CHAPTER IV. 



SPECIAL AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. 



WE have seen that the office of the Agricultural College 

 is to equip students to deal with all agricultural 

 problems. While much practical information is 

 acquired and assimilated, that feature is necessarily subordi- 

 nated to the main object. We have now to note how tlie 

 power generated in the college is to be transmuted into work 

 on the farm. 



The most important of the special schools of agriculture 

 are what are known as " short courses " conducted at the 

 university itself. These courses vary in length from twelve 

 weeks to two years. No special preparation is required for 

 entrance, nor do they lead to any degree. Certificates of work 

 done are often, and perhaps usually, given to attendants, wlio 

 may use them for what they are w^orth. The object of these 

 short courses is to convey to working farmers practical infor- 

 mation wliich they can use in their business. It is not 

 attempted to equip students to test the accuracy of the 

 information given them or to fit them to deal with all con- 

 tingencies as they arise. Much of what is taught must be 

 accepted on trust. Students desiring to inform themselves in 

 regard to special branches of agriculture are given special 

 facilities. The students are assumed to be mature enough to 

 know what the}^ want, and they are helped to get it. For the 

 longer courses a special line of work is laid out, calculated to 

 meet the wants of the majority, but up to tlie limit of the 

 strength of the teaching force, individual work is assisted. If 

 one is anxious to qualify himself to become a horticultural 

 inspector, he may learn more about insects, pests, and fungous 

 diseases thnn a full graduate will know; if he is or expects to 

 be a grain farmer, he will learn about smuts, the Hessian fly, 

 the characteristics of the different varieties of the various 



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