UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Agricultural ExperimentStation College of agriculture e. j. wickson, acting director BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA CIRCULAR No. 21 (July, 1906.) THE ADVANCEMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. BY E. J. WICKSON. It gives me pleasure to comply with your request to address you ou the subject which I have chosen for this evening because the order, Patrons of Husbandry, has been, ever since its organization, more than a third of a century ago, most earnest in its advocacy and most effective in its promotion of Agricultural Education, and much of the great attainment of the present time is due to the systematic and energetic work of the Grange. It is a very interesting fact that there never was such a wide demand for agricultural education, research and experiment as there is at the present time and never such a general disposition among civilized nations to generously provide for them. The United States as a nation is a leader in thise movement, and in the volume of appro- priations for these purposes, because not only the general government but all the states are generous toward them. In our own state until recently the greater emphasis was laid upon research and this seemed fitting in a state where natural conditions are so different from those in other climates and so little understood by people coming chiefly from the humid regions of the world. All this work has laid a broad foundation for present and future achievements in California agricul- ture. During the last few years, however, there has arisen a sharp demand that the agricultural work of the University be extended and broadened. Provision which has been made for more adequate outfit and equipment, with which the University could extend and improve its instruction in agricultural practice, has commended itself to all classes of our population and at the same time has given California a place among other enterprising states which are doing notable things in the same line. * An address at a meeting of Oakland Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, in Oak- land, July 7, 1906. What the States Are Doing.— The total value of additions to equip- ment of the land-grant colleges of the United States during the year ending' .Tune 30, 1905, was $3,501,513. The total number of these insti- tutions is sixty-five, and their average addition to equipment was, therefore, a trifle less than $54,000. California's addition during that year was $389,874.77, or about seven times the average. The appropri- ation for the University Farm and for the Southern California Experi- ment Station and Pathological Laboratory enabled California to set the pace in state provision for our class of institutions. This is the first time California has done so much for distinctively agricultural equipment. Increased Interest in Agricultural Education. — The generosity of the several states toward agricultural education, in adding three and one-half millions to the value of equipment of agricultural colleges, has been brought about by a number of influences affecting the public mind. First, perhaps, is the general respect which the nation has for its agricultural industry as progressive, confident and capable of great achievement. The farm products of the United States in 1904 reached the grand value of five billions of dollars. Secretary Wilson says the farm products for two years are greater in value than all the gold mined in the world since Columbus discovered America and the products for 1904 alone are three and one-half times the value of all the coal, iron, gold, silver and other mineral products of the country. The second reason for the increased interest in agricultural educa- tion is found in the recognition of agriculture as an art which can be improved, advanced and made more profitable by the immediate appli- cation of new truth about natural materials and growth-processes, as disclosed by^ scientific research. Almost all practices in all branches of agriculture are being rapidly changed and improved and made surer of desirable results. This is the contribution of the agricultural experiment stations which are now clearly exerting a strong influence upon farm policy and operation, upon capital seeking loans, invest- ments or trade, and upon the alert public mind which may have no direct interest either in farm operation or investment, but which is keen to perceive and eager to contemplate whatever is uplifting in its tendencies and effective in advancing national prosperity. The third agency for popularization of agricultural education is the resultant of the two foregoing forces, viz : hunger of publishers of both popular and technical literature to put into print accounts of all kinds of agricultural science and practice and to exalt them in the eyes of all patrons of the press. This a thing altogether new in the history of literature. Increasing Number of Agricultural Pupils. — Naturally while the public mind is being stirred by such potent influences its attitude toward the desirability of agricultural education changes rapidly and the application for it, as a thing worth having, increases. It is very fortunate that, as this new demand arises, the agricultural education which is now available is incomparably better in every way than that of a quarter of a century ago: yes, vastly better than it was even a decade ago. For this reason the new thousands of pnpils, in the agri- cultural colleges, are being served and stimulated, helped and satisfied as was never possible before. This is a great delight to the agricul- tural teacher and encourages him to put forth aggressive effort to still farther increase his roll of pupils, because he feels that he has some- thing which will not only make them better men and women but more successful producers. This is the real reason why the agricul- tural colleges and schools are now so confident, earnest and active in their propaganda. The general interest in agriculture, as indicated above, makes it easy to secure pupils, in fact they are seeking out the way for themselves. The following; shows the rate at which attend- ance at land-grant colleges is growing : PUPILS IN LAND-GRANT COLLEGES. 