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'"•;..:'-,.:■■ VOL. XIX FER ■2S- INDIANAPOLIS, IND., SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 1884. NO. 9. THB AaBIOULTUR-^'OOIJ^E&E. Its Mission and Needs. wper iwd before tbe State Board ot .Agriculture ..lu January meeting, by Prof. W. C. Latta, of _*ur- due University.] Tlio purpose of tbo national eiluoatlonal u„,l gnat act of 1882 was to establish ,ii*l maintain, in each State, "at least one .ullego whero the leading object shall be, ultliout excluding other scientific and ,-iii-alcal studies, and including military its-tin*, to teach such branches o .learning ,i<are related to agriculture and'theme- , lianic arts." ■ I. Mlaalou of the Asrleul-unil ColI«-_re. It is evident from the wording of this __t that our national law-makers intended io found colleges whose leading object -liouUl bu to promote the manual Industrie), aud this was to be accomplished through tlie education afforded. We shall l.u.iles- all agree that the men who ;.._Mod this law had a dear conception of fbe true purpose or mission of the agricultural ..liege, but with reference to.the :neaus of accoinplishiug this desirable end, tli.re will be, as there always has been, .vule divergence of opinion. Of the forty r more colleges pro tiling by this national ..[i|.ropiiatiou, no twoajre.-e__ftotly.aHke'; 1:1.1 probably not one of the entiro number s fully currying out the provisions of the ... of .SB., lt is not to be inferred from liia that these colleges have failed—far rom it. They perhaps have done all that nas possible under the circumstances; but tmust bo admitted that they have not mil that measure of success which they [.serve. . '■ fHaTACUiS TO AOIUCnl.TUBAI> KDUCATIOK. The fuller our knowledge of the difficul- les that beset the agricultural colleges, he bettor able shall we be to devise means or making these colleges more successful u the future. Let us therefore brietlv onsider some of the obstacles that impede ho progress of agricultural education. 1. lhe organic law:—One of the hln- Inuices is to be found in the law already .(erred to, which provides for classical md military, as well as scientific and in- 'astrial training. This embraces more liaa can be accomplished in a four.years ourse of study. Something must be mined. Tbe sciences cannot be left out muse of their intimate relation to In- iiutrial pursuits. There must be a good mctical ti-aining in English. The techni- •u instruction must of course have a place a any industrial education. Hence it folio «ihat the dead languages are practically ■«luUed, not as undesirable, but because a™ is no room for them in a course of 'My embracing but four years. - Associating industrial with __ou-in- ''jainal colleges:—The cause of industrial ■miration has been further impeded hy -«*iating agricultural and mechanical 5»eges ivitti classical and non-industrial •isiuuiions. As a rule, whioh has no ex ■Ptions as far as I know.the result of such • .iR-ination has been unfavorable to in- vrf ■ •,ducatl<"»- Where students have -If * Beof choosing between indus- .',,' ?ud. non-industrial ooursos In the ,rrn«.'Uullou'the number entering the lore si,1,! Pitiru"y small. Very many ni\l i eucs are tound 'n those agricuit tPtt.,.- n)echanical colleges which have ''titution a'00t tl0m olhel educational xes'Ieafer «luiP'ientof industrial col- min^ ot.her hindrance is the meager Wmeniof these c0_ieges. They neees- :.Di"ra*rr,lllr.8 ex'eusive and expensive fobW arUd >Ineans of "lustration, as the :oastr.,- *. e •''assrooni must be de- ii^ft the laboratory, the field, :'*--i,..>,',. ". national endowment is '■*'•« aidIn", ^U8t be supplemented by wiabli. '*>, State appropriations • are '-•a- with,*amouilt appropriated fluctu- Io«than.i7e temper of the legislature. r«iult *.,,„ a"ey are uncertain; and, as l'sou,e of these colleges have been kept in suspense—hanging in the balance, as it were,—for weeks and months, with about an equal prospect of life and death. ' 4. Not generally demanded j—The most serious obstacle to the success of the agricultural colleges has been, and still is, the lack of demand for industrial education. Especially is this true of agricultural education. The farmers do not generally manifest a desire for It. AQRICUIsTVRAls BDPCATION NOT TOPUtsAR.— WHY? The agricultural colleges were designed largely, if not chiefly, to benefit agriculture. Why are they not more generally patronized by farming classes? There are several reasons. 1. Agricultural colleges not known:— These colleges are not generally known In farming communities. There are hundreds and thousands of farmers in this country who have never heard of the agricultural colleges. 2. Agricultural education yet In its Infancy:—These colleges of agriculture are still young—something new, an Innovation. • To some people the most convincing proof of the merit or success of anything is that it is old. Men of this class have great veneration for wrinkles and gray hair, and apparently forget that we cannot measure a life by its summers and winters. No more can we measure the usefulness of a college by the years it has numbered. 3. The farmer does not need an education^:—There is a.very. general impression among farmers that a man does not need an education to farm. This impression frequently crystallizes in words like the following: "If a young man is going, to be a lawyer or doctor or preacher, an education is'all well enough; but if he expects to be farmer what's the use of going to school?" Let me bring this point home to you my fellow farmers. How many of y6u are educating your sons for the farm? 4. Prevalent system of education anti- Industrial:—Our present educational system, throughout the country, is anti-industrial, in spirit and influence. From the common school to the university, this system is permeated and saturated with illustrations and ideals that are so many incentives to lead the student away from tbe industrial callings. Our oommon school readers, and common school teach.