English branches”—algebra, plane geometry, English lit-
erature, history of the United States and either the French
or German language. About two to three years' study of
the latter would be required, and to this list will often be
added solid geometry, plane trigonometry, the elements of
physics or chemistry, and sometimes a year or two of Latin.
There seems to be a growing tendency towards the intro-
duction of a large number of electives among the subjects
required for admission.
It is hoped that a sufficient number of institutions have
been considered and that enough has been said of them to
exhibit in some degree the enormous educational advance
which has taken place during the past fifteen or twenty
years throughout the whole country, and especially in what
is known as the “middle west.” At no previous period in
the history of the world has there been so rapid and pro-
ductive an evolution of educational forces as this period has
witnessed, and it will not escape notice that it has largely
been a development of methods and appliances for the study
of science, pure and applied. No sketch of the origin,
growth and present condition of the schools of science and
engineering in the United States would be complete with-
out reference to the Johns Hopkins university, an institution
which, although giving little attention to applied science and
technology, has been a very large factor in determining
the character and methods of instruction to which these
schools owe their success. Although not yet twenty-five
years old, it is impossible to overestimate its influence
upon higher education in this country, and especially is
this true in all things relating to science. There is
scarcely a college faculty that has not been enriched by the
presence of one or more of its graduates, bringing with
them at least something of the spirit of that institution, its
respect for exact scholarship and regard for scientific truth.
For the schools of engineering and technology in the
United States are, and are intended to be, something more
than a mere avenue leading to increased money-making

power. They are intended to fit for the responsibilities of citizenship, and, if worthy of the name, their methods of instruction are such as to cultivate independence of thinking and personal responsibility in judgment. Nor are they deficient in that intellectual discipline and culture which constitute a liberal education. Although not specifically organized for original research, their methods of work naturally lead to and encourage it, and during the past quarter of a century they have contributed generously to the advancement of pure science, to which, however, they must always be in debt. As a whole, they represent one of the most important achievements of an age whose chief glory is found in the increase and diffusion of science and its applications.

EDITED BY NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER rilosophy and Education in Columbia University, New York

12

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION

BY

CHARLES W. DABNEY

President of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee

THIS MONOGRAPH IS CONTRIBUTED TO THE UNITED STATES EDUCATIONAL EXHIBIT BY THE

STATE OF NEW YORK

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION

The earliest farmers in America had to contend with innumerable and great obstacles; with the wildness of nature, the attacks of Indians and wild beasts upon their stock, the difficulty of obtaining farming implements and seeds, and with conditions of climate and soil, very different from those of the old countries whence they derived all their methods. The colonial farmer was compelled to use the crudest methods. He cut down, heaped and burned the small trees and undergrowth, and belted the large ones. He scratched the surface a little with a home-made plow, and cultivated his corn and tobacco with a wooden hoe. He harvested the crop that nature gave him in a careless manner and used it wastefully. He cultivated the same field until it was worn out, when he cleared another and moved his family near to it. So long as land was so abundant, no attention was paid to the conservation of fertility of the soil. America was such a vast and fertile country that it took the people over a century to find out that there was any limit to its productiveness. These conditions were quite sufficient to explain the slow progress made in agriculture during the first century or more after the settlement of America.

It was not until the close of the eighteenth century that the attention of practical men commenced to be directed to the discoveries of science, and hopes were excited that

immediate benefits would accrue from them to agriculture

as they had to the other arts. Lavoisier's discoveries and teachings had aroused the hope that chemistry could do a great deal to promote the advancement of farming. Americans commenced to appreciate their disadvantages as compared with British and continental farmers, and to seek better implements and methods for their work. The newly

i