

 was elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society In 1875, and of the Royal Society In 1896. 



NO. 2512, VOL. 100] 