- ers, are to-day so bending the twigs as to Incline the tree of knowledge unfavorably to agriculture. I do not mean by this that our schools and colleges are avowedly hostile to industrial training. I only wish to emphasize the fact that they do not foster a taste for industrial work. I believe our present educational system is responsible, to a large extent, for the sentiment, almost universal among the laboring classes, that the purpose of an education is to lift one above the necessity of manual toil. The same sentiment is not uncommon in the higher ranks of society, and is pretty generally accepted by farmers. Is it not easy to see that the agricultural colleges, can make but slow headway against an opposing tide of public sentiment? 6. The city exerts an opposing Influence: —The attractions of city life oppose the growth of agricultural education by creating a demand for an education radically different from that aflorded by the industrial college. 6. Influence of the newspapers unfavorable:—The newspapers are exerting—no doubt unintentionally—an Influence away from the rural pursuits. They so portray the doings of the outside world as to make the quiet life of the oountry seem dull and uneventful. And, In so doing, they help to make unpopular an education that specially fits its possessor to live in the country. 7. The railroad an opposing factor:— There Is an attraction for us aU ln a moving train of cars; and to no one is this attraction stronger than to the oountry youth to whom the passing train is the event of the day. Our farmer boys watch the living train and in fancy they follow it through forest and dale to the busy mart; thev pursue it across tha prairie and over the mountains, to the sea. The railroad excites a desire to see the outside world and renders possible a trip to far off countries. T'ls true the larmer boy's life is a little larger for the railroad, but it is also more restless. To whatever extent our farmers' sons have their love of excitement aroused by the rush and glitter of the railway train, to the same extent will the quiet life on the farm seem to them humdrum and tiresome, and a farmer's education the thing to be avoided. 8. Agricultural education misunderstood:—The last reason, that I shall name, why this new education is not more general, is popular misapprehension of the true character and purpose of the agricultural college. Tn the minds of some it is little more than a farm, and should therefore be self-supporting. Hence as these colleges are not self-supporting they are a failure. Need T reply io this that all education costs money, and that, as a rule, tbe better the education the more it will oost? Others have the mistaken notion that the chief work of the agricultural college is to give manual training in the art, the practice of agriculture; to teach the boys how to plow and sow and reap. Men of this class will say: "Our boys know how to do farm work now; why send them to college to learn what they already know?" This reasoning is good enough, but it is based on a false- assumption. These coif- leges do not aim to teach the "how," so much as tbe "why." If the student is made to clearly understand the objects to be secured by plowing,and the importance Of thorough work; if he is made familiar with the mechanical principles Involved in the construction and working of the plow, he will readily learn how to adjust aud use tho tool to accomplish the desired purpose. While tlie training of tho hand is not lost sight of, the aim is rather to train the head, which is to guide the hand. Instead of sending out "crack" plowmen, "boss" teamsters, and "champion" wheat stackers, the agricultural college aims to so ti'ain its men as to fit them—except in the matter of experience—to take charge of the farm, either as manager or foreman, and wisely conduct its many operations. Another "misapprehension is that these colleges are mere special schools of agriculture, designed to turn young men into farmers as uniformly as the miller turns his wheat into Hour. The agricultural college is not a special school. Almost without exception these colleges have full four-year courses of study, the aim being to impart a broad, a liberal education, if you please, which shall at the same time, be a thoroughly practical one. Some of the graduates of these colleges, having special taste for, and brighter prospects in other pursuits, do not engage in farming. Is this to be greatly wondered at, and shall we annihilate the agricultural colleges because a good many of their graduates do not become farmers? I will answer one question by asking another. Shall we condemn the law and medical schools because not fifty per cent of their graduates enter these professions? Shall we close the doors of our normal schools because a large majority of normal graduates do not follow teaching as a life work? Shall we suspend the commercial schools because every other one of their graduates fails to engage iu commercial work? We only asli the same clemency for the agricultural college that is exercised toward the other institutions named, as the former will compare favorably with any of the others as to the percentage of its graduates in pursuits for which they were trained. GRADUATES ON THE FABSI. • These colleges of agriculture are sending twenty-five to seventy-five per cent of their graduates into agriculture and allied industries. And this result is attained notwithstanding several unfavorable conditions, two only of which I will mention. 