CHAPTER 80 



Education and Information for the Farmer 



Having read the preceding chapters of this book, one must be impressed 

 with the breadth of the field of agriculture and its close relationship with 

 or dependence upon the laws of nature. No other occupation calls for so 

 great a knowledge in the sciences. Science applied to farming does not 

 make the occupation less difficult. On the other hand, it gives the man 

 with a trained mind a decided advantage over the man who depends chiefly 

 upon physical exertion and set rules. 



North America needs a type of agriculture that will provide for the 

 future generations. During the nineteenth century, the population of the 

 United States doubled every twenty-five years. In the normal course of 

 events, this rate of increase should continue throughout the twentieth 

 century. If population continues to increase at this rate, what will be the 

 population at the close of the twentieth century, and what kind of an agri- 

 culture must exist in order to provide a cheap and abundant food supply 

 for all the people? Furthermore, what kind of men will be needed on the 

 farm in order to meet the needs of the high civilization? 



The extent to which the national and state governments are fostering 

 agricultural research and education is an index of the importance of 

 agriculture and the necessity of making it more productive and profitable. 



The character of agriculture can be no better than the man who follows 

 the occupation. It is evident that the agriculture of the future will need 

 the brightest and best trained men. In order to train these men in adequate 

 numbers, agricultural subjects are being introduced into the secondary 

 schools in every state in the Union. The agricultural departments of our 

 colleges are being taxed to the limit of their capacity. 



While vocational training dominates our entire educational system, it 

 is the hope that it will not be developed at the expense of non-vocational 

 education. To maintain a strong and virile nation demands that all be 

 educated for citizenship. The training for this function is the same for 

 the man on the farm as it is for the man in the city. All should be educated 

 for one citizenship. 



Agriculture in Secondary Schools. — It was about thirty years after the 

 first agricultural college was opened in the United States, before the first 

 successful agricultural high school was opened. This was established in 

 Minnesota in 1888. A Farmers' High School had been established in 

 Pennsylvania in 1855, but was afterwards merged with The Pennsylvania 

 State College. For twenty years after the establishment of the Minnesota 

 school the development of agriculture in secondary schools, as well as that 



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