THE WORK OF THE COLLEGE OF 

 AGRICULTURE 



FRED H. RANKIN, Superintendent of Agricultural College Extension 



T has been the destiny of Illinois to be intimately associ- 

 ated with that great educational movement which culmin- 

 ated in "An Act donating public lands to the several 

 States and territories which may provide Colleges for the 

 benefit of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts." There 

 is an inscription upon the cornice of the Agricultural build- 

 ing of the University of Illinois which reads "Industrial education 

 prepares the way for a millennium of labor." These words of 

 Jonathan B. Turner, of Jacksonville, who was intimately associated 

 in the establishment of the Land Grant Colleges, stand forth as a 

 constant reminder that the material resources of a people can never 

 be fully developed without the aid of trained intelligence. 



The University of Illinois, known at that time as the Illinois In- 

 dustrial University, first opened its doors to students in 1868. Agri- 

 cultural education and the direct application of science to the affairs 

 of agriculture have come up in our country through great tribulations. 

 The early records show that when the institution was first officially 

 opened, Willard F. Bliss, of Nokomis, Illinois, was elected professor 

 of agriculture. He was a graduate of Yale College, had traveled ex- 

 tensively, was trained in the classics, and was owner and manager of a 

 large farm in Montgomery county. Mr. Bliss took up the task 

 assigned him with much hesitation. Actual contact with the matters 

 involved did not decrease the difficulties, and at the end of his first 

 year he considered it necessary to return to his own home. 



Jonathan Periam was the first real employe of the Agricultural 

 College. He served in this capacity until March, 1869. In 1870, 

 Dr. Manley Miles was made professor of agriculture with the un- 

 derstanding that he should serve during the fall and winter months, 

 dividing his time between the Michigan Agricultural College and this 

 institution. However, later it became understood that Dr. Miles 

 could not accept this engagement. Strenuous efforts were made to fill 

 his place. Matters drifted for two or three years; and again, in 1874, 

 Dr. Miles served as professor of agriculture. In the meantime affairs 

 of "practical agriculture," as the phrase was, had been intrusted to the 

 head farmer, and one and another such employes, as temporary 

 director of field experiments. 



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