53 



The Secretary of Agriculture, speaking of these stations, 

 said : " The State Experiment Stations have already performed 

 service of great value. They have done much to secure radical 

 and widespread improvement in agricultural practice ; they 

 have contributed in large measure to the creation of a new 

 American literature of agriculture and made it available to 

 every farmer ; they have collected much of the material from 

 which the science of agriculture is being formulated as the 

 basis for instruction of successive generations of farmers in 

 colleges, schools, and farmers' institutes. As their work has 

 developed, it has naturally divided itself into broad classes, 

 which may be briefly summarised as (i) Original research ; 

 (2) verification and demonstration of experiments, often of a 

 local character and import ; (3) inspection service, and (4) 

 dissemination of information. 



" So great has been the local pressure for work of the last three 

 classes that by far the greatest share of the national and State 

 funds has been spent in these lines.' 5 



It has not been possible within the limits of this report to 

 give a detailed account of the workings of agricultural educa- 

 tion in the different States or of the laws which the State Legis- 

 latures have passed in regard to this subject. The object of 

 the writer has rather been as far as possible, while entering into 

 some detail in regard to certain typical institutions, to give 

 a general bird's eye view of the position of such education 

 throughout the whole country, of the activities of the Federal 

 Department of Agriculture in connection therewith, and of the 

 general trend of public opinion in regard to the question. 



The impression left in the mind of an inquirer into the 

 subject is that while much has been done all over the Union 

 since the Act of 1862 for the development of higher collegiate 

 instruction, secondary and primary agricultural education is 

 still practically in its infancy. On all sides, however, there are 

 evidences that this state of things will not be allowed to, con- 

 tinue much longer. The desertion of the land in some parts 

 of the Union, especially in the New England States, where 

 many farms have actually been left derelict or are being bought 

 up and converted into large estates for other than agricultural 

 purposes, is causing considerable anxiety to statesmen. One 

 of the main remedies proposed, though by no means the only 



