58 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



institutions have been centres of missionary effort. They 

 have even been like that certain man who when his invita- 

 tions to the wedding feast were ignored sent into the byways 

 and highways and compelled his guests to come in. 



There is little occasion for wonder, then, that so few 

 students have been graduated from courses in agriculture in 

 the New England States. To be sure, your own institution 

 has been a somewhat notable exception to the experience 

 of others, as has the Michigan Agricultural College in the 

 west. Doubtless this success is due in part to the fine 

 equipment and excellent management of these two colleges, 

 but also in part to the fact that no other technical courses 

 of study have come into competition with the agricultural 

 course, as has been the case in other States. But this very 

 failure of the agricultural course to endure competition sub- 

 stantiates what I have been saving concerning the influence 

 of prevailing views and ideals. Do not suppose that I pro- 

 pose to measure the value in success of agricultural colleges 

 merely by the number of their graduates that are farmers. 

 I shall refer later to other benefits. 



In the second place, the charge is often made that agri- 

 cultural colleges educate men away from the farm. Only a 

 few days ago I heard the president of a prominent western 

 university use the phrase, "educate young men away from 

 the farm," as though he regarded it as significant. But what 

 is meant by not " educating young men away from the farm?" 

 Does it mean that mental development and culture must 

 be limited, in order that the students' ambitions may not 

 be aroused to seek other callings? Or that the curriculum 

 of study should be devoid of certain features, so that the 

 student may be kept ignorant of fields of thought and mental 

 growth outside of agriculture? Or does the critic intend to 

 assert that, if the subject matter of the courses of agriculture 

 was sufficiently practical, and if the spirit of the instructors 

 was thoroughly in harmony with farming as a calling, young 

 men would be led to love the farm and its environment? 



There is little ground for the suggestion that the teachers 

 in "New England agricultural colleges are not sympathetic 

 towards their students returning to the farm. No one ac- 

 quainted with these men, especially those who teach distino 



