AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN 

 THE UNITED STATES. 



By. Prof. N. S. TOWNSHEND. 



If by Agricultural Education we are to under- 

 stand the systematic and complete training of 

 the young farmer in all the branches of learn- 

 ing that relate to agriculture, then .such educa- 

 tion is comparatively new in our country and 

 dates back at farthest only fifteen or twenty 

 years. But if we regard as educational the 

 various measures which were designed to pro- 

 mote the intelligence of the farmer in what 

 pertains to his occupation, and which have 

 been, and continue to be, important aids to his 

 progress, we must then admit that a degree of 

 agricultural education has been enjoyed in this 

 country for half a century, or perhaps longer. 

 In what follows, I hope to acknowledge our 

 obligations to the various agencies which have 

 contributed to our present condition ; we are 

 too thankful I trust to overlook willingly any 

 of the means by which our progress has been 

 secured. 



The increased interest felt in agricultural ed- 

 ucation during the last quarter or half a cen- 

 tury is in part due to a condition, among the 

 most observing of the friends of agriculture, 

 that it has not maintained its former honorable 

 position among our national industries, and 

 has not kept up with the general progress of 

 the times. The impression prevails, though 

 possibly not entirely justified by census returns, 

 that the increase of agricultural products is not 

 in proportion to the increase of lands brought 

 into cultivation, and that production has not 

 kept pace with the increase of population. 

 Besides this, there is a conviction that capital 

 employed in agriculture brings smaller returns 

 than that which ia otherwise invested ; and that 

 farmers as a class fail to secure social and po- 

 litical influence in proportion to their wealth 

 and numbers. It has also become evident that 

 the best soils in the country are deteriorated by 

 cultivation, while those who are despoiling them 

 of fertility are more inclined to go where they 

 can find new lands to exhaust, than to remain 

 and restore the old. Again farm and garden 

 crops are seen to be liable to utter destruc- 

 tion by the ravages of insects, the wheat of 

 some regions is destroyed by the Hessian fly, in 

 other regions by the wheat midge- The corn 

 crop has many enemies among which cut 

 worms and wire worms are especially injurious. 

 The potato, an important esculent, especially in 

 the Northern States after being almost swept 

 out of cultivation by the Peronospora finds an 

 equally relentless foe in the Colorado beetle. 

 The hay crop, the dependence for the winter 

 food of stock through half our states, is some- 

 times devoured by locusts. The cotton crop if 

 it escapes the caterpillar is liable to be spoiled 



by the boll worm, and even tobacco does not 

 escape. Innumerable insects prey upon almost 

 all kinds of fruits ; while the chinch bug and 

 army worm are in some states ready to take 

 anything that other depredators have left. 

 More than all this, our domestic animals are the 

 subjects of many serious diseases, some of 

 which prevail epizootically, others are sporadic. 

 Horses have had their visitations of epizootic 

 catarrh. Cattle have had pleuro-pneumonia 

 and Spanish or Texas Fever. Sheep are sub- 

 ject to the lung worm disease, hogs to cholera, 

 and besides these and many more that visit us 

 occasionally, there are others but little less 

 fatal that never leave us, and make a heavy 

 drawback upon the farmer's profits. When 

 such obstacles lie in the farmers pathway, it is 

 not surprising that he should become convinced 

 that to surmount them, he must have a higher 

 order of intelligence. Hence the employment 

 by the farmer of various educational agencies 

 in the hope, that by their aid, he may ultimately 

 be able to conquer success. 



Among the foremost of the means used by 

 the farmer to quicken his thought and strength- 

 en his hands was association and agricultural 

 societies, state, county, and township, were 

 established. The State Agricultural Society ot 

 New York was organized in 1829, that of Ohio 

 in 1846, and now every one of our states, and 

 probably all the territories have similar organ- 

 izations ; innumerable counties in all parts of 

 the country had voluntary associations before 

 they were united by legislative enactment in 

 state organizations. These state societies pub- 

 lish an annual report, containing the official 

 transactions of the year, detailed accounts of 

 experiments, observations, and useful essays. 

 The annual exhibitions held by state and county 

 societies, have served to educate the people in 

 regard to the comparative value of stock, 

 fruits, domestic wares, and all farm products. 

 The utility of these associations, exhibitions 

 and reports has never been questioned. 



More recently, or since 1868, a new association, 

 the Grange has come into the field and is rapidly 

 superseding township farmers' clubs. This or- 

 ganization consolidates the millions of farmers 

 who heretofore have been isolated, and while 

 by union it brings strength, and affords protec- 

 tion, and secures the respect that is everywhere 

 yielded to power, it is proving of far more con- 

 sequence as a means of mental and social cult- 

 ure. Every member of a Grange finds in this 

 association duties fitted to his abilities, and op- 

 portunities for exercise sufficient to command 

 his best endeavors. One of the noblest fea- 

 tures of the organization is, that it admits 

 woman to equal participation of its benefits; it 

 is therefore free from the hoary barbarism 

 which metes out, or withholds opportunities of 

 usefulness or enjoyment according to sex. 

 While these various associations have engaged 



