Oak Street 
 
 UNCLASSIFIED 
 
 <\i 
 
 TRAINING IN AGRICULTURE 
 
 Education for the Farmer as it is given at the New 
 Hampshire College of Agriculture and the 
 Mechanic Arts. A description of 
 what Agricultural Educa- 
 tion means and the practical and scientific studies 
 
 The aim of the agricultural courses 
 Aims and Scope the New Hampshire College of 
 of the Courses Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, 
 n Agricultu e is to help along the higher education 
 of the rural people and their eleva- 
 tion, in both a business and a social way. To this end it 
 is believed that every young farmer needs a double edu- 
 cation : one that is practical, to fit him for his profession ; 
 another that is cultural, to fit him to live. The first to 
 provide the most efficient methods for his support; and 
 the second to train and develop his mind for the best and 
 highest living. In every sense these courses of the col- 
 lege seek to provide an education which will best serve 
 the needs of a rural people living in a cultured nation, 
 and under a free government. 
 
 NEW HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE CIRCULAR, NO. 20, JULY, 3899. 
 Entered at the Durham Post-office as second-class mail matter. 
 
In order to meet the wants of every young man of the 
 state who desires instruction in agriculture, the college 
 offers four distinct courses : the four years’ course aims 
 to give a training that is thoroughly practical as well as 
 scientific in agriculture and its various branches, such 
 as dairying and horticulture. The strictly technical 
 portion constitutes about one third of the course. Of 
 the remaining two thirds of the course, more than one 
 half is prescribed in the sciences. This is done for the 
 training and information they give, and to fortify the 
 technical work of the course. Because of this, and 
 because the subject-matter and the methods of the tech- 
 nical portion lie so fully within the domain of science, 
 the course is essentially scientific rather than literary, 
 and it is believed the sciences afford a favorable field for 
 the development of the higher faculties of the mind. 
 Yet the college is mindful of the fundamental character 
 of history, literature, philosophy, and ethics, and politi- 
 cal science as training studies, and reasonable attention 
 to these subjects is required. 
 
 The two years’ course is designed to meet the needs 
 of those who are unable to take the longer course. It is 
 specially devoted to the study of practical agriculture 
 and horticulture and their various branches, and the 
 natural sciences which are so closely related to success- 
 ful farming. 
 
 The ten weeks’ winter course in agriculture is estab- 
 lished to meet the wants of those who can spend only the 
 winter term at the college. The important and practical 
 subjects of agriculture and horticulture receive principal 
 attention. 
 
 The ten weeks’ dairy course is a course in practical 
 butter-making, in accordance with the most approved 
 methods of the modern creamery. 
 
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 Instruction is by laboratory work, sup- 
 Methods of plemented by text-books, lectures, and 
 Instruction reference readings, which are almost con- 
 and stantly assigned from standard volumes 
 Equipment and periodicals. Laboratory methods of 
 study are peculiarly suited to the subjects 
 of these courses and the needs of the student, and a 
 liberal equipment is being provided for student use and 
 for purpose of illustration. 
 
 The equipment of the technical work of the course is 
 rapidly increasing. The department of agriculture has 
 fitted up laboratories for investigation in soil physics 
 and in the mechanical analysis of soils. The dairy 
 department is equipped with a modern creamery for 
 pasteurizing, separating, creaming and churning, and 
 for investigation in dairy bacteriology. 
 
 The college owns five Percheron horses, herds of 
 Jersey, Guernsey, and Ayrshire cattle, and grades of 
 several other breeds, and Berkshire and Chester White 
 swine, which are available for illustration and practice 
 in expert judging. 
 
 The department makes free use of the fields, orchards, 
 gardens, in which the Agricultural Experiment Station 
 conducts experiments in methods of culture, effects of 
 several practices upon yield and upon fertility, varieties 
 of fruit, vegetables, and forage crops. The methods 
 employed and the results obtained are freely used for 
 instruction. This is most readily accomplished, be- 
 cause the instructors are also in charge of the exper- 
 iments. 
 