1901 42,000 1902 46,699 1903 52,489 1904 56,226 1905 53,518 This indicates an average gain in pupils of about 3,000 per year for the whole group of sixty-five institutions or an average annual increase of forty-five for each one of them. The University of Cali- fornia is one of a group which has far more than its average share of increase and in this gain the College of Agriculture has secured much more than its proportion ; in fact this gain of the College of Agriculture has been continuous and last year's attendance of regular students was four times as large as in 1900 and eight times as large as in 1895. The actual record is as follows : 1895, 17 ; 1896, 15 ; 1897, 21; 1898, 32; 1899, 21; 1900, 31; 1901, 42; 1902, 61; 1903, 91; 1904, 102: 1905, 106; 1906, 123. Of course the teaching of 123 pupils distinctively enrolled in the College of Agriculture constitutes only a part of our work because the University has an elective system which enables students in other colleges of the University to elect our courses as a part of the work toward their degrees. Concerning this phase of our work President Wheeler in his last published report, 1902-04, says : In comparing the progress made by the different departments in the past two years it appears that the department of Agriculture has made the most significant development. The number of regular students of agriculture in 1903-04 repre- sents a gain of 75% over 1901-02. For the same period the units of registration in Agriculture increased from 1,584 to 2,519, i.e., 65%, the greatest gain of any department. It must be remembered that the number of students from other colleges taking courses in Agriculture far exceeds the number in the College of Agriculture itself. During the past year the total number of students in agricul- tural classes, including the short courses, was 415, of whom 278, or 67%, were from other colleges than that of Agriculture, i.e., students not taking the full agricultural course. During the last half-year we had 123 distinctively agricultural pupils, but a total enrollment of pupils in agricultural subjects of 735. Counting only once those who register in several classes, the agricul- tural enrollment during the last half-year comprised 380 different indi- viduals — not counting pupils in the short courses. Our agricultural classrooms and laboratories at Berkeley are crowded almost to suffocation and seats are often placed in adjacent hallways within reach of the voice of the lecturers. Such a demand is inspiring our instructors to all kinds of over-exertion, for the popu- larity of the work is very pleasing. Isolation of Agricultural Instruction not Desirable. — In view of the thronging of pupils to agricultural colleges, and notably to those offering the broadest and most advanced courses, it becomes apparent that it has always been a mistake to insist that to promote instruction in agriculture the agricultural students should be isolated from stu- dents in other branches of learning. Such a claim arose from several facts which have been displaced by other facts and from several notions which were either always wrong or have become wrong through the disappearance of the facts upon which they were based. At first students in agriculture were few ; it could hardly be otherwise with an undertaking which was new and, therefore, narrowly understood and widely distrusted. A common explanation of the fewness was that students in agriculture were seriously maligned and ridiculed, which was never true, but the farmer had not yet found himself in the mod- ern scheme of human vocations and was disposed to think that he was low in the scale and his son must, of course, be discounted by his fellow students who were largely from what are called the professional classes. Those who cherished this view did not appreciate the demo- cratic spirit of students, which almost invariably ranks a man for what he is and for whatever warranted aspiration he cherishes. The ridicule of agricultural students which outsiders found in the use of such terms as "cow college men," etc., never existed. The terms are no worse, and no better, than the epithets which all groups of students apply to each other, all of which are sportive and convey no reflection whatever of social or intellectual rank. In the University of California agricultural students have in the past filled, and do at the present occupy, the highest places which the students create for their leaders, and are never discounted by their agricultural connection. The Uni- versity spirit is hostile to class distinctions : it is in fact apt to be ultra democratic. The alleged social reason for isolation of agricultural students has, therefore, no existence : even if it did exist the way to overcome it would not be through rereat, but through contact and conflict. The farmer would never attain his proper social recognition by separating himself from men of other callings and thus conceding them some superiority, but rather by demonstrating his character and quality by association and competition, nor can his son advance by isolation. Another notion which is clearly a misconception, is that by isola- tion and removal from temptation to other pursuits, young men can be bound down to agriculture. It is not true. The American young- man must see that the oportunity in agriculture is great or he will quickly leap any boundary which can be set up for his confinement to it. The fact that in some of