1903.J 



SCIENCE. 



685 



system of agricultural education is to be. 

 Brietly outlined this system will include: 

 (1) Agricultural experiment stations (li. e., 

 institutions of research), (2) graduate 

 schools, (3) colleges, (4) secondary or high 

 schools, (5) special schools (of dairying, 

 etc.), (6) elementary courses in the com- 

 mon schools and (7) extension work, espe- 

 cially farmers' institutes. 



Emphasis must be laid on the research 

 work of the agricultural experiment sta- 

 tions, for on their success depends not onlj- 

 the advancement of agricultural practice 

 in particular regions, but also the effective- 

 ness of the agricultural colleges and other 

 institutions for agricultural education. For 

 it is the new knowledge which the stations 

 are gathering through their researches that 

 is required to strengthen and develop the 

 courses of instruction in agriculture. These 

 stations are the fountains from which will 

 flow the streams of knowledge that, on the 

 one hand, will make our farms more pro- 

 ductive, and, on the other, will give our 

 youth sound training in the correct prin- 

 ciples of agriculture. It is gratifying, 

 therefore, to observe that in the building 

 which we dedicate to-day distinct provision 

 is made for the work of the experiment 

 station. 



The courses of instruction in an agricul- 

 tural college may easily be so grouped that 

 the graduate in agriculture may have a 

 truly liberal education. This is well illus- 

 trated by the course of study proposed for 

 our agricultural colleges by standing com- 

 mittees of the Association of American 

 Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Sta- 

 tions. This four-year course includes Eng- 

 lish, modern languages, psychology, ethics, 

 political economy, general history, consti- 

 tutional law, drawing, algebra, geometry 

 and trigonometr%', as culture studies; next 

 there are the pure sciences — physics, ehem- 

 istrj', botany, zoology, physiology, geologv' 

 and meteorology; lastly, the vocational 



studies— agriculture, horticulture and for- 

 estry, veterinary science and agricultural 

 chemistry. As regards the time a.ssigued 

 to these subjects, we find two thirds of the 

 entire course is occupied with culture and 

 scientifie studies, leaving one third of the 

 time for agricultural science and its appli- 

 cations to the arts of agriculture. 



It should be clearly understood that the 

 agricultural college course leading to a 

 bachelor's degree will call for an amount 

 of learning which can only be acquired by 

 years of clo.se application to study. It is 

 therefore not for every boy, any more than 

 any other college course, but only for those 

 whose ability and tastes shall lead them to 

 devote themselves to a large educational 

 effort. As managers of our larger agricul- 

 tural enterprises, investigators, teachers, 

 journalists, government and state officers, 

 manufacturers of fertilizers, farm ma- 

 chinery and other products resulting from 

 or used in agriculture, we need in the aggre- 

 gate a large number of men who have re- 

 ceived thorough training in the science and 

 art of agriculture. These men should be 

 trained in oyr agricultural colleges and 

 should at least attain the bachelor's degree. 

 Already there are profitable employment 

 and honorable careers for more men of 

 these cla.sses than our agricultural colleges 

 can supply, and the demand for these grad- 

 uates in various capacities is rapidly in- 

 creasing. 



The colleges must also help to organize 

 the lower grades of agricultural education. 

 In many of our states if there are to be 

 .successful schools of dairying, horticulture, 

 forestry or any other branch of agriculture, 

 they will have to be organized as a part of 

 the agricultural college. And the same is 

 probably true of the agricultural high 

 school. Such an institution is the crying 

 need of our rural communities. WTien the 

 farm children are through with the district 

 schools they should not be compelled to go 



