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THE

SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE

AND

EXPERIMENT STATION

IN

THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE COLLEGE

FO ODS peter ONES ES Ae a GELS AE MIT al

SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE AND
EXPERIMENT STATION

Address during Farmers’ Week) January 4, 1909
v *
By THOMAS F.’HUNT

E are here tonight to talk about the work in which
we are engaged. We are here to give an account-
ing of our stewardship. We are your employees,

your hired men, if it pleases you so to eall us. The
moral support that the farmers and other citizens of
Pennsylvania have given our work during the past two
years has astonished us beyond measure. Upon behalf of
my colleagues, I take this occasion to thank you one and
all most heartily for it.

The fundamental basis for all progress in agriculture,
as well as in all other industries, is the return to be
obtained from a unit of labor. It is the application of
this principal that has made the industrial progress of
the Anglo-Saxon race to exceed that of any other. Many
illustrations may be drawn from the field of agriculture.
Only a few centuries ago, England raised six bushels of
wheat to the acre and reaped it with a sickle. England
now raises 30 bushels of wheat to the acre and harvests
it with a self-binder. A man with a self-binder and three
horses can easily harvest ten acres a day. To harvest
this area with a sickle is said to have required the ser-
vices of 35 men. The human reapers gathered 60 bushels,
while the machine, on account of the increase in yield
per acre, harvests 300 bushels. This is but one of many
illustrations of the combined influence of increase in the
fertility of soil and efficiently applied power. Neither do

a - |

Rw Nis

we need to stop here. We may carry the illustration fur-
ther by comparing the flail with the steam thresher,
the pestle and mortar with the modern roller flouring
mill, and even the Dutch oven with the great mechanical
bake-shops. However, all must concede that this last
comparison is not altogether a fortunate one.

The same result, namely, increase in the return per
unit of labor, may, however, be brought about in quite
a different manner. Statistics tell us that the yield of
fleece per sheep has increased three times in sixty years
in the United States. We get the same size in beeves
at two years of age that formerly required four and
five years. Within the present generation, farmers that
used two 1,000-pound horses have changed their motive
power to three 1,500-pound horses. In 1850, the only
breeds affecting the cattle of America were Shorthorns,
Ayrshires and Devons. Since that time the yield of but-
ter per cow has been greatly increased. The improvement
of our breeds of live-stock has thus contributed untold
potential wealth to future generations. The improvement
of cereals, vegetables and fruits has had a like effect.

We are here dealing not with the fertility of the soil
nor the application of motive power, but with the laws of
heredity. The vast possibilities in this line
can scarcely be estimated. For example, the
universal introduction of a strain of wheat
which by virtue of its hereditary power produced
one bushel of wheat to the acre more than is now pro-
duced would mean in Pennsylvania alone an annual
addition to our yield of wheat of 1,600,000 bushels.
The Pennsylvania Station has one variety of wheat
which during eighteen years has produced about thirty-
one bushels to the acre, while during the same period
the average yield of wheat in Pennsylvania has been
about sixteen bushels. How much of this difference in
yield has been due to improved seed, and how much
to superior soil] or better farm methods, no one knows.

The Influence
of Heredity

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No one will ever be able to tell precisely. Some sugges-
tion as to the influence of heredity or, as we say, good
seed, may be obtained by comparing the yields of the
different varieties tested side by side on cur experimental
grounds under practically uniform conditions as to soil
and cultural methods. During the past four seasons, the
best average yield of any one variety was 34.8 bushels.
The poorest yield was 29.6 bushels, while the average
yield of twenty-one varieties was 30.7 bushels. If we
assume now that the average hereditary power of twenty-
one varieties was no worse than the average of the varie-
ties of the state, it seems reasonable to suppose that the
average yield of wheat under proper cultivation could be
increased by good seed 4.1 bushels per acre throughout
the state. This would amount to more than $6,000,000,
annually obtained practically without cost, not for this
year alone or next year, but for succeeding genera-
tions, provided that by proper selection or otherwise this
standard be maintained. This illustration is not given
to claim for the Pennsylvania station any merit for its
work, but to point out the vast possibilities in plant-
breeding. The improvement in vegetables and fruits has
already practically eliminated scurvy and undoubtedly
reduced the occurrence of many other diseases of the
human race, and “Who,” says Luther Burbank, “can
estimate the elevating and refining influences and moral
value of flowers, with all their graceful forms and _ be-
witching shades and combinations of color and exquisite
varied perfumes? ‘These silent influences are unconsciously
felt even by those who do not appreciate them consciously ;
and thus, with better and still better fruits, nuts, grains
and flowers, will the earth be transformed, and man’s
thoughts turned from the base destructive forces unto
the nobler productive ones, which will lift him to higher
planes of action toward that happy day when man shall
offer his brother man, not bullets and bayonets, but richer
grains, better fruits and fairer flowers.”