the leading separate colleges of agricul- ture and mechanic arts not more than one-fifth of the pupils choose the agricultural course and the other fact that these institutions are extending their curricula by addition of classical, literary and other subjects, prove that the isolation of the subject of agriculture is no more desirable than the isolation of the students of agriculture. Specialization- Bather than Isolation. — Recent experience clearly shows that what is needed in agricultural education is not isolation but opportunity for specialization ; and specialization means the extension and improvement of instruction and equipment befitting the nature of agriculture, so that the student may fully occupy his time with the closely related parts of his chosen special subject. This is true, to a greater or less degree, of all undertakings in agricultural instruction which are of University grade; in courses either long or short, and either in the science or technology of agriculture. Opportunity for specialization, in the modern educational use of the word, certainly exists only in institutions which are broadest in instruction and richest in facilities for demonstration, in laboratories and libraries, museum collections, etc., as well as farm outfits, growing crops, animals and the preparation of their products, etc. All these things are so closely knit together both in science and technology that specialization is really a much broader affair than was formerly conceived of: we now look upon it as in a sense inclusive while but recently its chief merit seemed to be exclusiveness, and its essence lies in proper correlation of subjects rather than in numerical reduction of them. Agricultural education is in fact approaching, more and more nearly, the actual nature of the industry which it both leads and serves. For these reasons agriculture can only be adequately served in a broadly equipped institution like a University and, therefore, some separate colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts are trying to constitute them- selves universities as rapidly as their resources enable them to do so. The conclusion must be, then, that the agricultural student, in courses which rise above handicraft, must for the sake of his culture, work where all underlying sciences and related technics are open to him, and, for the sake of his manhood and citizenship, must be developed and dignified by contact with those who are studying for other voca- tions. This is not merely a theoretical view. The multitude of pupils in our State Universities who are now choosing agricultural subjects shows that I am not undertaking to spin a theory, but to account for an actual fact in the present advancement of agriculture. Pressing Needs. — Twenty years ago and even less, the greatest need of the land-grant colleges, as a whole, was pupils ; now the ques- tion is how can the pupils be adequately handled. The pressing needs are teachers and equipment. Young men and women are being taken right from the commencement stage to fill positions in research and instruction which should be occupied by persons of longer training and wider experience. This condition of affairs will, of course, correct itself, for the supply is coming on from the enlarged numbers now in training; it cannot be cured by any popular interest and generosity. The other need, that of adequate accommodation and equipment, is, as I have already indicated, being liberally provided for and the justice of its claim widely recognized. The situation and outlook are, therefore, on the whole very encouraging. If those entrusted with instruction do their work well and make good use of their facilities there can be no question of future favor, support and continually improved equipment. The University Farm. — A very clear indication of the attitude of the public mind in this state toward agricultural education is seen in the provision of $150,000 made by the last legislature for the purchase and equipment of a University Farm. It is the most important single contribution which the State has ever made to the development of agricultural education. It will supplement all that has been accom- plished on the scientific side by furnishing splendid opportunity for instruction in farm policy and practice which have not been adequately provided for hitherto. In the future the University students in the agricultural course will be brought face to face with the practical problems of production, and instruction therein will be given con- creteness and directness. There will also be the fullest attention paid to the short courses in the various branches of farming which will enable both old and young to devote themselves for a few weeks or months to studies of the best and most profitable ways to handle plants and animals and to satisfy themselves that these advanced ways are best because they embody the latest science involved in each operation and because the quality and market value of the product demonstrate its economic superiority. The instruction on the farm will neither duplicate the instruction or the equipment at Berkeley. At Berkeley the work will be chiefly analytical — the taking of things to pieces to learn the character and relations of the parts. At the farm the work will be, in a sense, chiefly synthetical — the connection of the parts, the building up of the highest orders of finished products. It is an impor- tant fact that this synthetic process, this selection of the best factors of a result and rejection of all that tends toward inferiority, involves at the same time the highest and the lowest forms of agricultural instruction and the same illustrative and demonstrative outfit is required for both purposes. The short course man receives didactic lessons and demonstrations which he may imitate ; the long course man takes his lessons