1. Ad verse criticism:—The first is the unfavorable criticism that greets the ear of the graduate who returns to the farm. His neighbors will tell him that he will bury himself, throw away his education by settling on the farm, and that he ought to do something better. It takes a good deal of moral courage ln a young man to stick to the farm nndersuch circumstances, and, unless he has an innate love for agriculture that nothing can quench, ha will be strongly tempted to sell the farm and engage in other business. 2. Want of capital:—The second un- v fttvorable condition applies to the poor, ' the moneyless, young graduate. lie would like to engage in farming at once, ■ but he has no farm and no money to buy one. It would be mere folly for him to - work on the farm as a oommon hand when he can earn inoney much more rapidly in other work. He therefore engages in teaching, joins a surveying party, or obtains a position iu some commercial or manufacturing establishment. "'- Ho expects to follow farming however, when he accumulates sufficient capital. ''.*• Should the agricultural college be criticised because this young man does not at once return to tho farm? Again, suppose that after years of earnest effort, the young man accumulates the desired capl- - tal in his temporary calling. Meanwhile the lines of business bave been drawn about him, his habits have become fixed, v. and he finds himself adjusted to his present surroundings. Should we censure tne young man, or bis alma mater, if, with . an era of prosperity dawning before him, . he forgets his "first love" and never returns to the farm? If the graduates of ' these agricultural colleges, after one year's trial, could step into fairly remunerative positions as foremen or assistant farm ' managers the percentage of such gradu^ ates returning directly to the farm would be greatly increased. But there is not, at present, a demand among farmers for this kind of help, and therefore we must expect that many of these graduates, froin sheer necessity, will temporarily engage . in other pursuits. ■■ ; [CONC-.UDKD NJ.XT WKKK.] \" Letter from Kansas. J-dltora Indiana Farmer: I left Boone county, Indiana, two weeks ago to-day. There was good sleighing, there. The snow extended as far as Kansas City. The streets there were flowing with mud. ■ Passed through the most of' this State iu the night. Arrived here the 31st of January. The ground was dry and some were plowing. The weather was as warm as it is in April in Indiana. It clouded up the 4th of February, and has been cloudy with light rains ever since. To-day has been ;damp and misty, the moisture freezing as it falls. The trees are covered with ice. Since I have l>eeii here the wind has not been higher than I would have recorded iu Indiana. The natural roads aro as good as they ever get In Indiana in a dry season. Two small horses haul 50 bushels of shelled corn at a load with ease on the dirt roads. There is an immense crop of corn here, and of the best quality. Many of the farmers throw, their corn in large heaps on the ground without protection of any kind. It is worth 31 cents per bushel. There is no , scarcity of Beed corn here. D. M. A. Cowley Co., Kansas, Feb. 11. « i . Northern Alabama. Kdltors Indiana Farmer: .-., I see in your paper some inquiries about Northern Alabama. I have just returned from a trip to Huntsville. N. H. B., of Splceland, said through your paper that the soil near Huntsville was exhausted.. Now, Mr. Editor, I have farmed for over 30 years, and I think the soil ls richer - around Huntsville than it is ln Indiana. The largest cornstalks that ever I saw were on the farm of Elias Donegan, a colored farmer two miles from Huntsville. His wheat averaged 25 bushels to the acre.' Oats grow there five to six feet high and., make from CO to 70 bushels to the acre. Orchard grass, clover and timothy grow larger than in Indiana. I saw orchard grass boot top high .the middle of January and green as in midsummer. It is the country for stock raising. They can be grazed the year round. Taking the cheapness of land into consideration and the fertility of the soil, the farmer that cannot do well there had better throw up tho sponge. - Logansport. - _ L; H, B,
Object Description
Title | Indiana farmer, 1884, v. 19, no. 09 (Mar. 1) |
Purdue Identification Number | INFA1909 |
Date of Original | 1884 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | United States - Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or not-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Date Digitized | 2010-11-10 |
Digitization Information | Original scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or non-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Digitization Information | Orignal scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Transcript |
'"•;..:'-,.:■■
VOL. XIX
FER
■2S-
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 1884.
NO. 9.
THB AaBIOULTUR-^'OOIJ^E&E.
Its Mission and Needs.
wper iwd before tbe State Board ot .Agriculture
..lu January meeting, by Prof. W. C. Latta, of _*ur-
due University.]
Tlio purpose of tbo national eiluoatlonal
u„,l gnat act of 1882 was to establish
,ii*l maintain, in each State, "at least one
.ullego whero the leading object shall be,
ultliout excluding other scientific and
,-iii-alcal studies, and including military
its-tin*, to teach such branches o .learning
,i |
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