74 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-THIRD FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 



you and I were attending school. The agricultural colleges have had a 

 hard fight. They have fought consistently, using every honorable 

 means to make the people see their need of it, and have proven that 

 they can fulfill the need. The college, however, has not fought alone. 

 It has had stanch friends among the rank and file of intelligent farm- 

 ers and merchants, and in many cases has been led by them into 

 broader fields of activity and into a larger usefulness. In this matter 

 the instruction in agriculture has not differed materially from other 

 lines of industrial training; for in many instances an awakened public 

 has led teachers and school boards into the establishment of schools for 

 manual training in our cities; and in fact, when public funds seemed 

 not available, private fortunes have been used to found such schools. 

 The beginning of secondary industrial schools in this country is credited 

 to such high-minded and far-sighted generous souls. 



If the time has passed when the usefulness of an education for agri- 

 culture is to be questioned, there is likewise no more doubt regarding 

 the value of an education by agriculture. The innumerable divisions 

 and ramifications of farm life and farm processes make it incumbent 

 upon the farmer to know a great many facts and principles if he is to 

 farm successfully. The soil, the trees, and the vines, with their culture, 

 their insects, and their diseases; the animals of many breeds and indi- 

 vidualities, with their care and breeding and feeding, all demand that 

 the farmer have a training, an education for his work. It is a matter 

 of congratulation that educators, even those who had in former years 

 depended upon mathematics and the classics for adequate mental train- 

 ing, now believe that the same study and thought applied to agricul- 

 tural sciences and practice will result in an equally well-rounded mental 

 development. The agricultural population and the general public desire 

 that, for the common weal of the nation, those engaged in the chief 

 productive industry should be as well educated as those in any other 

 occupation. Happy are we, therefore, to be assured that the boy who 

 spends his days in the field and shop and laboratory, in conjunction 

 with the lecture room, may come out of school or college as large in his 

 mental calibre, as strong in his moral fibre, and as broad in his culture, 

 as the boy who has spent his days in the libraries and in searching 

 ancient lore. Let us farmers, then, be proud of our calling and hold 

 our heads high, because ours is an occupation which needs a wide train- 

 ing, and in securing which we may find that education which makes 

 men better know how to live. 



These comments may be said to apply to conditions in all the states 

 and to all the agricultural colleges. Let us come home to our own con- 

 ditions and our own State problems in education. Every one whom I 

 have the honor of addressing has achieved some success in his chosen 

 line of agriculture, which in this instance is growing fruits or vines. 



