STOCK RAISING AND SOIL FERTILITY 



199 



live stock business these days goes to an 

 agricultural college to get the funda- 

 mental principles of the business. 



College courses — Nearly all of these 

 colleges have a strong animal husbandry 

 department which gives special instruc- 

 tion in the different phases of animal 

 industry. Students study the anatomy, 

 physiology and diseases of animals, an- 

 imal breeding and management, the 

 feeding and judging of stock in the show 

 ring, dairying, butter and cheese making, 

 blacksmithing, construction of farm 

 buildings, growing of crops, etc. No tu- 

 ition is charged. 



The full course at these colleges usu- 

 ally covers four years and leads to the 

 degree of Bachelor of Science, but a 



Practical nature of college work — ■ 

 At each college samples of all the various 

 breeds of stock are usually kept for the 

 information and instruction of students, 

 and the students are taken on excur- 

 sions during the course to inspect the 

 barns, stock and methods of management 

 observed by the best stock growers 

 throughout the states. In addition, 

 students are taught to feed stock and 

 prepare them for the market through 

 all the stages of early feeding to the fi- 

 nal slaughtering and cutting up of the 

 meats. In recent years also the colleges 

 have taken part and made exhibits at 

 the state and international fairs. The 

 students of different institutions also 

 meet in competition at these fairs and 



Fig. 143 SHORT COURSE STUDENTS STUDYING STOCK JUDGING AT THE PENN- 

 SYLVANIA AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



number of institutions provide short win- 

 ter courses giving special instruction in 

 such subjects as dairying, live stock feed- 

 ing, butter and cheese making, first aid 

 to animals, etc. These courses are 

 from three to six weeks long and are de- 

 signed for the boys on the farm who are 

 not able to take the complete course at 

 the college. Some colleges give two or 

 three year courses. 



In some states where the live stock in- 

 terests are not extensive, the animal hus- 

 bandry department of the college is not 

 well developed. Among the states hav- 

 ing the strongest courses in animal 

 husbandry are Iowa, Wisconsin, Michi- 

 gan, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, New York, 

 Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Minnesota, 

 and the Ontario Agricultural College at 

 Guelph, Canada, 



expositions in judging according to a 

 scale of points the excellencies of the 

 various animals. The professors of an- 

 imal industry of the various institutions 

 are in great demand as expert judges at 

 live stock shows. 



This outline will serve to indicate 

 the intensely practical character of the 

 work carried on at these colleges and to 

 show that the original purpose for 

 which they were created is being ful- 

 filled in overflowing measure. During 

 the past 15 years the work of the agri- 

 cultural colleges and experiment stations 

 has served to place American agricul- 

 ture on a higher plane than it has ever 

 before reached and promises even great- 

 er usefulness in the future. 



Farmers' institutes—The farmers' in- 

 stitute is a kind of traveling school for 