3

In the development of the state’s resources there are
involved two diverse factors: First, the agencies man
- finds when he is born into the world and,

necro in second, his ability to make use of these
State’s : : ; :
Resources agencies. It is the function of the experi-

ment station to contribute its share toward
improving these opportunities, and it is the duty of the
School of Agriculture so to train men and women that
they may make the most of their opportunities\.We must
see that the man behind the gun has a trained eye and
a steady hand, and we must also see that he does not
have a pop-gun to fire. “It seems hardly necessary to add
that the greater the opportunities and the more complex
the agencies the greater must be the training. It takes
a differently trained man to operate a self-binder or a
threshing machine than it did to swing a sickle or a flail.
The knowledge and insight necessary to maintain and
improve breeds of animals and strains of plants is the
most profound known to the human race. The business
ability necessary to put vegetables and fruits of high
quality into the hands of the proper consumers is scarcely
exceeded by that of the steel or oil magnate who corrals
the markets of the world. If this had not been so, the
problem would have been settled long ago.

As the name of the School of Agriculture and Experi-
ment Station implies, its function is both to carry on
investigation and to give instruction. When
you look over our staff and our equip-
ment and note that we are giving instruc-
tion to something over 300 students in resi-
dence and to 1,100 or more persons by mail, you must
remember that while this is the most obvious part of our
work it is only about half of it. That one-half of our acti-
vities is in other channels than instruction is not a matter
of choice but a matter of law. The expenditure of the
funds appropriated by the federal government is quite
properly very carefully supervised, so that no part of it

4

Function of
School and
Station

may be diverted to instructional or other purposes not
experimental. In a rapidly growing institution with over-
crowded classrooms and overworked teachers, the temp-
tation to divert funds from the fundamental experimental
work is often great.

There are many good things that we might do, if the
law governing the use of the funds at our disposal per-
mitted it. For example, there is a great
demand upon every experiment station for
bulletins of an informational character, so-
called popular bulletins. No part of the Adams fund
ean be used for publishing bulletins, not even the results
of experiments made by funds appropriated under that
Act. The Hatch Act says: “That bulletins or reports of
progress shall be published at said stations at least once
in three months, one copy of which shall be sent to each
newspaper in the States and Territories in which they are
respectively located, and to such individuals actually
engaged in farming as may request the same, and as far
as the means of the Station will permit.”

I do not say that the law has not been given a tremen-
dous twist at times by some of the bulletins that have
been published, but it may be safely asserted that if bul-
letins of a strictly instructional character, such as “How
to Grow Alfalfa,” “The Culture of Potatoes,” or “The
Best Varieties of Apples for Pennsylvania,” are to be
published by this station, the state legislature must appro-
priate the money for the purpose. We have desired to
publish a number of bulletins which we believe would be
of value to the farmers of Pennsylvania, which we could
not see our way to do under the law and with the money
at our disposal.

The Demand
for Bulletins

The average number of persons on the

ae aa of pay-roll of the School of Agriculture and
Station Experiment Station during the past five

months has been 158. A considerable num-
ber of these have been students receiving pay for a few

