DELAWARE COLLEGE BULLETIN 
 
 VOLUME 3 NEW SERIES NUMBER 2 
 
 Published Quarterly 
 
 NEWARK, DELAWARE, JANUARY, 1907 
 
 Agricultural Education 
 in Delaware. 
 
 AN ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 AGRICULTURAL CONFERENCE, 
 
 December 19th, 1906, 
 BY HARRY HAYWARD, 
 
 Professor of Agriculture and Director of the Experiment Station. 
 
 Entered June 22, 1904, at Newark, Delaware, as second class matter, under 
 |Act of Congress of July 16, 1894. 
 
The John M. Rogers Press, Wiu, del. 
 
Agricultural Education in Delaware, 
 
 An Address before the 
 
 Agricultural Conference, Dec* 19, 1906* 
 
 By HARRY HAYWARD, 
 Professor of Agriculture and Director of the Experiment Station* 
 
 It has long been recognized that agriculture is the basis of 
 our national wealth. Without it, neither mining, lumbering, 
 manufacturing, nor any other industry could live. Agriculture 
 was the first industry of mankind, and, as long as the earth is 
 inhabited, it will engage the energies of a large proportion of the 
 human race. 
 
 It is because agriculture is the great fundamental industry 
 that it has commanded the consideration of the greatest statesmen 
 from the earliest ages down to the present time. In recent years, 
 the United States has made the most rapid advancement in agri- 
 cultural developments, and we, as a nation, are justly proud of 
 our achievements in this direction. 
 
 While no one can question our greatness in agriculture as a 
 nation, some do not know, perhaps, just how important agricul- 
 ture is in our own State of Delaware, and what proportion of our 
 entire wealth comes directly from the soil. 
 
 According to the last census, the corn crop in this State is 
 worth about two and a half million of dollars; the wheat over one 
 and one quarter million; dairy products a little over one million; 
 live stock over eight hundred thousand; orchard and small fruit 
 about three quarters of a million ; and other farm products sufficient 
 to make a grand total of over nine million dollars annually. 
 
 11 Surely those who carry on an industry of such magnitude, 
 and so fundamental to the welfare of such a large proportion of 
 our population should have, as a matter of sound public policy, 
 all possible advantage in the way of proper and thorough training 
 for their occupation placed at their disposal." 
 
 Possibly no industry has made greater strides in practice, as 
 well as in theory, than has agriculture. This has been brought 
 about by the passage of the Morrill Acts, which provided funds 
 
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 from the Federal treasury for education in Agriculture and the 
 Mechanic Arts, and the passage, a little later, of the Hatch and 
 Adams Acts, appropriating money to each State and Territory 
 for Agricultural Experimentation and Demonstration. These 
 funds, set aside by the General Government, have been the 
 means of making it possible for the farmer's son, who has 
 a natural love for a rural occupation, to study the underlying 
 scientific principles of agriculture on the one hand, and on 
 the other, has attracted some of the keenest scientific minds 
 to the field of Agricultural investigation and research. In 
 nearly every instance, the Federal funds have been supple- 
 mented by State funds. In fact, owing to the conditions govern- 
 ing the expenditure of the United States funds, supplemental 
 State funds are absolutely essential. 
 
 It has been only within the past decade that the Agricultural 
 colleges founded with the Morrill funds have been working with 
 anything like their present efficiency, and one has but to compare 
 our present agricultural prosperity with that of ten years ago to 
 see that the money used in agricultural education has been well 
 spent. 
 
 Advantages of Agricultural Education. 
 
 The advantages that would result from having a man well 
 trained in agriculture on each farm can hardly be estimated. 
 The average yield of corn per acre in Pennsylvania is over fort}' 
 bushels, in Maryland thirty-five, and in this State but thirty. It 
 would not be impossible, with modern methods of seed selection and 
 tillage, to double this amount, but, if it could be increased but 
 twenty-five per cent. , it would add over one-half million dollars 
 to the annual income of the State. 
 
