6 N. H. EXPERIMENT STATION [Bulletin 319 



One of the buildings at Hanover was the result of additional con- 

 gressional support. By virtue of the Hatch act of 1887, S3.000 was 

 taken from the newly available federal funds and state monies were 

 added to it to make possible an experiment station building. This 

 began another era in agricultural education. 



To be sure, the college moved to Durham in 1893 as a result of the 

 will of Benjamin Thompson, of late a farmer in the new location; and 

 just as surely his gift was a magnificent one, including not only his 

 extensive land holdings but a great deal of money and securities be- 

 sides. The significant thing, nevertheless, was the new recognition 

 of agriculture as a field for research and the need of such research 

 from an educational point of view. 



Up to this time agricultural teaching was uncertain. Facts were 

 few. In our own institution a person educated in history taught 

 courses in agriculture. His training for his task included only a half- 

 liearted early farm experience. There were no textbooks nor "sci- 

 ence of agriculture." Twenty-five years later this same man testified 

 facetiously that he had taught agriculture at one time not because 

 he knew anything about it but because he did not know less than any 

 of his contemporaries. 



The new era, then, began with the assembling of facts and the 

 search for significant relationships under the title of "agricultural 

 research" initiated by the Hatch act of 1887. Soon textbooks ap- 

 peared ; theories had been proved or disproved; many insects and 

 diseases had been conquered ; new i)lants had been introduced or per- 

 fected ; improved livestock was the result of more knowledge of 

 breeding — professors had something to teach ! 



As a matter of fact, the new college had registered ten students at 

 the start, but in 1871 it graduated only three. The late C. H. Hood 

 of Derry was the only graduate in 1880. Whither was this under- 

 taking bound? The lack of interest could not have been due to the 

 entrance re(|uirements : "At present, only the studies in the common 

 school will be required." Nor could the "finals" have been too much 

 of a bugaboo: "The examination at the end of the year will be (^ral. 

 and in the presence of a committee appointed by the faculty." In 

 other words, the institution was struggling against almost insuper- 

 able odds ; it lacked the background of knowledge which only scienti- 

 fic experimentation could supply. 



Today the University of Xew Hampshire with a student l-xxly 

 scarcely less than 2,000. giving instruction not only in agriculture 

 and the "mechanic arts" but even as far afield as painting, pottery, 

 and social pathology is indeed a far cry from those early beginnings. 

 And who shall sav that its triumvirate of services. — teaching, re- 

 search, and extension. — which now seeks to understand, educate, and 

 help every last family in the state does not result from the devoted 

 eflforts of men and women who have given of their best not only in 

 service but through a symi)athetic understanding of our rural peo- 

 ple and their needs, and an insatiable desire to help them? 



In any case, research is the foundation of knowledge and under- 

 standing. No man's judgment is better than his knowledge. Re- 

 search is fundamental to continual improvement in teaching and no 