é

o

hours of work each month. If those who received less
than $25 per month be eliminated, the total number of
employees would be approximately seventy-five. What may
be called the scientific staff numbers thirty-four persons.
This does not include the staff of the Institute of Animal
Nutrition, of which Dr. Armsby is Director, consisting of
six persons. If the latter be included, there are sixteen
persons who devote practically their whole time to inves-
tigation, ten persons who devote their whole time to
instructional work, and twenty persons who devote a part

of their time to each kind of work.
The Experiment Station receives annually $15,000 a
year from the Hatch Fund, and receives this year $11,000
from the Adams Fund. The State Legis-

a a lature appropriated $4,000 for two years
es for the tobacco investigation. The analyses

of commercial fertilizers under the fertilizer
control act and a part of the analyses under the food-con-
trol act are made by this station for which the State
Department of Agriculture pays us in fees about $15,000
a year. Whatever balance there is left after paying for
the expenses of the analyses, and this balance is not
large, is used for defraying station expenses. These are
the only sources of income for station work. The income
for the experiment station has not increased materially
since the passage of the Adams Act in 1906.

The passage of the Adams Act and the establishment
of the Institute of Animal Nutrition have made possible
some additional lines of investigation. It is
the custom at this station that before an
experiment is undertaken an outline of the
proposed investigation shall be submitted to the Director
for his approval, and to facilitate the keeping of the
record a number is assigned it. Since July 1, 1907,
numbers have been assigned to 146 experiments. I am
not sure that we should be proud of this record. It may
be that we are getting the batter pretty thin.

6

New Lines of
Investigation

The experiments in progress may be divided roughly
into those in agronomy, horticulture, animal husbandry,
dairy husbandry and forestry. The most important piece
of work in agronomy is the fertilizer experiments con-
ducted on eighteen acres involving 144 plats during the
past twenty-seven years. It is only within recent years
that the importance of this investigation has become
apparent. It is hoped that nothing will occur to interfere
in any way with the investigation for at least another
quarter of a century.

During the past two seasons, investigations have been
under way to determine, if possible, the reasons for the
differences in yield observed on the differently fertilized
plats. There have been determined on certain plats, for
example, the per cent of water soluble nitrogen, the per
cent of water, and the temperature. The lime require-
ment of certain plats has been determined. It is hoped
that eventually these investigations may lead to a better
knowledge of the laws of plant growth, and hence to
better methods of producing crops. Vast quantities of
data have already been accumulated, but very little of
practical value has yet come out of it. It seems to me
that men who are willing to do this kind of work deserve
great credit. I know of nothing more discouraging than
to work day in and day out, month in and month out,
perhaps year in and year out, trying to solve some of
these difficult problems. You are constantly seeing the
object of your pursuit dimly in the distance, only to find
when you come near that it was a mirage. Men are kept
at this work by intense interest in the problems involved.

Variety tests of wheat, oats, potatoes and corn are
being conducted. Experiments on methods of selecting
and keeping seed corn, on cultural methods with pota-
toes, on practical methods of growing alfalfa, and studies
in the productivity and variation of individual timothy
plants and in the kinds and amount of soiling crops for
stable-fed herds, are being conducted.

7

Experiments in horticulture have been recently greatly
amplified at this station. A portion of the Adams fund
has been set aside for an inquiry into the
causes which affect the yield and quality
in apples. Some of the specific lines
of inquiry are:

Experiments in
Horticulture

(1) The influence of commercial fertilizers and barnyard
manure.

(2) The influence of cultural methods.

(3) The effect of types of soil.

‘4) The influence of climatie conditions, including eleva-
tion and exposure.

(5) Effects of cions from different trees.

(6) The influence of amount and time of pruning.

(7) The influence of fungous diseases.

(8) The influence of insect enemies.

Orchards in different sections of the State aggregating
ninety-one acres and containing 3,660 trees are under
investigation. An experimental orchard of twenty-seven
acres has been started at the home station. Some idea of
the extent of this investigation may be derived from the
statement that in collecting data this past season a total
of eighty tons of fruit was handled and recorded. In
order to determine the current vigor of the trees, meas-
urement of height and trunk girth were taken on each of
the 3,660 trees, and 36,000 leaves were gathered, counted
and weighed.

Experiments in vegetable-gardening have been organ-
ized on the home grounds. A great variety of vegetables
are under investigation, but the most exten-
sive experiments are with asparagus, cab-
bage and tomatoes. It is the aim of the
department of horticulture to have the most complete
information concerning these three crops possessed by
experiment stations or other agencies in America. It may
be of interest to state that the gross income this first
season from less than seven acres of vegetables under

8

Experiments
with Vegetables

experiment was $1,025. These returns go a considerable
way toward paying the expenses of the experiments, which
must, in the nature of the case, always be large.