 The average yield of wheat in Delaware is sixteen bushels per 
 acre. Many of our best farmers are not satisfied with twenty-five 
 bushels, even on large areas. But if the average yield could be in- 
 creased but one-third, it would mean that nearly a half million 
 dollars would be added annually to the wealth of the State. Or, 
 if the yield could be increased by but one bushel per acre and sold 
 for seventy cents, it would increase the wealth of the State over 
 $85,000.00 annually. 
 
 Corn and wheat are mentioned because they are our leading 
 crops. Our other products are just as capable of being improved 
 
as these, and thereby our revenues would be increased hundreds 
 of thousand of dollars per year. 
 
 To put this matter more specifically and to show how agricul- 
 tural education may be applied; a concrete case may be men- 
 tioned. A few years ago, a teacher in one of our Agricultural 
 Colleges came in contact with a farmer who was trying to grow 
 fruit, but, not being particularly well informed upon the subject, 
 was running behind a little each year. He was willing to work, 
 however, and when the Professor had supplied him with technical 
 information in regard to pruning, spraying, cultivating, packing, 
 and marketing, he "caught on". To-day, the gross income, per 
 year, from his orchards is about $10,000.00 or about ten times the 
 income of the average farm of his State. 
 
 If a trained teacher could be put in touch with other farmers, 
 or if the farmer himself were technically trained, it is impossible to 
 estimate what it would mean to the wealth and prosperity of the 
 State. 
 
 Education takes the Drudgery out of Farm Life. 
 
 An education in agriculture means an intimate knowledge of 
 many different branches of learning. When the farmer's point of 
 view is thus broadened, the satisfaction that he gets from being 
 master of his calling, out- weighs the material benefits, important 
 as they may be. 
 
 In many cases, for instance, the work on the farm is Jiard, 
 because the farmer lacks a practical knowledge of the principles 
 of mechanics, which would enable him to use pulleys and levers 
 for the hard work. Without knowledge along many lines, the 
 work is severe and irksome and, at the first opportunity, the 
 farmer leaves the farm for the city or town to engage in work or 
 business in which he has had neither training nor experience; the 
 result is frequently disastrous. 
 
 Worst of all, the boys brought up on such a farm have instil- 
 led into their minds at an early age the idea that farming is the last 
 occupation to be thought of, and, while still in their teens, they 
 go to the city, to wear the number of some corporation, lose their 
 identity and, with it, their freedom and independence, which is 
 the birth-right of every farmer. 
 
 To illustrate some advantages of scientific farming; a few 
 years ago the writer was called to take charge of the Agricul- 
 
tural department of a large school, where the boys themselves, 
 by working two hours a day, did most of the work on a thou- 
 sand acre farm. There was a large herd of dairy cows ; the 
 stable, like many stables, was dirty, dark, and anything but an 
 agreeable place in which to work. It was difficult to get 
 boys to clean out the stable. The boys, while faithful and honest, 
 would cut this work if possible. In many instances, too, the 
 parents would write, stating that they did not wish their sons to 
 clean out stables; soon after the discovery that the herd was badly 
 diseased, the stables were thoroughly renovated. Old ''lean tos" 
 were torn down; cement floors were laid by the boys, the number 
 of windows was greatly increased; an overhead track was put up 
 in which the stable litter was easily and conveniently removed: 
 in short, the sanitary arrangements of the stable were complete. 
 The result was that, instead of finding it difficult to get boys to 
 clean the stables, they were eager to get the chance. This was also 
 true in other farm departments; when the students saw the suc- 
 cessful application of scientific principles to practical farming, they 
 were eager to study agriculture, and our classes rapidly filled. 
 
