Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1895-05-03
THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE
Hon. d. p. Carr Makes a Personal In
vestigation and Throws Light on
Subject OF Timely Interest.
Acres of Politics and Factional Fight
ing-The Condition Of the School
A Fair and Full Statement.

territory many erroneous statemehts TO
garding the Agricultural college, and haV
ing within the past month visited tina
deem it not altogether i'm
proper that l should have something tt
say in regard to it.
In the town of Las Cruces heard
from one faction, nothing but condemna
tion-that the college WAS ruined-tht
students withdrawing, and that in a shor
time it would be only Kindergarten
to the public schools of Las
Cruces. From another faction heard il
was "model" institution, the attendance
having been doubled in the past year and
the president and board of regents de
serving Of praise instead of censure for
The present condition of the institution
Believing the truth to be somewhere be
tween these extremes 1 determined to
visit and investigate for myself the state
Of affairs at the college and I spent the
sntre day-April 15-there.
The first thing that attracted my at
,ention was that ....
ONLY ONE VISITOR
,ad registered before me in the month
Of April, and not more than one-halt
dozen since the 1st of March, and none OF
these we're the persons who have been SO
criticising or defending the
present control of the college.
| heard the recitations Of several
classes, including physical geography
President McCrea; American history
Prof. Owen; geometry, Prof. Ropes, ant
two classes in the preparatory depart
ment. l visited the bookkeeping, tele
graphy and stenography departments
and examined the work in each. wat
greatly interested in the free hand ant
mechanical drawings in Prof. Ropes
oom--engineering department-and il
the microscopical work in the botanica
and geological department.. In the chem
ical laboratory found series ofanalyt
zeal tests being made of water from vari
Gus points in the Mesilla valley, and I
number of students engaged in the de
partment of entomology. l devoted al
hour to watching the work in the black
emith and woodworking shops-a hal
dozen students in each--and in examina
tion of their finished work. | did not
VISIT THE COLLEGE
farm to inspect it closely, but passet
where could see the numerous patche
of wheat and other small grains,' the linn
tied planting of canaigre and the or
chard, which includes the whole of tn
work.
In your columns you can not spar
space for all the statistical matter whlcl
I obtained, and I will, therefore, omit il
altogether and state only the conditions
as 1 found them and my conclusions
thereon.
have visited many educational insti
tutions and am not unfamiliar with col
lege work, and have seldom seen bet
ter or more intelligent class of student
than are now in attendance at the Agri
cultural college at Las Cruces, and no
where have l ever seen greater interes
manifested in their studies, nor NOR
apparent progress. l saw no indication
of impending wreck and ruin, such as
had been informed of in the town. 1t i
my belief that the students are dolni
good work and while there is some dis
satisfaction and insubordination, it is NJ
greater than is at times manifested in al
such institutions--fr Harvard to tn
public schools. The scientific and busi
ness departments in the college building
and the shops are all right and in goo'
hands and
DOING GOOD WORK.
| am satisfied that the most critica
and technical examination and iuspec
ton by the federal department of agrl
culture will so find them.
was surprised to find the little inter
est taken by the students in agriculture
Prof. Blount having only three student
engaged with him in the practical worl
of obtaining an education in that i'm
portant science. There are conflicting
statements regarding the cause of this
One being that none of the students
freshmen-who have their choice be
tween the farm and the shops choose tt
engage in that occupation, while anothe
is that President McCrea dlscourages
as degrading" calling. Which of thes
is correct did not definitely ascertain
NY own opinion is that the antagouien
between McCrea and Blount is largel.
responsible for the neglect of tina
branch.
am not one of those who see only evi
in the probable severance by Prof. Bloun
of his connection with the college. Will
the real reasons for reducing his salar
to force his withdrawal from the facult,
may be his disagreement with Presiden
McCrea, connection with an opposini
political faction and because he is th
owner of one.sixth of the stock of news
paper at Las Cruces now opposing an
fighting the control of the college, ther
are other good grounds for his remova
II is my opinion that he is experimenting
in the wrong direction for the benefit o
agriculture and horticulture in New Mex
loo. With three-fifths of the vegetables an
nearly all the small fruits and berrie
consumed in New Mexico shipped in iron
Colorado and California, experiments t
determine the best means of raising then
here would appear to be
OF GREATER ADVANTAGE
to the people than in raising 1856 differen
varieties of wheat on the college farm
and might encourage the students to er
gage more generally in that study. Th
intensity of the feeling between Pro
Blount and other members of the facult
renders the farm and experiment static
practically a separate institution fror
the college, which it should not be. Wit
a younger and more progressive man Q
experience, without a "single hohby,"an
who would not be connected with factiona
opposition to the president and board q
regents, in Blouut's place, better result
might be obtained from the experiment
station and the science Of agriculture an
horticulture take the high place intende
in the establishment of such colleges
puk ~ ha ehou1d ha die placed IN proyid