Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1885-02-13
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES.
, a v0ICE STRONGLY RAISED nv DE.
FEySE or THEM.


Chns. 5. Plumb IN the Country Gentleman.
hut what ought our agricultural college
graduates To dor Decidedly, the first duty
of man II To- earn living. There are many
methods Of doing this, aud the one which
usually suggests ITSELF " that which VIII
Yield the most "hard cash." Tho G,ct must,
or should be born IN mind-although II
generally Is not, by opponents ofagricuiturai
collegcs-that tho young graduates are
usually without means ut the ends OF their
college COURSES in other words, they arc
poor Get living they must To run In
debt for farm II u foolishncss that means q
life Of toll and hardship, very repulsive To
mon living In this age of progress, For the
very reason that many graduates have no
means with which to go to farming, II why
the number Of those upon the farm is not
larger than II now is As the years roll by
many moro of tho older graduates OF these
institutions viii assume the role oi practical
farmers, becoming tho same when suitable
working capital will enable them to be such.
Here enters another phase Of the question:
rarely understood by deridors of industrial
institutions They are not, and were not
founded rs simple agricultural schools ~ the
states accepting the land grants offered 10y
the general government were fully aware
The interest of the fund, by which every
state took and claimed the benefit Of the act,
M stated in the fourth section, was Tor "the
endowment support, and maintenance of at
l'tNt ttlt tptl'Ht, NIltft tllt ttttllnR otllfFt
shall be- without excluding other scientific
and classical studies, and including military
tactics, To teach such branches Of learning
~ are related to agriculture and the me-
chanic arts, In such manner as the logisla.
lures or the states may respectively prescribe,
In order to promote tho liberal and practical
education of the industrial classes In the
several pursuits and professions of life" In
there anything in the above section that states
that these instructions must loo expected To
graduate farmers more than civil or mppnani-
cal engineers Can any person inclined To
throw cold water on our industrial
colleges IN any way show that the
majority of these institutions are not
carrying out the purpose of the law,
~ tho bill prescribes 2 1t is ioolishness to
say, ny do some. that these institutions are
failures, simply because they are not now
given To graduating farmers, or that they are
not conducted Just according TO their own
ideas. There is not an institution in the
United states where only those studies inti-
mately related To agriculture are taught
Cunless we except the Storr's Agricultural
school of Connecticut, founded by private
donation,) and there is no law for the estab-
lishment of such. II our farmers feel the
need of such institutions as are to bo found
In Europe, where nothing hut agriculture Is
taught, all well and good but IL Is not fair
In condemning young institutions, that are
really carrying out the letter of the law.
Itis evident therefore, that these instltu-
tons are not solely for the farmer and his
individual benefit, but for tho general com
munity, hence their graduates should seek
such employment relating to agriculture
and the mechanic arts" as they can procure
To their best advantage. But farming has
not been neglected. Nearly all of the state
colleges are well represented on the farm.
Over Is per cent of the graduates Of the
agricultural department Of the Maine col
lego are directly employed on the farm, and
over so per cent connected with agricultural
work: Over per cent Of the graduates of
the Massachusetts college are engaged more
or less intimately with agriculture, while
the graduates Of our western colleges
are becoming well known among the agri-
cultural workers. Two Of tho largest far
mers of Iowa graduated in the state college,
and lend great influence for the benefit of
the farming community; Charles 4. Garfield,
n farmer, IN a graduate of the Michigan col
lege, and needs no introduction to agricul-
tural readers; the Maine institution has
graduated farmers who are attaining promi-
nence in the Pine Tree state, and could
name with pleasure graduates Of the Massa-
chusetts college, who reflect credit on both
college and themselves for tho progressive
and able manner In which they are working
tor the advancement of Massachusetts hus-
bandry.
The agricultural and mechanical colleges
are here to stay. They are doing more val
liable work to-day than they were ten years
ago, and in another ten years will have az
cOmplished far more than they have during
the past ten. These institutions were inau-
gurated, and Obliged to build upon plans Of
their own origin. They were decidedly new,
and had no beaten tracks In which to pass,
hut rather had first to blaze away, and then
clear a path. Judgment was pronounced
upon these colleges almost with their
inception. This was not just. The grad
yates are too young in years, for even WISE
acres TO cndeavor TO show that their careers
are not what they should have been, and that
they would have had much better chances Of
success in life, had they been given "actual
work Of ten hours day in a well-conducted
farm or garden"
The tree is known by its fruit, and so say
to those who would condemn our agricultu-
raj and mechanical colleges, would it not be
Just To allow the tree of knowledge an oppor-
tunity To perfect the yet unripe fruit? When
maturity is reached, il the proper time to
Judge whether 1t be good or bad-whether it
merit appreciation or condemnation.