The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-06-02

| erature and educate its own teachers.
Science had mainly studied for its w
sake and little for its application to
the practical affairs of life.
For thirty years these colleges crop
ed their way in the endeayor to forTnu-
late courses of study, u as teachers
| were trained and new discoveries of
science made matters palmer, h new
| education developed. Fifteen years Of
experience showed that means should
be provided for the discovery of new
truths in order hat progress be made.
This realization led to the establish
ment in 1887 of the experiment sta
tons in all the states, the duty Of
, which was declared TO be to conduct
original researches Or verify expert
ments on the physiology of plants and
animals; the diseases to which they are
severally subject, with remedies for
the same; the chemical composition of
useful plants at their different stages
of growth; the comparative advantages
of rOtatiye cropping as pursued under
varying series of crops: the capacity
of he wplants or trees for acciimatiOn;
the analysis of soil and water, and the
chemical composition of manureS, nat
ural Or artificial, with experiments de-
signed to test their comparative effects
on crops of different kinds: the ad3pta-
ton and value of grasses and forage
plants; the composition and digeStibili-
ty of different kinds of foods for de-
nestle animals; the scientific and eco
nOmic questions involved in the pro-
6uctiOn of butter and cheese; and such
other researches Or experiments bear
ing directly on the agricultural indus
try of the United States as may Ill eacn
case be deemed advisable" Each sta
ton was endowed with $4,000 annual
ly 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 good
pedagogic form, and even in the old
classical colleges they have adopted
o only some of the methods of in
struction, but many Of the scientific
studies the new education introduced,
and they must introduce more Or close
their doors.
In some Of the older colleges of agri-
culture the early cropping has just been
suggested by the real and new educa-
tiOn as the colleges themselves have
been trained. No half-hearted method
will longer be tolerated. The colleges
must all go to work. Farmers have
waited patiently for the accumulation
of learning in this regard, and now
believe that the colleges should be of
real help to them. The new education
has proved, as Professor Bailey says,
THAT there is no essential reason why
there is not as much culture in the
study OF a sweet potato as OF q Greek
root" And the mental training is just
as good which trains a man Tor a USE
full Fife Once this was theory, now it
is an accomplished fact. OF the stu
den body in these colleges there are
now 1854 students of agriculture, and
795 persons are engaged in the expert
ment station work.
In 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 agriculture
offer such a prospect for the educated
man? l met q man owning Il farm OF
$50 acres in a neighbOring valley. 1t
was a well stocked and prosperous
farm. l asked him if he would trade
places with the blacksmith, the carpen-
ter, the stone mason, OF the country
merchant in his neighborhoOd. He said,
No" / asked if he would change
with the doctor or preacher. He said,
mo-" Neither would he exchange with
any of the average lawyers. And yet
he had been so tI~oughtleSs as to say
that everyone was prospecting but the
farmer. He had not before thought on
the subject, and was compelled to say
that his position was the best in the
community. The great number of
farmers proves that farming pays. A
business that maintains those engaged
in it and furnished a surplus to keep
other businesses prosperous through it's
exports must pay some one. This cOun
try exported in the year ending June
SO, 1908, $973,322,SS2 worth of the
producsts of agriculture after feeding
eighty million people better than any
others on earth.
But | am asked, us agriculture a
good business for a college MANI Is
any other profession a good one for
the college MANI 1t is deemed essen
tial for the sO-called professional man
to AVE q college education. The pOpu-
Lar idea of agriculture is simply the
manua operation Of cuitivating the
soil and caring for stock, but agricul-
ture really extends through the teach
ing Of science, the Investigations Of
the laboratory and the experimental
field. 1t is no longer merely a manual
trade, but includes a study of all the
forces of nature and is wider han any
of the SO-calfed learned professions,
and is yearly grasping more difficult
problems. What was one expected of
a single professor of agriculture now
requires all the time of Il staff Of spe-
cialiSts in its various branches. The
| colleges need right now 200 men each
| worth from $1,000 to 5000 annually,
and can not get them. Other profess
sions are full, agriculture needs men.
| There are places enough, but the man
| must be worth the money. The great
railway systems want 5000 men
| trained in agriculture. They want
| fully forty men to study the problems
| along their routes for the benefit of the
49, - 40 &l,44 41,o ~.~1