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THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS ^ CONVENTION. 



THE UNIVERSITY FARM SCHOOL. 



By prof. E. J. WICKSOX, or Berkeley. 



I can not say how much I regret that Judge Shields is not here with 

 his address, because I was trusting to him to give the philosophy of 

 the u.ndertaking and to make the exhortation for its support. ' lie 

 has been in this undertaking from the beginning; he has been a 

 promoter of it; he has very clear ideas of the service that it can 

 render ; and I was trusting wholly to him to present that very important 

 phase of the matter, the discussion simply to consist of some very easily 

 stated information, which might follow the impressive statement which 

 I expected him to make. However, we have to take this simply with 

 the information — the philosophy is out of it. 



It is obvious to any one who attends meetings of agriculturists in 

 California, how keen the demand among all lines of agricultural pro- 

 ducers in California is for two things : first, research, and second, 

 instruction. The demand for research in agricultural lines is broader 

 and sharper than it ever was before in California, and it is producing 

 some most gratifying results, such, for instance, as the result of the 

 studies of Mr. Powell and his associates, which came about, as we were 

 told this morning, on the initiative of the fruit producers of this district 

 and the strong appeals they made to the Washington department for 

 such studies as Mr. Powell can make. 



About the same demand for research resulted in the establishment of 

 the laboratory for plant diseases at Whittier, and the special citrus 

 experiment station at Riverside, both of which are parts of the agri- 

 cultural department of the University. 



In addition to these demands for research, there are demands for 

 instruction — the very clear demand that the Agricultural Department 

 of the University be outfitted for more satisfactory instruction in 

 practical agriculture. They conceded to us. largely on the basis of 

 Professor Hilgard's excellent work for a generation, a certain standing 

 and leadership in research, and certain discoveries in agricultural 

 science which were of great value to the State ; but they very wisely said 

 your outfit for practical instruction in agriculture is not worth talking 

 about, and they didn't talk about it much, except to say how bad it was, 

 but went directly to the State, and made this first great provision for 

 the improvement of the facilities for practical instruction in agriculture 

 for the Agricultural College at Berkeley, by the passage of a law pro- 

 viding for the purchase of a University Farm, and for the equipment 

 of that farm for demonstration purposes, and equipment also for 

 instructional purposes. That is how it all came about, and it is only 

 the beginning as yet. 



The State appropriated something like a quarter of a million to buy 

 a farm and to outfit it with buildings and equipment of different kinds. 

 Then M. Theodore Kearney gave the University property valued at 

 perhaps three quarters of a million — perhaps a million — for the same 

 general purpose, that is, better provision for research and experiment, 

 and, above all, a better provision for instruction in practical agriculture. 



Now, I shall simply say a few things about the outfit which the 

 State bought for us, and which is situated practically at the town 