 One of the great problems of the time is to keep the boys on 
 the farm. A boy that is born and brought up on a farm has a 
 practical experience that is worth a great deal to him as stock in 
 trade. It is worth so much that he should think twice before 
 giving up the line of work in which he has been trained by 
 years of practical experience and with which he is familiar in all 
 of its details. A calling in which he has risen from the bottom 
 to a position where his training is worth a liberal compensation, 
 if used either on his own farm, or on the farm of some one else. 
 There never was a time when the demand for men w T ith the 
 ability successfully to manage large estates was so great as now. 
 If then, the farm boy, instead of going to the city to begin at the 
 bottom of an occupation, of which he knows nothing, will add a 
 technical training to the experience he already has, he will 
 naturally achieve a higher place in life. 
 
 If we turn to those states in which farming land is selling for 
 from $75.00 to $150.00 per acre, we find that, with scarcely an 
 exception, the farmer and his sons and daughters appreciate the 
 great advantages that come from a knowledge of the underlying 
 principles of their life work and their agricultural colleges are 
 running over with young men and women who are preparing 
 themselves for lives of usefulness on the farm. In view of these 
 
The Dairy Industry of Delaware yields an income of over a million dollars 
 
 per year. Let us cultivate it and thus increase the fertility of the soil, and 
 
 hence the value of our Agricultural lands. 
 
 SOIL LABORATORIES. 
 
 A Technical study of the soil in the laboratory, lends to make "dirt" more 
 
 attractive in the field. 
 
9 
 
 facts, is it too much to say, that, if the farmers in this State took 
 as much interest in agricultural education as do the farmers in 
 some of our other states, our crops would be greater, and, in con- 
 sequence, our. farming land would be of greater value? 
 
 Education, technical as well as practical, in agriculture will 
 increase the income from our farms, will increase the value of farm 
 real estate, and, by putting farming as an occupation on a level 
 with others which require broad and accurate training, will help 
 to keep the boy on the farm. 
 
 Competition in Agriculture* 
 
 There are, moreover, other reasons why the farmer needs a 
 better preparation for his work than he now enjoys. Perhaps the 
 greatest of these is that competition for the market, which we 
 formerly almost monopolized, is becoming keener each year. 
 Cheap freight rates have opened our markets to the great fields of 
 the west. As a result, the Minnesota dairyman is able to place 
 his butter in the New York market by freight for considerably 
 less than the Delaware or Pennsylvania dairyman can by express. 
 The wheat fields of far off India, Russia, and the Argentine are 
 factors in determining the price that shall be paid for the wheat 
 in our own State. The day when it was usual for the eastern 
 farmer to feed steers in the winter has long since passed. He 
 could not in most cases compete with the western feeder. New 
 England and the South are competing with us in the growing of 
 peaches; we find new competitors each year. 
 
 Some one has well said that "The revolution by which inven- 
 tion and progress have forced a re-adjustment of industries, with 
 a better relation to our natural resources, has wrenched the 
 country and twisted it into new shapes. It has taken away the 
 farming industry from the older states and given it to the newer 
 territory where soils are richer. The problem left to the farmers 
 of the Middle States is the difficult problem correctly to learn the 
 causes of the agricultural re-adjustment; to master the qualities 
 of the old soil for new crops; scientifically to adapt the land to the 
 new conditions brought by the opening up of new areas of superior 
 soil. It is a problem requiring a high order of intelligence and 
 scientific training in farming." 
 
 And again, " wherever one finds executive ability and train- 
 ing in farming there is one likely to see success, as in any other 
 
10 
 
 occupation of life. But I wish to emphasize my general point 
 that from the nature of his occupation, the farmer is subjected to 
 world wide operations requiring careful foresight; that the age is 
 bringing him new adjustments and new problems". 
 
 The Conditions To-Day* 
 
 The fact is that the old methods, no longer bring results, 
 because conditions have changed; systems of farming that made 
 our forebears rich are out of the question to-day. They not only 
 did not have the virgin soil of the unlimited west to compete with 
 in growing wheat, but the soil, which they tilled was more fertile 
 than it is now. Again, not only did the staples of a generation 
 ago bring a higher price, but a dollar had more purchasing power 
 than at the present time. 
 
