404 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL. No. 1029 



behavior and the wants of the plants he is 

 growing, and can accordingly treat them with 

 a degree of intelligence which can not be 

 hoped for from those who have not become 

 familiar with the practical phases of plant 

 physiology. 



The object of agricultural education is to 

 produce farmers who will do their work in- 

 telligently. Speaking for plant industry alone, 

 the most essential part of such a training is 

 the acquisition on the student's part of the 

 kind of understanding of plants, and particu- 

 larly of the plants which he will raise, which 

 he can get from the study of their physiology, 

 and in no other way. The name of the study is 

 of course of no importance. If it be chemis- 

 try of the kind represented by Adolf Mayer's 

 "Agricultural Chemistry," or physics of the 

 type of Wollny's " Agricultural Physics," the 

 -aim is reached. Both of these are plant physi- 

 'ology under other names which do not hurt 

 them. But I do not believe that a student 

 <ever came out of an American college of 

 agriculture, trained in physics or chemistry of 

 this kind. 



Although there has not been time for so 

 much experience on this point, I believe that 

 the advantage in our method of training goes 

 well beyond the preparation for farming. By 

 giving the student a more intelligent under- 

 standing of the behavior of his crops, we must 

 give him a more intelligent interest in the 

 problems of the farm. Up to this time, every 

 -one of our graduates is still a student or is en- 

 gaged in agricultural work. Some are farm- 

 ing, some are employed by the Insular Bureau 

 of Agriculture, and some are teaching agri- 

 culture. It is of course not to be expected 

 that all of our graduates will always stick to 

 the profession. But I am very confident that 

 a larger proportion of them will do so than 

 would if their training had been of the usual 

 American kind. I had a chance two years ago 

 to question a number of students about to 

 graduate in agriculture at one of the foremost 

 colleges in the United States. To the first 

 questions, they all answered alike, that they 

 study agriculture in college for the purpose of 

 learning to farm scientifically; that the scien- 

 tific basis of agriculture, as they had learned 



it, was chemistry; and that the chemistry 

 they had been taught was something they 

 would be unable to put into individual prac- 

 tise as farmers. As to whether, if the chance 

 had been given, they could have made better 

 use of plant physiology as a basis of agricul- 

 ture, some thought they could, and others had 

 not come sufficiently into touch with the sub- 

 ject to have an opinion. They all agreed that 

 their education had failed to give them such 

 an understanding of the problems of plant 

 production, that they would be able, as indi- 

 vidual farmers, to tackle its problems com- 

 petently. In my opinion, the four years' in- 

 struction which had been given to them had 

 failed essentially. Conscious inability to 

 wrestle with problems is incompatible with an 

 active interest in them. 



The cities of the United States are growing 

 at the expense of the country. It is univer- 

 sally agreed that the movement from country 

 to city is a national calamity. The reason for 

 this movement is not that the city offers 

 greater prospect of material advance, for it 

 does not do so. That life has been more com- 

 fortable and easier in the city has had some- 

 thing to do with this movement, but only a 

 very minor part. Those who could live most 

 comfortably on the farm, because of their 

 means, have, on the whole, been most likely to 

 move to the city. The essential cause of mi- 

 gration is that city life is interesting in a 

 way which farm life is not. Neither bodily 

 comfort, nor the certainty of such future suc- 

 cess as will answer his needs, will keep the 

 man who has the means to move to the city in 

 a place where his mind is not interested. An 

 agricultural education should of course 

 qualify a man to farm with greater profit be- 

 cause of his education. But if it does not do 

 more than this, if it does not give him a keen, 

 intelligent interest in the problems he will 

 encounter on the farm, it ought stiU to be 

 counted a failure. To be really successful in 

 their work, the agricultural colleges must send 

 their graduates out so trained that the farm 

 will present the fullest field for the activities 

 of their minds. The successful agricultural 

 college must train its students in such a way 



