684 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. No. 465. 



to every rauk of students. So shall these 

 laboratories prove a eoruer-stone for. the 

 upbuilding- of a temple of knowledge, and 

 a touchstone for the best ore of intellect 

 in all the width of this great land. 



C. S. Sherrington. 

 I'^'ivEESiTY College, Livekpool. 



THE yE^y agrwultuhal educations 

 There is now largely increased interest 

 in agricultural education in all parts of 

 the country. This is due in large measure 

 to a radical change in the foundations of 

 the system of agricultural education. In 

 the past the courses of instruction were 

 based on the sciences related to agriculture, 

 whereas now they are being based on the 

 science and art of agriculture itself. 

 Owing chiefly to the researches of the agri- 

 cultural experiment stations and kindred 

 institutions in this country and abroad, 

 there is now a distinct body of knowledge 

 which may fairly be called the science of 

 agriculture. This science treats of the 

 production of plants and animals useful to 

 man, and the uses of such plants and ani- 

 mals. It is divided into plant production, 

 which includes agronomy (field crops), 

 horticulture and forestry, zootechny or 

 animal production; agrotechny or agi'i- 

 eultural technology (including dairying, 

 sugar-making, etc., adulteration of foods 

 and feeding stufEs, etc.) ; rural engineering 

 and rural economies. 



This fact has lately been recognized in 

 the reorganization of the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture, where we now 

 have Bureaus of Soils, Plant Industry, 

 Forestry and Animal Industry, in which 

 are grouped a large number of scientists 

 representing various specialties in agricul- 

 tural science. These men now feel. that 

 they are working primarily as agricultural 



* Summary of address at dedication of new 

 agricultiiral building, New Hampsliire College of 

 Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, October 28, 1903. 



scientists rather than as botanists, chemists, 

 physicists or physiologists. Their natural 

 outlook is, therefore, in the direction of 

 promoting the advancement of agricultural 

 science and practise, and they are disposed 

 to lay under contribution every science re- 

 quired to work out the complex problems 

 of agriculture. 



Many of our agricultural colleges are also 

 being reorganized on this basis. A notable 

 illustration of the results is found in the 

 Illinois College of Agriculture, where there 

 are now twenty men teaching different 

 branches of the science of agriculture and 

 the nimiber of students has increased ten- 

 fold in fo^^r years. 



While the number of students in the agri- 

 cultural colleges has been relatively small, 

 they have done a great work. From them 

 have come in large measure the men who 

 have made the science of agriculture, 

 who have manned the experiment stations, 

 who have brought about changes in our 

 agricultural practise which have largely 

 increased production, and, what is more 

 important, have set our intelligent farmers 

 on the highway of rational progress. These 

 men have also laid the foundations for a 

 system of agricultural education which is 

 already affecting the thought and activity 

 of hundred of thousands of farmers who 

 never have been on the campus of an agri- 

 cultural college, and which in the not dis- 

 tant future will directly toue"h the masses 

 of our rural population. 



For the leaders of our agricultural pro- 

 gress have learned, and the general public 

 will soon learn, that the agricultural college 

 is not the only institution required to give 

 us a thoroughly effective system of agricul- 

 tural education. And already representa- 

 tives of the different institutions comprised 

 in a comprehensive system of agricultural 

 education are actually in operation in dif- 

 ferent parts of the country, so that we can 

 now clearly understand what the American 



