Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1907-12-05
AGRICULTURAL OPPORTUNITIES.

University VI WISCONSIN,
1t is my opinion that of all the
courses offered in the University of
Wisconsin those in agriculture are the
surest to afford an easy and profitable
Nopening. We are now rapidly passing
to a stage of development in which
agriculture will be generally recog-
noized as a profession. At the pres
ent time, to obtain the largest re-
turns from farm one must know the
fundamental principles of physics,
chemistry and biology and their APP
pIications to the extraordinarily COM
pick problems of the soil, of useful
plants and of domestic animals. In
the future the superintendent Of
large estates will be graduates Of ag-
ricultural colleges.
We are now in the midst of great
wave of consolidation which has at
last reached the farm. Already there
are many extensive estates and the
number is rapidly increasing. There
is a demand at the present time for
men with thorough training in agri-
culture and with training in business
to take the position of superintend-
ents of these estates at salaries COM
mensurate with those received for
high-grade professional work in other
lines. The demand far exceeds the
supply and will do so for many years.
1t follows that any capable young man
who has had a four years course in
agriculture and wishes to take the SUI
perintendency of an estate has this
sure opportunity before hin.
The demand also for trained men
to head diaries, cheese factories and
farms of moderate size is such that
all the good students who take mere
ly the short course in agriculture are
sure of places. The new directory of
the short course shows that 80 per
cent of the graduates are engaged in
different phases Of agricultural actlv-
ity, and that a relatively large per-
centage of this number are on large
farms and in the more important
kinds of farming, such as dalrylng,
growing pure seeds and breeding high
grade stock.
The pleasantness and healthfulness
of the life of the scientific farmer
should be emphasized. The work of
the superintendent of the farm in
wolves a life very largely out of doors.
With the introduction of rapid tran
sit, the telephone and rural delivery
many of the advantages formerly
available only in cities and towns are
now shared by the farmer. The man
agement of a large estate furnishes
opportunities for the exercise of high
intellectual ability. Thus, the super
intendent of farm may look forward
from the outset to a pleasant, whole
some, profitable and useful life.
If one has a desire for a scholarly
career as professor or investigator he
can find no field in which the supply
of men is so deficient as in agricul-
ture. Indeed, the demand is so great
that men of an academic temper who
take the four years course readily
find positions as instructors in col
leges or on the staffs of the expert
ment stations Students in the gradu-
ate course in agriculture are few, be-
cause openings are so numerous that
graduates fill good positions before
they have had time to attain the mas
ter's or doctors degree.
The expansion of both Institutional
and experimental work in agriculture,
with the increase of the faculties of
agricultural colleges and extension of
the scope of the experiment stations,
has been much accelerated by the
passage in the last two sessions of
congress of the Adams act and the
Nelson act. The first makes provi-
sion for additional funds for investi-
cation, the second for instruction.
The agricultural department at Wash
ington is demanding the service of an
increasing force, the the county
schools of agriculture are increasing
in numbers. Here is educational OBJ
portunity for the short course student.
UneXampled opportunities are now
before those who choose this career.
This ought to attract many students
to agriculture at time when some
of the older professions are over
crowded The opening should be
seized eagerly by rapidly increasing
number of young men. If the oppor-
tunities for a career in agriculture
were fully appreciated I am sure
many young men now considering
other callingS would turn TO this most
fundamental of all vocations, which in
our day, by becoming scientific, has
become dignified and influential pro.
fession.