The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-05-31

involved in the production OF butter
and cheese; and such other researches
or experiments bearing directly on the
agricultural industry of the United
States as may in each case be deemed
advisable" Each station was endoW-
ed with $4,000 annually from the
general government.
After eighteen years research the
stations have supplied the colleges
with a literature that has taken their
instruction far beyond what had been
possible. The work is now in gooG
pedagogic form, and even in the old
classical colleges of the scientific
studies the new education introduced
and they must introduce more or close
their doors.
I'm this practical age all enterprises
must have a commercial value. Grad
yates who have remuneratiVe places
ready for them on leaving college are
considered fortunate. Does agricul-
ture offer such a prospect for the edu-
Gated man? l met a man owning d
farm Of $50 acres in a neighboring
valley. 1t was well stocked and
prosperous farm. | asked him If he
would trade places with the black
smith, the carpenter, the stone mason,
or the country merchant in the neigh
borhood. He said, No" asked II
he would change with the doctor or
the preacher. He said mo Neither
would he exchange with any of the av-
erage lawyers. And yet he had been
so thoughtless as to say that every one
was prospecting but the farmer. Elc
had not before thought on the subject,
and was compelled to say that ms po-
sition was the best in the community.
The great number of farmers proves
that farming pays. A business that
maintains those engaged in it and FUR
nishes surplus to keep other bust
nesses prosperous through its exports
must pay some one. This country eX-
ported in the year ending June 80,
1908 S973322S82 worth of the pro
ducts Of agriculture after feeding
eighty million people better than
any others on earth.
But | am asked: "Is agriculture
good business for college man q 1t
is deemed essential for the so-called
professional man to have a college ed
ucation. The popular idea of agricul-
ture is simply the manual operation of
cultfvating the soil and caring for.
stock, but agriculture really extends
through the teaching of science, the
investigations of the laboratory and
the experimental field. 1t is no lon
ger merely manual trade, but IN
cludes a study of all the forces, of ma
called learned professions, and is year
ly grasping more difficult problems
What was once expected of a single
professor of agriculture now requires
all the time Of a staff of specialists
in its various branches. The colleges
need now 200 men, each worth from
SIS, coo to 5000 annually, and can not
get them. either professions are full.
agriculture needs men. There are
places enough but the man must be
worth the money The great railway
systems want $4,000 men trained, in
agriculture. They want fully forty
men to study the problems along their
routes for the benefit of the farmers
there, in order that the products may
be increased, thus to increase tbs
transportation.
"That we have not reached the limit
of production is we'll shown by the
fact that 254 bushels of corn have
been raised on an acre of land. The
two extremes of high production ana
low average show the room for the
trained expert.
THE South is anXiously looking fol
men who are to transform her impov-
erished lands into gold. The accurat@
knowledge of agriculture has come IN