March, 1921. 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE 



125 



Some Objectives 



L. 8. KLINCK, President of the Canadian Society of 

 Technical Agriculturists. 



The ohjeets of the Canadian Society of Technical 

 Agriculturists, as set forth in the Constitution which 

 was adopted at the Ottawa Convention last June, are 

 deserving of the most careful study on the part of 

 every nieinl)er of the organization. To these objects, 

 the Organizing Committee had given long and ex- 

 haustive study. The fullest expression of opinion had 

 then been sought from leaders in agricultural thought 

 in all parts of Canada, and their suggestions had been 

 embodied in the second draft. As a result of this pre- 

 liminary woi-k the Committee on Constitution had, as 

 a basis for their report, the mature judgment of a wide 

 and representative constituency. To this body of con- 

 sidered opinion, the Committee on Constitution devot- 

 ed their best thought : and the results of their delibera- 

 tions were, in turn, still further perfected as the out- 

 come of the discussion on the floor of the Convention 

 when the Committee's report was received and consid- 

 ered clause by clause. The objects of the Society there- 

 fore, as embodied in the Constitution, maj' safely be 

 taken as representing the composite judgment of the 

 membership. 



These objects, as set forth in Article two of the Con- 

 stitution, are not all of equal importance. In the nat- 

 ure of the case it coidd not be otherwise. Some are of 

 primary importance : others are clearly secondary. 

 Some are comprehensive and fai"-reaehing : others are 

 comparatively restricted in their scope. Some are 

 capable of realization in the immediate future; others 

 call for years, jx)ssibly decades, for their accomplish- 

 ment. Some are largely dependent for their attain- 

 ment upon executive foresight and initiative ; others 

 can be brought to full fruition only as the result of 

 sustained interest and aggressive action on the part of 

 the great body of the membershij). Some relate them- 

 selves to members of the Society only: others — and 

 happily by far the larger number — have to do with the 

 I'aising of the standard of the service to be rendered 

 to the farming community and to the agricultural in- 

 dustry as a whole. 



It would not be reasonable to assume that all mem- 

 bers would be agreed as to the order of importance of 

 the objects specified. Upon this point it is not necess- 

 ary, and perhaps not even desirable, that unanimity of 

 opinion should obtain ; and yet it is not without signi- 

 ficance that the maintenance of high standards in the 

 profession should have been the first object set forth, 

 after the basic need — that of organization — had been 

 i-ecognized and met. 



With all due respect to what graduates of our agri- 

 cultural colleges in Canada liave achieved in the past, 

 and with a fvdl realization of the valuable contribution 

 they are making today to tlie i)romotion of scientific and 

 l)ractieal agriculture, no delegate could hut l)e imi)ress- 

 ed with the remarks of the many speakers who emphas- 

 ized the necessity for higher academic standards for 

 undergraduates, and for larger opportunities and 

 better facilities for postgraduate courses. One speaker, 

 who has had long experience as an administrator in 

 one of the important departments of the public service 



which has on its staff large numbers of graduates in 

 agriculture, was frank enough to say: "We have been 

 looked ui)on by nuuiy of the T'niversity associations and 

 many of the University graduates as being men on a 

 lower level in investigatory character than they are 

 themselves and we cannot expect them to change their 

 minds in this respect unless we assert ourselves and 

 demonstrate to the world that we have just as high 

 scientific and investigatory powers as they have." 



While it does not follow that this opinion, which is 

 sometimes expressed by the alumni of other faculties, 

 sustains any relation to the facts in . the case, it does 

 reveal v6ry clearly a point of view, an attitude of mind, 

 which we, as agricultural graduates, would do well not 

 to ignore or lightly to dismiss. 



Agricultural colleges, like other institutions of learn- 

 ing, are slow to undertake educational experiments. 

 Marked departures from the accepted practices are 

 generally left to new institutions. The past few years 

 have, however, seen a 'number of agricultural colleges 

 inaugurate some important educational experiments 

 which, judging bj^ their success under other conditions, 

 give promise of marking another milestone in the prog- 

 ress of agricultural education. The plan of these newer 

 educational experiments has greater pedagogic con- 

 sistency than the old, and has been evolved largely as 

 the result of a careful re-examination of the curricula 

 of the different colleges, with a view to providing a 

 thorough training for men who aim to qualify them- 

 selves for positions requiring the highest degree of pro- 

 fessional knowledge and technical skill. 



This is as it should be. No other subject was so fre- 

 quently referred to by delegates to the Convention as 

 this. Speakers did not allude to it because they were 

 pes.simistic, as some at first assumed, but ratJier be- 

 cause they saw clearlj- the pressing need for the exten- 

 sion and enrichment of the present curricula. No 

 single feature of the Dominion-wide gathering was 

 more encouraging or was fraught with greater possibil- 

 ities for progress than this. In their attitude towards 

 this question, technical agriculturists showed that, as a 

 professional body, they were prepared to meet the 

 issues squarely, to voice their convictions courageously 

 and unitedly to bend their energies to the accomplish- 

 ment of this fundamental task. 



The aims and interests of agriculture and of the 

 technical workers engaged therein, can no longer be 

 best served by individuals working singly or in small, 

 isolated groups. The issues involved have become too 

 large and the ramifications too uumerotis and far- 

 reaching for individual action to be effective. The 

 decision of the technical agriculturists, as a body, to 

 exert their influence in the direction of higher stand- 

 ards of college work, of closer co-operation among 

 workers, and of better coordination in experimentation 

 and research, without respect to the auspices tnider 

 which the investigations are being conducted, augurs 

 well for the future of the profession and of the in- 

 dustrj'. 



