No. 4.] AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 53 



generous use of public funds for this purpose, we are well 

 aware that the workers in the field of agricultural education 

 are and always have been forced occasionally to assume an 

 attitude of defence. The utility, the methods and the re- 

 sults of the agricultural college effort have been the mark 

 of serious and continued criticism, much of which has 

 come from farmers. In this respect the agricultural de- 

 partments of State colleges have stood in marked contrast 

 to the departments of engineering, whose administration 

 and progress as a rule have been unmarked by disturbing or 

 unfriendly comment even from their own constituency. It 

 may be declared, without fear of controversy, I am sure, 

 that in the history of the land-grant colleges not only has 

 the great burden of criticism rested upon the agricultural 

 departments, but those departments have faced problems of 

 administration and method more severe and perplexing than 

 have been met in any other associated lines of instruction. 

 Persistent hostility and loyal support, ignorant criticism and 

 intelligent, courageous defence, mistaken efforts and well- 

 directed, successful methods have all been factors in the 

 experiences and steady progress of agricultural education 

 during more than a quarter of a century. But after all these 

 years, in spite of all the triumphs that are ours and not- 

 withstanding the abundant justification for the establishment 

 and maintenance of agricultural colleges and experiment 

 stations which is shown by the changed status of agriculture, 

 criticism still exists, serious problems are yet unsolved, and 

 in some respects results are yet far from satisfactory. 



These criticisms and the problems of administration and 

 method may be grouped around three assertions that often 

 appear in print : — 



1. Few students enter the agricultural courses, and 

 fewer return to the farm after the completion of their 

 studies. 



2. The college course educates a man away from the 

 farm. 



3. The courses in agriculture are not sufficiently prac- 

 tical. 



The last of the three objections which I have named as 

 being commonly urged against the courses in agriculture I 