 Whether we will admit it or not, we are in the midst of a 
 process of evolution in agriculture. We are obliged to adjust 
 ourselves to new conditions. The State or individual that 
 can do this successfully will find farming not only a pleasant 
 occupation, but one that pays and pays well. And the State 
 or individual that sets its face against the new order of 
 things will surely find prosperity waning and, becoming poorer 
 and poorer, be finally forced to the wall. 
 
 With our greatest staple, corn, yielding but thirty bushels 
 per acre and our next greatest staple, wheat, producing sixteen 
 bushels per acre, and selling for seventy-two cents, it will be 
 readily seen that there is need of something being done, if we are 
 to retain our place in the progress of the nation. 
 
 What is to be done* 
 
 In looking for a solution of the difficulties, we naturally turn 
 for suggestion to other states which are successfully solving their 
 agricultural problems, to see what they have done, and to see if 
 their methods can be adapted to our conditions. 
 
 Careful study shows that those states in which agriculture is 
 the chief industry, are successfully meeting changed conditions 
 by a system of education and experimentation. Iowa, through 
 the efforts of her Agricultural College, has increased the value of 
 her corn crop millions of dollars each year. Wisconsin, through 
 her Agricultural College and Experiment Station, has developed 
 
11 
 
 her dairy industry to such an extent that it has materially in- 
 creased the price of her farm land. Minnesota, through the 
 efforts of one of her Experiment Stations workers, has produced a 
 new variety of wheat, particularly adapted to that state. The 
 result has been worth millions of dollars to her farmers. Illinois, 
 through her Station and College, discovered that the composition 
 of corn could be changed by selection in breeding. This single 
 discover} 7 has been worth to Illinois alone many times what the 
 Station and College have cost. 
 
 In each of these instances, the State has been a liberal sup- 
 porter of the Agricultural College and Experiment Station. Not 
 only by appropriating money for their use, but by sending her 
 sons and daughters to be educated at the College. The result has 
 been that these states, although a long way from the centers of 
 consumption, are the leading Agricultural States of the Union. 
 Their farm lands are selling at prices that to us seem exorbitant. 
 Agriculture is popular, and the farmer stands high in all circles 
 of society. He is well to do and gives the credit for much of his 
 prosperity to his agricultural college in which he takes an active 
 interest. 
 
 What has Delaware done for Her Agricultural Interests* 
 
 In view of the fact that Agricultural education has done so 
 much in other states to help the farmers to meet new conditions, 
 is it not a timely question to ask what Delaware is doing in this 
 direction ? 
 
 By Agricultural education in this connection, we do not in- 
 clude the agricultural press or what the farmer is doing to educate 
 himself by means of the Grange and similar organizations. These 
 are agencies of great importance, and should be encouraged by 
 all possible means. 
 
 Outside of these, however, there are two state agencies ; one 
 to educate the farmer himself, the Farmer's Institute, the other 
 to educate the farmer's son, the Agricultural College. 
 
 The Farmer's Institute. 
 
 It is not putting the case too strongly when we say that, at 
 the present time, the Farmers' Institutes are doing as much to 
 enable the farmer to keep abreast of the times as any other one 
 

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13 
 
 agency of the State. They are well organized and well supported 
 by the farmers. Much attention is given by the management to 
 the selection of speakers and the final result is gratifying. The 
 State could well afford to make even more liberal appropriations 
 to support this great movement. 
 
 The Farmers' Institute, however, does not and cannot take 
 the place of the Agricultural College, any more than the Agricul- 
 tural College would undertake to do the work of the Institute. 
 The latter is intended to bring the farmer up to date in agricul- 
 tural information; while the former undertakes to lay a founda- 
 tion based upon the scientific principles of agriculture so that the 
 student will always have an appreciation of any new discoveries 
 in Agricultural Science, and know how to apply them to his own 
 condition. 
 