For six years the effect of shelter upon fattening steers
has been studied by feeding half a carload in a basement
stable, while an equal number were fed in
a yard containing an open shed. As is now
well known by all who have read our bulle-
tins, these methods gave equally economical
results. Dr. Armsby’s experiments with the respiration
calorimeter had already suggested that this might be
found to be true, since his investigations showed that the
exercise of mastication and digestion in a heavily fed
steer might indeed be more than was necessary to keep
an animal warm, especially if the temperature in which
the animal was placed was kept too high. Dr. Armsby’s
experiments also show that about one-third the energy of
a steer’s food is saved when he lies down. This suggests
a dry, well-bedded stable or shed for fattening animals.

A study of a bulky and medium ration containing an
equal quantity of digestible nutrients was begun with a
earload of steers last winter, and is being
repeated again this winter. A similar ex-
periment is being conducted with the dairy
herd. The commercial practicability of the milking-
machine is also being tested. Records of a grade Guernsey
herd for the past eighteen years have been studied with
a view of determining the influence of pure-bred sires in
increasing the production of milk and butter, and will be
published in the next annual report. The poultry experi-
ments of this station have been reported in Bulletin No. 87.

As previously stated, the state makes a special appro-

priation of $4,000 for tobacco experiments,

Shelter for
Fattening
Steers

Experiments in
Cattle Feed

oy Neaies —the only appropriation made by the legis-
late lature specifically for experimental work.

These experiments are principally along
two lines, namely shelter-tent experiments with Sumatra

9

type tobacco and the improving of strains of tobacco
by seed selection. The past summer, a man was main-
tained in the field, conducting these investigations and
studying the method of tobacco-growing in Lancaster
county. There is not time to touch on all the lines of
investigation carried on by this station. Suffice it to say
that the station seeks, on the one hand, to carry on in-
vestigations of a fundamental character and, on the other
hand, seeks to determine the application of the principles
involved to Pennsylvania conditions.

One word should be said before leaving this phase of
our subject about the Institute of Animal Nutrition which
is an entirely separate agency of research under the
direction of Dr. Armsby. The work of the institute of
Animal Nutrition is a just pride to State College. It is
not duplicated elsewhere in America, if indeed, it is any-
where. Already its investigations have modified the ideas
concerning the feeding of domestic animals wherever that
subject is being studied, and have attracted the attention
of the leading scientists in human physiology. It is con-
ducting a work which the state of Pennsylvania should be
proud to support most liberally.

Let us look next at the work of instruction. The
additions, both in numbers of departments and in the
number of instructors within the depart-
ments, have offered opportunity to revise
and extend the courses of study. The work
of instruction in the School of Agriculture
and Experiment Station is along the following lines:

Lines of Study
in School and
Station

(1) Seven four years’ courses.

(2) A special course of two years.
(3) Five winter courses.

(4) Farmers’ week.

(5) Correspondence courses.

(6) Graduate work.

10

Seven four years’ courses in agriculture, leading to the
degree of Bachelor of Science, have been outlined as
follows :
(1) Agricultural Chemistry.
(2) Agronomy.
(3) Animal Husbandry.
(4) Dairy Husbandry.
(5) Forestry.
(6) Horticulture.

(7) Plant Pathology.

The freshman and sophomore years are the same for
all courses, although the student has an option of certain
technical subjects in the second semester of the sophomore
year. The freshman year and the first semester of the
sophomore year consist chiefly in a training in the lan-
guages and the sciences, including botany, chemistry,
geology, mathematics, physics and zodlogy. The student
is not required to make his final decision as to his major
field or course of study until the beginning of his junior
year, when he enters upon the more specialized work of
his course. Certain free electives are offered in the junior
and senior years in order that the student may make his
course more general or more technical, according to his
individual needs. These courses have been prepared to
to meet the existing demand for trained specialists in
various agricultural lines.

