professional work; and, moreover, the problems of farm 

 mechanics are largely agricultural. The subject must be 

 developed as part of a constructive philosophy of rural life. 



Engineering questions. 



Similar remarks may be made of some of the applications of 

 engineering. The lay-out of the farm, the running of levels, 

 drainage, irrigation, the making of farm bridges, the construc- 

 tion of farm roads and of highways, and the development of a 

 rational point of view on engineering problems as they affect 

 country life, are all of the first importance. The engineer is to 

 exert tremendous influence on the development of our rural 

 civilization, playing a part that we little realize today. The 

 whole system of highways and byways will surely be evolved, 

 as one part of the development of our natural resources. This 

 evolution must depend in good part on the attitude of the 

 farming people. I am afraid that we are in danger of making 

 the mistake of developing our highways only from transported 

 material, as we have continued to be in error in depending for 

 fertility on material mined in some other part of the globe. 

 The best philosophy of farm life is to develop the business 

 directly from native home resources; this must be equally 

 true of roads, at least of the greater number of them. What 

 we now very much need is knowledge of how to build serviceable 

 highways with the dirt and other material of the neighborhood. 

 There should be at this College of Agriculture a good-roads 

 school. A course of at least three months should be offered to 

 all highway commissioners and overseers in the State, in order 

 that they may be able to carry out the instructions of engi- 