in a suggestive way and sees in the demonstrations the application of his previous theoretical training. In both cases the instruction is practical and each takes from it according to his needs. The splendid animal stands forth to one student as the embodiment of the principles of breeding and all the practical value that breeding science signifies; to another student he is mainly a model of form as exhibiting feeding or dairy quality to be rendered practically useful mainly through imitation. The same is true of trees, vines, field crops. buildings and other items of the University Farm equipment. Tt will all serve for instruction in the highest lines of agricultural technology and for the plainest lessons in the best way to do things under Cali- fornia conditions. In this way the University Farm will serve all classes of students, both young- and old, and will afford each, according to his needs, instruction which no other State institution provides. It will not duplicate, nor be a substitute for, high school or college, but will be supplementary to all institutions which undertake to associate agriculture in any form with other educational subjects. There is a grand opportunity in California to equip and use the University Farm along synthetic lines both in the nature of its instruction and in its relations to other institutions of the State. The Kearney Bequest. — The princely bequest of the late M. Theo- dore Kearney of Fresno, providing an endowment, which may have a value of something like a million dollars, for the establishment and maintenance of agricultural instruction and research in the San Joaquin Valley, gives striking* emphasis to the biblical declaration that to him who hath shall be given. California by a third of a century of fitting generosity toward agriculture, culminating in the provision of the University Farm, has demonstrated the possession of a public sentiment which leads patriotic citizens to assist the State toward the more speedy attainment of that which is recognized as the most potent agency for the promotion of prosperity and success among our citizens during the coming generations. It is not the having but the conceded right to have, which wins the gifts ; in this case it is the spirit which multiplies the gold, not the mere tendency of the gold to congregate. It is bright, untarnished gold which accumulates in this way, and its future accomplishments will be blessed. It is too soon to undertake any outline of what should be done with this new endowment when it becomes available. That will require careful consideration in con- nection with the informal wishes of the donor. It is sufficient at the moment to say that ample opportunity exists for its wise and effective use for the promotion of the industry to which the donor enthusias- tically gave his most diligent efforts and succeeded so well. There is no present danger of too much money being available for research and instruction in agriculture in such a State as California, where popula- tion may be multiplied ten or twenty fold without approaching density and whose capacity and variety of production is hardly yet descried. The great San Joaquin Valley, where Kearney was a pioneer in under- takings which have commanded the attention of the world and in the development of products which have reversed the old courses of the world's commerce, has hardly entered upon the greatness of her future. In that future there will be the fullest scope for the wisest employment of the best agencies for agricultural education and research which his devoted gift can create and maintain. University Extension Work in Agriculture. — But all this activity at established seats of learning, old and new, is only a portion of their effective work. The University of California, like other institutions, is pursuing extension efforts with notable results. Extension work, 8 with its Farmers' Institutes, Short Courses and Reading Courses, is regarded, by those familiar with it, as one of the greatest awakening agencies which has thus far been invoked for agricultural advance- ment and enlightenment. It has an inward movement, improving agri- culture by direct dissemination of knowledge of great practical impor- tance and by suggestion of how to observe to attain truth from one's own experiences. It has a strong outward movement toward securing for agriculture the manifold advantage of the introduction of the elements of sciences underlying agriculture into the curricula of rural schools. University Extension in Agriculture is the great promotive propaganda for the development of the industry and for awakening of all interested in it to the feasibility and importance of education not only for the farm but towards the farm. It is a most valuable method of bringing to thousands some knowledge of scientific research and of advanced practice which never would have been available to them in more systematic and protracted courses. The University at Large in the State. — The activities of the Uni- versity of California are widely distributed throughout the State and the newer acquisitions of the agricultural department of the Univer- sity will enable it to administer more intelligently to local needs. Not less significant than those outposts which have been discussed, is the provision made by the last legislature for Southern California by the establishment of a branch experiment station at Riverside and a labor- atory of plant diseases at Whittier. These important undertakings are now being planned and equipped for active work. The University of California is, and should be, at home everywhere in the State. It should not be centralized. It should do everything it can do for the people in the place where each thing can be best done and thus demon- strate its appreciation of the generous support which it receives from the State.