64 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



of the rural population, and an experiment station for every 220,000 

 In order to reach a similar ratio in Wisconsin, there would have to be 

 34 agricultural schools and nine experiment stations." 



In France The Agronomic Institute of Paris, 1876, have 65 instruct- 

 ors, among them many of the highest scientific authorities of France. 

 Its purpose is to qualify students for agriculturalists and proprietors 

 of estates; secondly for teachers in the schools of agriculture and third- 

 ly for administrators in charge of investigations; fourthly for directors 

 of experiment stations and fifthly for directors of agricultural societies. 

 In France they have national schools of Agriculture; three of general 

 agriculture; three of veterinary science; one of each of horticulture, 

 dairying and technical agriculture and societies and schools of general 

 agriculture. They have instructors in second grade schools, and they 

 have practical schools which are partly national and partly local, the 

 government paying for all the teaching. In practical schools they have 

 apprenticeships for the sons of the laboring class. The state pays for 

 the teaching and for the boarding of the apprentices. 



The elementary pupils from 7 to 9 have lessons in the garden. The 

 middle primary from 9 to 10 years, object lessons and excursions to 

 familiarize the pupils with soils, fertilizers tillage and corn implements 

 Higher primary pupils from 11 to 13 more methodical instruction, some 

 harvesting, etc. Such primary pupils over 13 years, complete course 

 in elementary agriculture. 3,400 of the rural primary schools have guar- 

 anteed teachers; 160 superior primary schools have more than 15,000 

 officials. In the normal schools they are required to prepare the teach- 

 ers for the common schools by passing examinations in agriculture. 



Why present this subject to the dairymen of this state? To in- 

 fluence your interest in bringing about this. What shall we do to make 

 the education in the common schools so the young people shall desire 

 to remain and expect to go on the farm, and secure for themselves an 

 education which will be helpful to them. First, we can insist that our 

 normal schools shall do all that they ought to do in respect to this matter. 



Let me read from the law that brought into existence our first 

 State Normal School: ' In the Act of the General Assembly establish- 

 ing the first public normal school in this state occur these words: "The 

 object of the Normal University shall be to qualify teachers for the com- 



