CONSERVATISM IN SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE. 39 



foreign to the spirit and purpose of the act which made these 

 new institutions possible. Had such views prevailed, the 

 cause of technical education would have suffered great harm. 

 These extremists forgot, or never knew, that a man's mastery of 

 affairs does not proceed primarily from memorizing a catalogue 

 of material facts or froni manual skill, but rather from his 

 capacity for severe and logical thought, and that a farmer's 

 success is due not so much to his ability to plough a straight fur- 

 row or his capacity for hard labor, as to that analytical power of 

 mind whicli enables him to discern the right relation of things. 

 To equip a man merely with the technics of the practice of 

 agriculture would fall far short of preparing him for that larger 

 social influence which is essential to leadership or the highest 

 success. 



Fortunately, we believe, the four years' courses in agriculture, 

 as now presented by our best institutions, include a fair pro- 

 portion of general training subjects, combined with such a 

 sequence of chemical, physical, and biological studies, that the 

 faithful student not only attains a cultivated intellect, but is 

 given a systematic insight into the Avorld of matter and of life 

 with which he has to deal. Such courses represent the conserva- 

 tive position, and are a logical result of the experience of the past. 



That they do not impart sound learning and can only meet the 

 demands of an inferior scholarship I do not for an instant admit. 



It seems, however, that some who are interested in our land- 

 grant colleges place a low estimate upon the educational value 

 of Courses in Agriculture as they now exist. Certain recent 

 utterances concerning this matter are like a dash of cold water in 

 the face, to those who had come to regard the agricultural course 

 in some of our colleges as the peer of any other found there. 



The most notable of these utterances is the address delivered 

 last winter before the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture by the 

 able President of the IS'ew Hampshire Agricultural College. I 

 propose, in this connection, to criticise some of the main points 

 of this address, because they are based upon what in my judg- 

 ment is a serious misconception of tlie essentials of a four years' 

 Course in Agriculture, and because in so doing I may be able to 

 make clear the views I desire to present. 



Certain conclusions reached by President Murkland may be 

 justly summarized as follows : 



