The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-03

States in the United States which have. as part of their educational system. branch agricultural sehools and experimental stations for each Virginia was established in 1908; the school in Maryland and the eleven schools in Georgia in 1906: the school I in Texas in 1901; In Alabama in 1889. Alabama then Is the pioneer In sec ondary agricultural education in the United States. hsve the honor to be the executive officer of the drst this country. My report to the onice of Experiment Station Of the United States Department of Agriculture, which will be published in the next Year Book" will give an historical and statistical report of these nine schools. The schools located one in each district. have plants aggregating In value .. quarter of a million dol- lars. with approximately $50 acres of land. Since their organization, the schools have graduated 6ol students. The enrolment for the past year was nearly 1.50o students and the graduates for the year. eighty-six.
 Have Been Benencial.
 These schools have accomplished re- suits beneficial beyond question to agriculture. There are many critics
 
 havt not filled their special mission in our educational system, but 1t must be borne in mind that the colleges have been in operation but little more than hfty years. and the secondary sch ools but a score of years. They have sent forth men and women into the various spheres ot life. into the industries as educated workers. as business and pro. fessional men, and they have wrought worthily for the State. The experi- ment stations have practically illus trated the benefits to flow from inteili- gent scientific agriculture, in the vari- ous seed and fertilizer tests, in the rotation of crops. in seed breeding and In exhibiting the adaptation of the va- rious types of soil to the production of various crops. They have shown There was a time when cotton was King, an absolute monarch. Cotton Is still a monarch, but with limited power, It was our own Grady who cried out, Great is King Cotton, but to lie at his feet while the usurer and the grain dealer bind us Into subjection. is to Invite the reproach of man and the contempt of God: but to rise up in the midst of our farms and through diver sified agriculture. wrest from him the great charter of our independence. is to enrich us and honor Him."
 These schools turn out young men well grounded in the underlying prin- ciples of scientific and practical agri- culture, that they may make successful planters and advance the farming in- terests of the State. They give such and training as well fix upon the minds of fhe young men high ideals of practical country life education. They educate and fully equip young men and women for efficient teaching in the pub lie schools of the State. They prepare those who desire. to enter the agricult- ura1 colleges and other higher institu- tions of the State. They give to all thorough practical education and instiii within them broad and correct idea of true American citizenship.
 In Alabama, the appropriation for these schools was practically doubled In 1907 Governor Conner. in his mes sage to the General Assembly. said:
 "The nine agricultural schools. arc