22 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



the colleges so much as they are special finishing schools for men 

 who do not desire a full agricultural college course, but desire the 

 directest and most competent possible training for practical farm- 

 ing that can be had in a course of two to three, and, in some cases, 

 four years, following such preliminary preparation as may usually 

 be found in the common schools of the rural districts. 



When the demands for vocational agricultural training are 

 sufficiently limited so that a single school may suffice for a State, 

 it would seem to be highly advantageous that the school should be 

 located at the State Agricultural College. Duplication of expen- 

 diture for land, buildings and equipment would thus be avoided. 

 The students might be trained in part by assistants; but, first or 

 last, would become acquainted with, and feel at first hand the 

 influence of, the State leaders in agricultural research and educa- 

 tion. In most cases the agricultural college teaching staffs might 

 be expected to adapt their school instruction to the real needs of 

 their school students, as distinguished from their students of college 

 grade. Certainly schools so located have stood high in the 

 estimation of the people. President Northrup once said that 

 there were people in Minnesota — not a few — in whose minds the 

 School of Agriculture stood for the whole University. 



Separate Agricultural Schools. 



In certain States, New York and Massachusetts among the 

 number, it has been considered inadvisable to maintain vocational 

 agricultural schools on the premises of and in immediate connection 

 with the State Colleges of Agriculture. In these cases the re- 

 sources of the schools are more or less limited. The courses 

 vary greatly in length and character. Some differ but slightly 

 from the State Agricultural Colleges of earlier days. Others 

 maintain two year courses of six or eight months each, from which 

 have been omitted such subjects as algebra, geometry and all in- 

 struction in languages except English. Some utilize a limited 

 amount of land for demonstration and experimental purposes. 

 Others provide for more or less practical farm work on the school 

 farms. In fact, these schools are proving to be most interesting 



