100 BOARD OF AGlilCULTUHE. [Pub. Doc. 



enjojdng annual incomes of $12,000,000, and enrolling 

 annually over 55,000 students. 



Beyond a doubt these colleges are accomplishing immense 

 things for the advancement of the agricultural industry, not 

 alone through the courses of instruction offered, but also by 

 means of the numerous other })hases of activity, such as 

 the experiment stations, farmers' institutes, extension work, 

 etc. Add to this the work of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, almost i)aternal in its activity, and it 

 is evident that no other industry enjoys so large an expendi- 

 ture of money and effort in educational lines as does that of 

 farming. Indeed, this is the most highly developed phase 

 of industrial education in America, but in spite of this it 

 falls far short of adequately meeting the needs. 



Since these are institutions of college grade, they enroll 

 only advanced students, and in the main their curricula deal 

 with advanced study. The training which they offer is not 

 elementary but rather for the administrative phase of the 

 farming industr}. But even in this respect they wholly fail in 

 fulfilling their highest degree of usefulness. For instance, 

 there have been graduated from these colleges 60,000 stu- 

 dents, in round numbers. Assuming that all of these had 

 l)ursued studies relating to agriculture and w^ere all engaged 

 in farming, this number would still supply but one specially 

 trained man to every 100 farms in the country. If the out-, 

 put were 100 times as great, the industry would still not be 

 overburdened by men trained in the scientific management 

 and operation of farms. 



But in all of this absolutely no provision is made for the 

 industrial training of the great nmltitude of farmers' chil- 

 dren, whose education is begun and ended in the rural 

 schools. These never receive in any way any general or 

 specific training with special reference to their homes, their 

 environment or their life work and conditions. Yet these 

 constitute the material from wliich the next generation of 

 farmers is to come, unless, as many signs now indicate, the 

 foreign immigrant is to take their place. In either event, the 

 need of an elementary training is equally important, since 

 the manual operations of farming require as much if not 

 more; intelligence and [)re})aration than any other industiy. 