 The Agricultural College* 
 
 Was made a reality in March 1869, when the Legislature 
 accepted an undivided half of the property of the Old Newark 
 College. This step was taken as the only feasible one by which 
 the State could receive the benefits from the 90,000 acres of land 
 appropriated by the Morrill Act of 1862. The acceptance of this 
 land on the part of the State carried with it the obligation of 
 maintaining the entity of the fund derived from the sale of the 
 land script and guaranteeing a fixed rate of interest upon it which 
 is now six per cent. ' The purpose of the Morrill Act was to 
 establish in each State and territory a college of agriculture where 
 in should be taught those branches of learning related to agricul- 
 ture and the Mechanic Arts, in order to promote the liberal and 
 practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits 
 and professions of life.' 
 
 By this action on the part of the State, Delaware College 
 not only was transferred in part to the State, and was desig- 
 nated by the State to be the recipient of benefits from the 
 Morrill Act, as well as from the Hatch and Adams Act for the 
 Experiment Station, but half of the trustees of the College 
 have been appointed by the State since 1869, and the State has, 
 from time to time, made generous appropriations to its College, for 
 buildings. 
 
 In view of these facts, the College should be considered 
 a State institution, the highest step in our public school 
 
14 
 
 system, and its needs should be carefully considered by the 
 Legislature. 
 
 Through the liberality of the State, the department of Me- 
 chanic Arts is well equipped with laboratories, shops, and draw- 
 ing rooms, and a large proportion of the students attending the 
 College are enrolled in the Engineering courses. At graduation, 
 these men are eagerly sought to fill responsible positions at 
 good salaries. 
 
 Bearing in mind that the Agricultural College was established 
 to give instruction in Agriculture as well as in the Mechanic Arts, 
 we naturally ask what the State has done for Agriculture com- 
 mensurate with what she has done for the Mechanic Arts. To 
 the knowledge of the writer, the State has never made an appro- 
 priation specifically for the Agricultural department of the College. 
 As a result, there are no agricultural laboratories that correspond 
 to the up-to-date machine shop in the department of Mechanic 
 Arts, and, barring a little apparatus and a few pictures, there is 
 absolutely no equipment for teaching the principles which underlie 
 the greatest industry of the State, an industry which engages 
 forty per cent, of our total population. The agricultural depart- 
 ment of the Delaware College exists on paper, (it has in fact, one 
 student). A department originally planned to be of material 
 assistance to the farmers of the State, has been allowed to degen- 
 erate into a mere name, without weight in the institution itself or 
 influence in the State. A department dead, and so embalmed by 
 indifference that only a mighty effort of the combined agricultural 
 interests of the State can ever bring it into useful life. 
 
 The agricultural conditions of the State so highly favored by 
 location and climate, instead of looking up, are going back, as 
 the census reports show that the value of our farming land in 1899 
 diminished nearly half a million dollars. 
 
 What is needed* 
 
 It would be unbecoming, as well as useless, to seek to place 
 the blame for existing conditions. We should be more concerned 
 with the future than we are with the past. The purpose of this 
 paper is to present the needs of the Agricultural Department of 
 the College and Experiment Station, in the hope that they will 
 appeal to the farmers of Delaware with such force that they will 
 unite in asking the present session of the Legislature to appropri- 
 
, «i/">^ir m^H 
 
 yt Afj 
 
 This Cow after the picture was taken made an official butter record 
 
 of 21.5 lbs. in seven days, and in a single day produced over 34 quarts 
 
 of milk. Students working with such animals soon learn the value 
 
 of quality in farm stock. 
 
 An Education in Agriculture is unusually broad and comprehensive. 
 
 Forestry is an important subject that has been recently added to 
 
 agricultural curricula. 
 
16 
 
 ate a sum sufficient to enable these departments to do the work 
 they should do for the agricultural interests of the State. 
 
