Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 200, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 August 1911 — The Farmer and Agricultural Education [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Farmer and Agricultural Education

By Pref. J. H. SKINNER

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While schools of agriculture were established in several states in the middle of the last century, the agricultural college originated with the Morrill act The Michigan Agricultural college graduated its first class in *«1. In the early days the college of agriculture had little equipment and few instructors and still fewer students. There was no science of agriculture taught from the standpoint of approved practice. Young men went to the agricultural college to study the best practice. The field was new and the methods of the farmer were those of the pioneer. From the limited class room and few instructors and the study of approved practice, we have gone to the laboratory, the science of agriculture, the extension department with its special train, demonstrations, and short courses for practical farmers and agriculture in the public schools for boys and girls. The modern agricultural,college is broad In its scope and purpose. There is no longer a serious attempt to teach the art of agriculture requiring years of experience to master the details necessary to success, but emphasis is placed upon the principles underlying successful practice as determined by careful experlmencal investigation. The antiquated general courses of 15 years ago have generally fallen by the wayside, while In their places are to be found courses so designed as to permit a wide choice of subjects on (specific lines, aimed directly at the technical needs of the individual. The best evidence of the value and success of modern agricultural education is found in the large number of agricultural college men who are actually succeeding on the farm. The graduates of the agricultural colleges are usually enthusiastic business men and much of their success and profit is a result of the improvement of the wasteful methods of the pioneer. In addition to the regular college work, provision is made for a class of students who, for one reason or another, cannot enter on a four-year course In scientific agriculture. This grade of Instruction must necessarily be of a more practical nature and deal with a few fundamental principles and successful practice. The short course for farmers and

their wives which have attracted thousands of men and women to these institutions tor one or two weeks* of serious study and discussion of the most advanced agricultural practice has Become so popular and the demand for it so widespread that this form of agricultural instruction in many states is being taken out through the extension short courses to the people on the farm. High-priced land, decreased crop yields on old agricultural lands, prevalence of crop pests, high price of grains and live stock, are conditions now confronting farmers, that are rapidly forcing them to see the importance of a thorough understanding of the principles underlying soil improvement, plant and animal growth and improvement by the application of business methods to farming. Thousands of farmers are beginning to appreciate and avail themselves of the information which the department of agriculture and experiment stations have beon accomulatlng for years. The college of agriculture and experiment station are looked upon as valuable sources of information at the free disposal of the farmers. In addition, this agricultural instruction is creating higher ideals of living in the country, dignifying agriculture and farming, increasing the efficiency of the man on the land as well as the productive power of the soil. It is driving away the old-time drudgery by developing men of breadth of thought, information and culture, who not only see great fundamental problems, but who are capable of analyzing them and with a knowledge and determination which will speedily solve these problems that are of the utmost importance and significance to a nation with a rapidly growing population and industrial develop ment. The farmers of the future must practice scientific methods. The average Indiana farm can easily be made to yield from 50 to 150 per cent more profit than is being made today. The young man who expects to follow farming cannot afford to go into it without an agricultural education. The farm offers one of the best opportunities that a young man can find in any business or profession.

Farmers Listening to Lecture and Demonstration on Vaccination of Hogs to Prevent Hog Cholera, at Purdue University.

Farmers Judging Corn at the Purdue Farmers' Short Course.