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The group in dairying need not necessarily be very much different from the group 
in animal husbandry, l>ut one of the more important considerations in these agri- 
cultural colleges is the establishment of courses in chemical engineering in which 
chemical and botanical problems should be considered in their broadest scope. 
What we need at this time should be Borne uniformity of requirements for the various 
courses in the different agricultural colleges. Itseems to me that a committee might 
well be named to look over this work and report on what is needed and wdiat should 
be given in the way of instruction and entrance requirements. It seems to me we 
should ever bear in mind that botany can be of distinctive service both to science 
and the practical man by combining the theoretical with practical instruction. The 
mere veneer study can not long stand the test of time. It must be backed up with 
a good substantial foundation. The object of a course is to prepare and tit the 
young student for the duties of life. He should, therefore, have a broad and liberal 
education embodying enough of general information to make him a good citizen. 
The following paper was read by H. Metcalf, of South Carolina: 
The Foundations of Agricultural Teaching. 
The value of continuity in any course of study has become a truism in pedagogy. 
A single subject pursued for a considerable time has more educative value than 
several separate subjects to which the same aggregate of time is given. The classical 
college course of the old type derived its greatest merit from the fact that it com- 
pelled a student to devote from five to eight consecutive years to one subject. In the 
more liberal college curricula of the present day the principle is fully recognized. 
Either certain subjects are required for more than one year, or the student is required 
to elect someone major subject around which his other electives must to some extent 
center. In technical education we find the principle fully recognized; every course 
has some one subject, which, whether of practical application or not, is the educa- 
tional piece de resistance of the whole course. In civil and mechanical engineering 
this course is mathematics; in electrical engineering it is mathematics or physics; in 
medicine it is animal biology ; in the various chemical industries it is pure chemistry. 
We may well inquire what are the characters which give these courses their 
prominent positions. 
In the first place, they are subjects of unchallenged training value — excellent 
grindstones for the mental edged tools. They present problems or better experi- 
ments to be worked out directly by the student. In other words, though they may 
impart information, they are not merely informational. The problems or experi- 
ments are directly under the control of the student and not subject to accidental and 
incidental conditions; and, above all, the problems and experiments are simple at the 
outset and grow naturally and logically more complex. They are, furthermore, 
exact subjects, at least within certain limits; they are directly related in spirit and 
method to the art or industry which the student expects to pursue; and to some 
extent their principles are directly utilized in that art or industry. The most impor- 
tant consideration of all is: The subjects train in scientific method and logical habit 
of thought, and are pursued long enough to give the student a certain mastery over 
them and facility in their use. 
But in agriculture we have no such course. We note with pride that the course in 
agriculture is becoming so diversified and specialized, but fail to see that herein lies 
the greatest danger from the teacher's standpoint, Ten times one does not make ten 
in pedagogy. Agriculture draws its data from so many sciences that a course in agri- 
culture, no matter how carefully the agricultural standpoint is kept before the student, 
does not. have the educational value of the same amount of time spent on a really 
unified subject. Practical agriculture must be the soul and center of the agricultural 
course, and the students must give the bulk of their time to it; no other science or 
combination of sciences can replace it. Yet we can not close our eyes to its grave 
pedagogical deficiencies. In addition to the lack of continuity already indicated, 
agriculture, as now taught, is made largely informational; much of its data is 
empirical; its experiments are too complicated and too much governed by accidental 
circumstances (e. g., the weather) to set forth effectively the principles of scientific 
method. 
In certain colleges all this appears to be fully recognized, and the situation is met 
by requiring a continuous course in some one strictly scientific subject, usually chem- 
istry. Beyond question chemistry is, in itself, the most efficient training subject in 
the agricultural curriculum. It is an exact science, of unchallenged cultural value, 
logical in treatment, and no better exponent of scientific method can be found. 
But it has little immediate bearing on agriculture; and too great emphasis upon it or 
upon any other single science apart from agriculture detracts from the unity of the 
course. 