 To put the Agricultural Department of Delaware College in 
 a position to give instruction in modern agriculture, and at the 
 same time make it possible to use the Experiment Station funds 
 to a much better advantage, does not call for a great outlay of 
 money; the small sum that is necessary could be distributed over 
 a period of years, so that the expenditure any one year would be 
 lightly felt. The greatest need at the present time is a farm, 
 suitably equipped for experimental work, as well as for instruction 
 in agriculture. It should contain from 125 to 150 acres. The 
 buildings should include barns suitably arranged for conducting 
 experiments with all classes of live stock, including poultry, 
 a medium sized greenhouse, and a building adapted to experi- 
 mental horticulture. A small dairy building should also be 
 included for instructional as well as for experimental purposes. 
 If the farm and buildings were once provided by the State, the 
 Government funds are available to assist in purchasing equip- 
 ment, as well as for general maintainance. 
 
 Another need is a small appropriation for the further develop- 
 ment of the Horticultural interests of the State. It has been 
 thought that this could be done to the best advantage by having 
 a well trained practical Horticulturist come in direct contact with 
 the fruit growers, and become familiar with the actual conditions, 
 which would put him in a position to give assistance in way of 
 recommendation in regard to spraying, tillage, pruning, packing, 
 marketing, etc., He should also be able to outline and conduct 
 cooperative experiments in a way that would be most beneficial 
 to the orchardists. This would tend to increase the output of 
 fruit per acre of orchard, to lessen the cost of our fruit, to increase 
 the use of uniform packing and packages, and thus to raise the 
 standard of Delaware fruit, which in time, would tend to attract 
 prospective fruit growers from other states, and increase the 
 value of our farm real estate. 
 
 If a small State appropriation were devoted to this purpose, 
 the Federal funds, that would naturally go to the Station Horti- 
 culturist, could be used in employing a strictly scientific plant 
 investigator, whose whole time could be spent in studying some 
 of the problems that now confront the fruit grower, such as crown 
 gall, which has almost ruined the raspberry industry of the State, 
 the pear blight, and other diseases, which are playing havoc 
 with the profits of our horticulturists. 
 
17 
 The State is Poor* 
 
 It may be said that the State is poor and, to carry out this 
 plan, a large expenditure of money would be required. In view of 
 what has been said, it will be recognized that appropriations to 
 carry out a plan of this kind should not be considered as an ex- 
 penditure from which no return may be expected, but should be 
 looked upon as an investment. 
 
 Our State is poor, but there are other States poorer than we are 
 by far and still they find it pays well to support their Agricultural 
 College. There are four states, Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, and Wyo- 
 ming, whose population is less than that of Delaware. All of these 
 in 1905 , appropriated sums ranging from $14,000.00 to $52,000.00 to 
 their Agricultural College. There are three states, Arizona, Ne- 
 vada, and Rhode Island, in which the value of farm property and 
 the value of farm products is less than in Delaware and yet all 
 three of these States appropriate sums ranging from $25,000.00 
 to $46,000.00 to their Agricultural College. 
 
 To supply these pressing needs of the farmer, about $25,000.00 
 is needed for a farm and equipment, and $5,000.00 per year 
 could be very profitably devoted to developing our horticultural 
 interests. 
 
 This is equivalent to about $15.00 per square mile of territory 
 in the State for the first year, and about $2.50 per square mile 
 per year thereafter for the great cause of Agricultural education. 
 Outside of the purchase of a farm, it would mean an equivalent of 
 about one-half dollar per year for each farm in the State; one-half 
 cent per acre. 
 
 There is still another way of looking at this subject. The 
 Federal Government is appropriating $22,000.00 this year to our 
 Experiment Station. This amount will be increased at the rate 
 of $2,000.00 each year until it reaches $30,000,00. These funds 
 can be used only for Experimental work. This appropriation from 
 the general government presupposes that a farm has been put at 
 the disposal of the Experiment Station, and, as a consequence, 
 none of these funds can be used for the purchase of land. Not 
 having any land under control of the College or Experiment Sta- 
 tion, it is difficult to use this large sum of money in such a way as to 
 be of the maximum benefit to the State, and, at the same time, 
 comply with the regulations concerning its expenditure. If the 
 Experiment Station could have a farm entirely under its control 
 
18 
 
 for an indefinite period of time, valuable experiments in soil fertil- 
 ity, orcharding, and animal husbandry, involving years of scienti- 
 fic study, could be commenced. From these experiments the 
 farmers should receive untold benefits. 
 
