The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-02-26
THE AGRICULTURAL DEPART.
sfENT AND THE A. n vi.
COLLEGE.


support of the a. and NJ. College is q
mistake for two reasons:
/. The demands on the State Treas
ury are so large and so pressing as to
make it ill-advised to assume this adj
ditional ten thousand dollars. The
Department can pay more easily than
tho State Treasury
2. The repeal of this law would be
q step in the wrong direction, for
the college and the department ought
to be one, as originally intended and
now urgently demanded by the need
for practical instruction in agricul-
ture in the State.
In 1886 the Legislature passed an
act directing the State Board of ASri-
culture to establish a state Indus
trial school," to locate it i'll such
community as would contribute most
literally, to provide for instruction in
practical agriculture, woodworking.
Iiron-working. and other Industrial
lines, and TO pay for the establish
ment and maintenance of the same
out of the fertilizer tax to the extent
of $4,000 annually. Not dollar was
appropriated from the public treasury
at that time In 1897 the Legislature
directed the State Board of Agricul-
ture 10 locate the A. and NJ. College
in the suburbs of Raleigh on lands
donated by Mr.. r. S. PulleIl. and di-
totn "A Of A ry~ip 81 4 nj a
to appropriate to the college the funds
that had accumulated under the pre-
vious act. They also directed them
to ;use for the college any property or
Laboratories they might have and
also TO use for tho running expenses
funds from the fertilizer tax after
meeting the necessary expenses of the
department. Later on a special board
was created and the college was sepa-
rated from the Department of ASri-
culture - When Governor Aycock
came in in 1901, the college was again
put under the control of the Board
Of Agriculture. with another board
having no power except advisory. rms
was done to carry out the original idea
OF the college, TO promote its growth
ana development by the helpful SUI
pervision and funds of the Board OF
Agriculture. The Governor and the
Legislature expected that at least one
fourth of the income from the fertile
ger tax would be devoted to agricul-
| n hn
South Carolina the entire proceeds ex-
cept about $4,000 of the fertilizer
tax goes to the college of agriculture
and mechanics Called Clemson). The
instruction in the college.
900 annually from that source. and
the state Treasury is entirely relieved
from supporting the college.
a similar arrangement was hoped
for in this State with equally bene-
fetal results. The college is the child
Of the Agricultural Department, es-
tablished by it, and it cannot spend
a fair portion of its revenue i'll q
manner more helpful to agriculture
than by developing the agricultural
the other departments of the college
indeed the time is near at hand
when the whole Department of Agri-
culture should be located at the coll
lege, leaving the present building for
other public purposes. This arrange
ncnt would make it possible to use
for the work of the department col
lege students who would at the same
time receive valuable training, and
also reduce to a minimum the eX-
penses of the work of the department.
The money contributed by the de-
partment to the college should be en-
ployed to extend the instruction in
agriculture. horticulture, dairying, en-
tomology, veterinary science, and kin
drcd branches, and the amount from
the State Government should go to
other departments of the college.
The department has been called on
TO put up an Agricultural Building
ana to equip the same. Let them oc-
cupy part of it and perfect the union
between the college and the depart
ment The best thing the department
can do with portion of its large in
come is TO invest it in the brains of
the ambitious sons of farmers who
attend this college. The Commission
ers Of Agriculture should teach the
senior class in agriculture; the state
Chemist should. be dean of the chemi-
cal faculty Of the college; the state
Veterinarian should be dean of the
animal department the state Ento-
molugist head of the botanical de-
partment. and SO on. IN short instead
of having two expensive separate ag-
ricuitural departments. one out at the
college aud the other in Raleigh, they
should be combined into one at a
great saving of expense, and a mar
veIlous multiplying of usefulness to
the farmers of today and OF the future.
The concluding chapter on "The
Simple Life" appears in today's pape".
That series of articles has profound
10 thu world hinccp1 ms,