The herald., 1896-12-12
THE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE
ONCE MORE

This department of The Herald has
never fought against the University of
California" 1t has never charged Prof.
Hilgard with introducing the phylloxera
into the state. nor with saying that
beets could not be raised at Chino. Fur
ther, it has never connected the short
comings of the college with its location
We therefore reprint in full the follow
ing article from the Berkeleyan Advo-
cate, not because it has any bearing on
the questions at issue. but in order that
our readers may know what is the ma
ture of the defense which the friends
of. the college make. as they misrepre-
sent both our position and ourselves.
We venture the assertion that this pest
of misrepresentation will go home to
roost and will be found as fully alive
as the male of the black scale
"a PEST OF MISREPRESENTAT
The Los Angeles Herald keeps up it,.
fight against the University of Califor-
MIA with the same persistent msrepre-
sentation of facts and the same thinly
disguised attempts to conceal the per-
sonal motives of one of it's owners. 1t
is the same old fight of the members of
the deposed forestry and viticutural
commissions in which they seek, by
discrediting the work of those depart
ments of the university which succeeded
to their functions, to show that the
commissions had an excuse for their
former existence
1.-The members OF the commissions
attempt to show that the university is
a. local institution, and that Southern
California obtains but litt!c OF. its ben
ef1ts. In this there is manifest attempt
to enlist in their individual fight what
ever of sentiment exists in Southern Cal
1fornia for division. and thus cripple
the university by antagonism to appro-
priations
If Southern California fails to throng
the class rooms with students, the only
possible reason would rest with a lack
of appreciation of the benefits of higher
education. Possibly the ex-commission-
ers, through The Herald, may check the
aspirations of the youth in that sec
ton. but the records of the university
do not demonstrate the fact
The Herald claims that the agricultu-
raj station at Berkeley is too far north
to be of benefit to the southern section
That may be, but of the seven expert
ment stations established by the univer-
s1ty four are in Southern California
two of which are south of the Tehach-
cpl: and the other two in Tulare and San
LUIS Ob1spo. Therefore the fradulence
or that claim is clear. In addition to this,
during the past four years four-fifths
VI the farmers institutes Of the state
rave been held south of the Tehachepi
the popularity and grand successes of
WHlCu tHe ulS8Funtle0 ex-COmmiSSiOner
entirely ignore. The fact is also ig-
nored that only two of the ex-commis
sioners' stations in the state were worth
turning over to the college or worth ac-
cepting.
The Herald claims that the agricul-
tural college advised against the attempt
at growing sugar beets at Chino The
agricultural college did nothing of the
kind. Prof. Hilgard simply advised the
man in search Of information to NOT
plant his beets in the strong alkali lands
of the creek.
An equally wild charge is that the
college introduced the phylloxera into
California. This is on a par Of truthful
ness with the rest of the charges. The
fact is that when Prof. Hilgard assum-
ed charge he found a small plot of vines
affected with phylloxera and this was
kept for few years for the purpose
of experiment in the climate of Cali
fornia. The vines were then extirpated,
but meanwhile the pest had spread
throughout the state. No attempt had
been made to eradicate it by the viticul-
tural commission. During the entire
time" says Prof. Hilgard, that the in
sect was on the experimental grounds.