 It is readily seen that a farm, well equipped and under the 
 control of the college, would be of great service to the State in 
 getting the maximum benefit from the Experiment Station funds. 
 It is not quite readily understood perhaps, just how a farm would 
 serve the purposes of the College and the students who take the 
 courses in Agriculture. 
 
 In a broad sense, a farm to an Agricultural Department of a 
 College is what a machine shop is to the Department of Mechani- 
 cal Engineering. It serves to illustrate the principles taught by 
 the text book in the class rooms. While the principles of soil 
 fertility can be taught in a class room, a farm where the students 
 can actually see the effect of different fertilizers under similar 
 conditions, is just as essential as the text book. In teaching Hor- 
 ticulture, the more practice the student has in pruning, spraying, 
 packing, etc., under the eye of a competent instructor, the more 
 efficient will he be when he leaves the college to make his own 
 way in the world. 
 
 Animal Husbandry is another subject that can be taught only 
 by the use of the animals themselves in the class rooms. It is 
 impossible to have animals of the various classes at the command 
 of the teacher for students' use without a farm upon which they 
 can be maintained. Again, the study of farm machinery can not 
 be successfully taught without actually demonstrating the use of 
 the different types of machines, and these demonstrations require 
 a farm. It is hoped that from these facts it has been shown that a 
 farm is absolutely necessary to the equipment of a modern 
 Agricultural College. 
 
 Aside from its value as a place for demonstrations, it has 
 another value that is difficult to estimate; that is in serving as a 
 source of inspiration to the student during his college course. 
 The College farm, if properly conducted, will keep agricultural 
 students filled with enthusiasm, and by so doing, will aid materi- 
 ally in sending them back to the farm, to take the place that 
 their fathers are leaving vacant. 
 
 The college farm will serve still another purpose in educating 
 the Delaware boy. Unless times have changed very materially 
 since the writer was a college student, many of the young men 
 
19 
 
 from the farm, who will come to Delaware College for a train- 
 ing in agriculture, will be poor, and will be obliged in a measure, 
 at least, to work their way through college. We sometimes 
 think that it is unfortunate that farm work must be done every 
 day in the year, but on the college farm it would always afford 
 an opportunity for some worthy student to help support himself 
 while pursuing his studies. 
 
 A college farm should appeal to every farmer in the State 
 from another and a more selfish point of view; that of direct 
 assistance. A farm owned by and for the benefit of the State, 
 should be conducted in the most approved manner. When a 
 farmer wishes to see the latest farm labor saving device, he should 
 be able to find it in operation on the College farm, and judge 
 from an actual demonstration whether it is adapted to his con- 
 ditions. From the college farm, the farmers should be able to 
 obtain seeds, roots and new plants that have been determined to be 
 of economic value to our State. The college farm should also be 
 able to supply seed corn and seed wheat, as well as seeds of other crops 
 of those varieties that are especially adapted to Delaware condi- 
 tions. The surplus male animals could be loaned for the benefit 
 of the farmers who would be asked to keep certain records of 
 improvements made by such animals. 
 
 These are a few of the many ways in which a college farm 
 would be of benefit to the Agricultural interests of the State. 
 Whether or not this farm will become a reality and begin its 
 important work next spring depends entirely upon the farmers 
 themselves. If they do not ask for it, it surely will not thrust 
 itself upon them. It seems, however, that the farmers of Dela- 
 ware have waited long enough for a college farm. If they want 
 an Agricultural College that will do its part in the development of 
 the farming interests of the State, let them unite in asking the 
 coming session of the Legislature for the most needed part of its 
 equipment ; a farm. The request is a reasonable one and will 
 not be refused. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
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