 In work other than purely technical, the agricultural 
 student meets the same instructors and enjoys the same 
 privileges as other students of the college, and in all 
 departments the laboratory method is freely employed, 
 
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 CD 
 
in which the student uses apparatus with his own hands, 
 and consults the literature of the subject at every step. 
 
 The first term this year begins September 
 Terms and 1899, and closes December 20. The 
 Vacation second term begins January 11, 1900, and 
 and closes March 21, 1900. The winter term 
 Self-support m agriculture begins January 11, 1900. 
 
 The course in dairying begins at the same 
 time, although students in dairying can enter at any time, 
 as the creamery is in operation during the whole year. 
 
 There is a large amount of work on the college farm, 
 Experiment Station, campus and the gardens, orchards, 
 greenhouses, etc., which is done by students, and for 
 which they are paid current prices for such labor. By 
 this means, with what can be earned during the summer 
 vacation, it is possible to defray all the necessary college, 
 expenses. Work, however, is not guaranteed to any. 
 
 Twenty-eight Conant Scholarships (each 
 Conant Free paying the sixty dollars for tuition and 
 Scholarships fifteen dollars for incidentals and twenty- 
 in five dollars besides which goes to the 
 
 Agriculture holder), are given to students in agri- 
 culture. Under the present arrange- 
 ment, two students in the four years’ course are ap- 
 pointed by the officers of each Pomona grange in the 
 state. Under the same arrangement the same officers 
 are privileged to appoint two students annually to the 
 two years’ course with free tuition. 
 
 GENERAL PLAN OF THE INSTRUCTION 
 
 The student taking the regular course in agriculture 
 enters the Freshman year in the same studies and classes 
 with all the other students of the college. His instruc- 
 tion consists of advanced mathematics, rhetoric, French, 
 
 4 
 
etc., for fundamental and cultural value, and elementary 
 work in manual training, drawing, botany, physics, and 
 surveying. 
 
 The new student, in beginning his Fresh- 
 Drawing man year, takes up at once the study of 
 drawing. Not with the idea of receiving 
 an 44 accomplishment” or learning how to make 44 pretty 
 things,” but because it broadens and refines and leads 
 him to a keener appreciation of the beautiful in Nature. 
 Besides, a knowledge of the elements of drawing in its 
 theory, practice, and history, makes art more applicable 
 in matters of everyday life. 
 
 Drawing is introduced early in the course because it 
 trains the eye and hand to act in unison and prepares 
 the student for his work in botany, entomology, and 
 farm equipment. 
 
 The agricultural student also begins work 
 Shopwork in the shop in the fall term of his Freshman 
 year, and devotes two full terms, or nearly 
 two hundred hours, to this work. The shop practice is 
 of the nature of laboratory 
 work, and relates to the pri- 
 mary operations of joinery, 
 such as exercises in the use 
 of tools, putting tools in or- 
 der, and the construction of a 
 series of exercises in carpen- 
 try, wood turning, and pat- 
 tern making, including saw- 
 ing, planing, mortising, splic- 
 ing, framing, and other work involving the use of ordi- 
 nary carpenter tools ; also work in blacksmithing, and 
 the forging and welding of iron and steel, and other 
 work that is of use and value to the operator on the farm. 
 
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The Freshman, in the spring term, takes 
 Surveying, U P three new subjects that deal directly 
 
 with his work in agriculture in his Sopho- 
 more year. These are surveying, botany, 
 and physics. The class-room work in sur- 
 veying and agricultural engineering is sup- 
 
 plemented by practical exercises in platting, including 
 compass, transit and plane-table and level work. The 
 student receives complete instruction for making farm 
 surveys for area and drainage, etc. An advanced 
 course is also given, which treats principally of systems 
 of drainage, construction and improvement of highways 
 and ordinary highway bridges. 
 
