The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-15
The Value of am Agricultural College
 Course.

The value Of an agrlcultural coiieSo course will depend largely on the in- dividual attending and to a considera-
 ble extent on the Individuality of the instructors engaged in the agricultural teaching. It does not follow that be- cause a farmers son attends an agrl- cultural college for two or three sea- sons that he Is going to make more
 successful farmer than neighoors boy who has not been able to avail himself of the advantages of the said school, but it does follow that, other things being equal the boy who has taken a course at an agricultural col lege will make a much better farmer than he would have made had such ln-
 struction been denied him.
 The agricultural college imparts in- formation on very many sides of this
 broad subject. The person who com
 pIetes the course, if at all diligent knowledge of all the different phases
 of practical farming which it may be necessary for him to know, but the fact should never be lost sight of that he will not get that practical knowl- edge at the college which he ought to have in order to make him success full farmer. That kind of equipment
 must come from the farm either pe- l fore the student goes to the college
 
 ter both before and after.
 When the student has spent much time and labor on the farm before go- ing to the college, he will not only have a better idea of his needs than one who has not been thus favored,
 but he will also better understand the | instruction given in the various lines | of study We have often sympathized
 with the students from the city to the agricultural college because of the lit- | tle familiarity which they have with
 even the common terms that are used
 in the text books or that are used in
 the lectures given. There Is wisdom l therefore, in the requirement. Of our
 own school of agriculture which makes
 1t necessary for an intending student | to spend at least six months In labor
 ing on the farm before going to col
 lege.
 About the greatest good that comes | to the student arises in the increased
 capacity which 1t gives him to acquire
 useful knowledge A young man on the farm may be a diligent reader or
 the agricultural press. In that way he may get very much valuable infor- 1 nation. Nevertheless many sources | of information in the line of text hooks will be quite unknown to him. He will not know how to find out even | where some of these are should he desire to know more about what has already been published. The course at the college puts him in touch with the work of the best authors along inc various lines of study to which his attention has been directed He Is thus started on highway over which he can journey right on down to the end of life.
 We think 1t expeeient in closing this paper to caution the graduate against a mistake that we fear is growing. A demand has arisen for educated men to take charge of farms and In some instances of herds and hocks of pure hred stock Because one student who is properly equipped for such task on leaving college falls eXpedltiously into one of those positions. others are very much prone to conclude that they likewise are equally equipped and tfey ,ara therefore, anxious to make en- ,e,agements in similar lines. We call attention to the fact and we trust that graduates who may read this paper l Uiu heed the same, that completing a course of study in agriculture is one thing and managing successfully an agricultural plant is quite another thing More Or less experience is ab- soIutelv indispensable in order to make sucb work the highest success possible, and the individual who Is anxious to enqape in the work without being | nronerlv equipped on the practical side | Iyili certainly make a failure of the
 same It is better. therefore, In this matter to go too slowly and succeed in the end than to go too quickly at first land faiI.-The Farmer.