No. 4.] AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 69 



There is no suggestion of an abuse of funds in the New 

 England experiment stations which is the occasion of these 

 remarks. If such were the case, my utterances might be 

 taken as discourteous, or even an impertinent interjection of 

 my opinions into a field in which I am not "directly inter- 

 ested. My only purpose is to aid, if possible, those who 

 bear the responsibility of giving wise direction to the use of 

 the several funds devoted by the general goverment. 



Do you as farmers demand popular instruction from the 

 institute platform? It is unwise to ask much of this from 

 the already overworked teacher. Must you have teachers 

 in your college ? Then make it possible for them to gather 

 up and assimilate an ever-increasing supply of available 

 knowledge. Must you have investigators? Then give them 

 time to study and to think. A prominent director once said 



to me concerning a member of his staff, — " Professor 



has his periods of seeming inaction, when he sits in his 

 laboratory apparently doing nothing. I am entirely satisfied 

 to have him so spending his time. He is incubating." The 

 results which this professor has given to agricultural practice 

 justify the wisdom of the distinguished director's policy. 

 Find no fault, then, when station men retire to their closets 

 for study and meditation. Give them time to do this, and 

 be sure that when they emerge they will bring to you be- 

 neficent interpretations of nature. If you, as citizens of this 

 State, as Massachusetts farmers, are asking for all these lines 

 of eifort in your behalf, tl^en listen when the officers of your 

 college and station tell you of the conditions necessary for 

 their work, for they are earnest, conscientious men. This 

 State is big enough and rich enough and its agriculture is 

 important enough to warrant generous support to the insti- 

 tute speaker, the teacher and the investigator, each working 

 in his own way, untrammelled by other duties. 



Viewed in the light of experience, what may we expect as 

 the direct results of this teaching and investigating? The 

 answer is plain, and we need not seek for it with hesitancy 

 or fear of disappointment. Notwithstanding the fact that 

 the graduates iu agriculture are greatly less than those in 

 engineering or in the more general lines of study, the conse- 

 quences following in the train of this educational effort have 