 Inasmuch as the general laws of mechanics, acoustics, 
 heat, and electricity are so important to the farmer, four 
 terms are devoted to physics. The work consists of 
 lectures and recitations, supplemented by experimental 
 
 work in the lab- 
 oratory. The 
 same methods 
 are employed 
 in teaching bot- 
 any. The in- 
 struction begins 
 
 with lectures and laboratory study of the minute struc- 
 ture and physiology of plants with special reference to 
 the higher forms, and continues through economic and 
 physiological botany and a study of some of the more 
 important fungous diseases of cultivated plants and the 
 means of preventing their injuries. 
 
 The study of this science is entered upon 
 Chemistry in the first term of the Sophomore year, 
 and continues through the Junior year. 
 The elementary chemistry consists of lectures and chem- 
 
ical manipulations. The lectures are illustrated by 
 appropriate experiments, and em- 
 brace the history of chemistry and 
 laws of chemical combination ; el- 
 ementary substances, their histo- 
 ry, geographical distribution, prop- 
 erties, combinations, and techni- 
 cal uses ; and the application of 
 chemistry to agriculture and the 
 arts and manufacture. Following 
 this are courses in organic chem- 
 istry, and qualitative and quanti- 
 tative analysis of various products 
 in their relation to agriculture. 
 
 The Sophomore in agriculture also takes 
 Zoology, up work in biological science, which ex- 
 Entomology, tends into the Junior year. The course 
 Ornithology opens with a general introduction to the 
 study of animal life, and leads up to the 
 nature and processes of animal life. En- 
 tomology is taken up in the spring term 
 with a review of the 
 classification, structural 
 characters, and biolog- 
 ical relations of insects, 
 with a special study of 
 those injurious to culti- 
 vated crops and domes- 
 tic animals, and of the 
 means of preventing their 
 injuries. Lectures on 
 the relations of birds to agriculture and their relation 
 to each other and to other organisms receive careful 
 attention from the Junior. 
 
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The student also during his course receives instruction 
 in Military Science and Tactics, French, German, Eng- 
 glish Language and Literature, Geolog)' , History, Polit- 
 ical Science, Mathematics, Meteorology, Philosophy 
 and Ethics, etc. 
 
 TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION IN AGRICULTURE AND HORTI- 
 CULTURE 
 
 Agricultural education consists of the practical appli- 
 cation of these various sciences to the processes and 
 practices relating to the arts of agriculture and horti- 
 culture. 
 
 The courses are designed primarily to afford instruction 
 along the lines that will be of particular value to persons 
 engaged in agricultural pursuits. As will be seen from 
 these pages it has been greatly strengthened along the 
 technical side, and with the increased time devoted to 
 the science and art of agriculture and horticulture, the 
 students graduating from this course will be even better 
 prepared to engage in those professions than those of 
 previous classes. 
 
 With the great progress that has been made in agri- 
 cultural and horticultural practice, a wide field has been 
 opened for instruction in those lines. Not only are we 
 able to avail ourselves of the knowledge of the methods 
 of the successful farmers and fruit growers, but we can 
 profit by the results obtained by the experiment stations 
 of this and other states. Thus the instruction in agri- 
 culture and horticulture gives to the student a knowl- 
 edge of the latest and best methods, and the general sci- 
 entific training that he receives will enable him the bet- 
 ter to put them into practice. 
 
 In rearranging the course the sciences have in most 
 cases received increased attention. They are taught 
 
 8 
 
with special application to the crops and animals of the 
 farm, and without the knowledge they afford it will be 
 impossible for any one to farm successfully. 
 
 When the student reaches his Sophomore 
 Soil Physics year he begins his work in agriculture 
 and and horticulture proper. He takes up the 
 
 Fertilizers stu dy of Soil Physics and studies the soil. 
 
 He is taught to analyze the soil ; he stud- 
 ies the physical properties and finds the number and 
 the size of the grains in the soil. He is now taught the 
 use of fertilizers and how to calculate their value, and 
 
 the manner and methods of irrigation and drainage and 
 of tillage, and the effect and use of various farm imple- 
 ments upon such processes. He studies the influence of 
 fertilizers on the amount, character, and composition of 
 crops ; effects of particular crops upon fertility and upon 
 each when grown in succession or together ; economic 
 sources of the elements of fertility ; and fertilizers and 
 manures, their valuation and use under extensive and 
 intensive methods. 
 
 9 
 
During the course practical ex- 
 ercises in testing the physical 
 properties of soils, determining 
 the relation of soils to heat, moist- 
 ure, air, fertilizers, and making 
 mechanical analyses, are per- 
 formed. 
 
 In the same year 
 Farm and following the 
 
 Equipment course in Stock 
 
 Feeding and Hygi- 
 ene, appears the course in Farm 
 Equipment, which consists of lec- 
 tures and recitations upon the se- 
 lecting, planning, and equipping 
 farms ; planning and erecting farm buildings ; farm 
 vehicles and machinery ; power, water, and drainage ; 
 and practical exercises in drawing plans of farms and 
 farm buildings ; leveling and laying drains ; dynamo- 
 meter tests of wagons and farm implements, etc. 
 
 This course is required in the Junior 
 Farm Crops year and consists of lectures and recita- 
 tions upon the history, production, mar- 
 keting, and harvesting of farm crops ; practical exer- 
 cises with grown and dried specimens of farm crops, 
 including grasses, clovers, and other forage crops. In 
 connection with this the student studies the theory and 
 science of soil preparation, methods of seeding and till- 
 age of the various farm crops ; also the planning of the 
 farm work, including the relation between the number 
 of live-stock and the size of the farm ; programme of 
 the work for the season and the management of farm 
 help. 
 
 IO 
 
During the Sophomore year and 
 Stock Judging again during the Senior year the 
 young men spend one afternoon each 
 week in the college barns or the barns of the leading 
 breeders of the state in learning the characteristics of 
 the forms of the prominent breeds of horses, cattle, 
 sheep, and swine. They examine the animals, score 
 card in hand, until they are able to discriminate accur- 
 ately between good and poor animals of the same breed. 
 They learn how to pick out good cows for the dairy or 
 for beef ; to select a good roadster or a flock of lambs 
 
 for winter feeding. When the eye and judgment have 
 been thoroughly trained, the student may lay aside the 
 score card and form his opinion without its immediate 
 aid. There is great need of better judges of live stock. 
 
 The wants of the practical farmer are kept clearly in 
 mind and the trend of the instruction is to make the stu- 
 dents thoroughly familiar with the appearance of good 
 specimens of the various breeds and at the same time to 
 make them competent to select good stock or to sell 
 them without being imposed upon by unscrupulous 
 dealers. 
 
 1 1 
 
This course follows in the winter 
 Stock Feeding term after a knowledge of Chemistry 
 has been obtained, for this is neces- 
 sary to a clear understanding of the principles of stock 
 feeding. The work consists of lectures and text-book 
 work on the principles of feeding and foods and nutri- 
 tion, supplemented with practical work at the barn, so 
 that the young man can come in immediate contact with 
 the feeding materials that should find place in every 
 stock or dairy barn and learn how to combine and use 
 them. The functional activities of the animal body are 
 first considered and then the foods, in affording the 
 materials for these activities, whether in construction of 
 body tissues or of animal products, as meat, milk, etc. ; 
 second, dynamically, as supplying the potential energy 
 for these processes, and for labor, speed, etc. A study 
 is also made of the development of the animal after birth 
 and of the phenomena of animal nutrition from the eco- 
 nomic standpoint, in which the animal activity is consid- 
 ered as an agent for transformation of energy and the 
 resultant product as a source of profit. 
 
 During this course the student is taught 
 Breeds and the principles of breeding and mating 
 Breeding animals, and is taught to understand and 
 properly interpret pedigrees. He is 
 taught the origin of the breeds of domestic animals and 
 their distinguishing characteristics ; adaptation of breeds 
 for particular purposes and their value for grading, 
 accompanied by critical study and practice in the art of 
 judging both as to breed type and as to constitution and 
 individual merit ; also the care and management of the 
 live-stock of the farm as to housing and feed, particu- 
 larly directed to the economic sources of feeding stuffs, 
 their equivalency, and suitable preparation. 
 
Instruction in dairying is given to all stu- 
 Dairying dents in the agricultural course. Methods 
 of securing cleanliness in all dairy opera- 
 tions, of properly car- 
 ing for milk, of rip- 
 ening cream, separa- 
 ting, churning, and 
 manipulating the but- 
 ter, are taught. The 
 dairy-room is equip- 
 ped with creamers, 
 separators, cream rip- 
 ening vats, churns, 
 and workers, with 
 the use of which the 
 young men become acquainted by daily exercise. 
 
 The closing work in the Sen- 
 History of Agriculture ior year is a study of the his- 
 and tory of agriculture and the 
 
 Rural Economics business side of farming. The 
 present agricultural methods 
 in various countries, the cost and relative profits of the 
 various farm operations and systems, are taught. 
 
 HORTICULTURE 
 
 Like the technical instruction in agriculture, the work 
 in horticulture begins with the Sophomore year and 
 extends through the Junior and Senior years. In the 
 required work an attempt is made to consider in a prac- 
 tical manner the three divisions of horticulture that will 
 be of most use to the general farmer — vegetable garden- 
 ing, fruit growing, and landscape gardening. 
 
 3 
 
The subjects treated include the location 
 Vegetable and soil, manures and fertilizers, tools and 
 Gardening appliances, tillage, drainage, irrigation and 
 similar topics relating to the handling of 
 soil and crops both in kitchen and market gardening, 
 together with a consideration of the various vegetable 
 crops in turn, in their special requirements, including 
 the methods of growing the plants and harvesting and 
 marketing the product. 
 
 In this study the young men are taught the 
 Fruit origin and history of the various fruits ; also 
 Culture the methods by which they are propagated, 
 grafted, budded, laid, and the various kinds 
 of cuttings. All the details of nursery work are ex- 
 plained, and the philosophy and art of pruning are 
 treated at considerable length. 
 
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As laboratory work in this study, all the students are 
 given actual practice in the various operations of propa- 
 gating, planting, pruning, and training. 
 
 These three courses are con- 
 Floriculture, Greenhouse sidered in the instruction 
 
 Construction, and both from the commercial 
 
 Landscape Gardening and the amateur P oint of 
 
 view. All the principal 
 
 crops of the florist, such as roses, violets, carnations, 
 and chrysanthemums are discussed, and the handling of 
 plants in the flower garden and window also receive 
 attention. The construction of greenhouses for the dif- 
 ferent crops is also considered. 
 
 Landscape gardening is considered as a fine art, and 
 a practical one, and its study is introduced by a discus- 
 sion of the principles of art in general. These princi- 
 ples are then applied in the decoration of home grounds. 
 The methods of laying out grounds, locating walks, 
 drives, trees, and shrubbery receive particular attention, 
 as does the adaptation of the different varieties of trees, 
 shrubs, and climbers to use in this climate. All this is 
 supplemented with practical and laboratory work. 
 
The student in the four years’ 
 Instruction in the course devotes about one third of 
 Different Courses bis time to technical agriculture 
 in Agriculture an d horticulture, and the student in 
 the two years’ course devotes over 
 one half of his time to the same subjects. Both cover, 
 practically, the same ground in the technical work, but 
 the former gets the better and more complete training 
 because of his better preparation and equipment. 
 
 We recommend in all cases for the student to pursue 
 the regular four years’ course, when practical. But, if 
 his course must be limited because of time or money, we 
 
 should recommend, then, the two years’ course, or even 
 the winter course. 
 
 It is the sincere aim of the trustees and faculty to 
 reach and help as many of the young farmers of the 
 state of New Hampshire as possible. 
 
 For lurther information concerning any of the courses 
 in agriculture, or any points regarding work, scholar- 
 ships, or any other questions, address the professor of 
 agriculture, Charles William Burkett, Durham, New 
 Hampshire. 
 
 For general information regarding the college address 
 the president, Charles S. Murkland ; or the secretary, 
 Clarence M. Weed, Durham, New Hampshire. 
 
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