The special course of two years meets the needs of
young men who do not have time to give to, nor prepara-
tion to enter, one of the four years’ courses. Opportunity
is offered in these two years’ courses to become proficient
in one of several lines of agriculture. While you cannot
grow an oak tree in a minute, and, in the nature of the
case, a two years’ course will not develop a student so
fully as a four years’ course, two years’ training in this
course is just as valuable as two years in any other.
While some of the subjects studied are necessarily not
presented in so much detail, they are pedagogically just

11

as correct as the more extended courses. This leads me
to say a word about the training of the winter courses. It
is sometimes assumed that the instruction given in these
twelve weeks’ courses is superficial, that they give infor-
mation, not training, that the process is not unlike ecrate-
fattening of chickens—a sudden access of knowledge
resulting in flabby mental processes. After years of obser-
vation and teaching of every class of students from winter-
course students to post-graduate, [ am willing to assert
the belief that with no other class of students is so much
real training given in twelve weeks as is given in these
winter courses. This is quite a different matter from stat-
ing that twelve weeks ean give more training than two or
four years.

The following table shows the number of
Students in :
escoland students enrolled during the past three
Station years in the School of Agriculture and

Experiment Station.

1906-7 1907-8 1908-9
Fourvyears’ students). <. sive ap 9a; cays suse ote vouhop ae (AO 90 193
Special students «ve. 221s c.ye. 6) oa) temtes oy sees ewe, os ae 14 24 38
Winter courses! So es ee ee bs steel 3) el ote 52 88 92
ital 202 323

The following is a classification of students in the four
years’ courses in agriculture:
1906-7 1907-8 1908-6

Seniors’ "se ee ee Re Ae el aL Ct 3 5 15
JUNTOTS: sees peek he pret Be ea een Se ae 5 14 26
SODNOMOLOS jcc oi ehasatesdemied oussk onic wenn ee 20 52
HWreShM@D: Jc. 5, sic: 6. 2 46° Yer a aciee fa theo ke ener ea deed oe 51 100

45 90 193

Students in the correspondence courses have increased
in like manner. There were 567 new students enrolled
for the year ending December 1, 1907, and 1,135 for the
year ending December 1, 1908. The following table shows
the number of reports received, corrected and returned
during the five months of July, August, September,
October and November for the years indicated:

12

1905 1906 1907 1908

DUN Pease cual eiikern siya toy 3 euuae ost on oy ow LOS 87 153 218
MUCUS Core ee et ee ae eee tle 120 137 196
September #5 4 a) eerie, set ELS 101 120 259
OGEOD ET we tien) obit elk Sor pedh oie dcic i Mcuey eones 229 204 168 509
INOVGINDOr uss) < 6- h sl Gare: so. (ey ws. e | Susi 227 275 246 686

Otani gh -culop Lente) ge esis ley ues vapsci ie OUR 797 824 1,868

The months of December, January and February are
always the heaviest months.

Last summer the sehool printed 20,000 copies of a
circular setting forth the thirty-one courses of instruction
which it offers by mail, but the number of
students increased so rapidly that it has not
distributed it, for fear the number of lessons
received would be more than our limited foree could
properly correct. The use of these lessons by granges
and other farmers’ clubs is increasing, and in some public
schools they are being used as a basis for instruction in
agriculture and in English. An examination of our rec-
ords shows that about 30 per cent of our winter-course
students, other than those in dairy manufacture, have
been previously enrolled in the correspondence courses.

As previously indicated, the School of Agriculture
and Experiment Station differs from other departments
| in that about one-half of its funds is ap-
propriated for the Experiment Station
work and hence one-half its energies is, or
should be, devoted to research or kindred work. This
research work leads the citizens of Pennsylvania to look
to us for guidance and advice, and brings us into many
and diverse relations with various agencies for the pro-
motion of agriculture. These outside relations require
a large amount of time of the members of the faculty.
This may be illustrated by stating that 246 lectures or
addresses have been given outside of State College by
members of the faculty of the School of Agriculture and
Experiment Station during twelve months. There were
over 400 letters received during the week ending April 138,

13

Instruction by
Correspondence

Outside
Demands

1908, or at the rate of more than 20,000 letters per year.
Many of these letters contain inquiries concerning agri-
eultural topies not infrequently requiring the analysis of
samples, the examination of specimens or the search for
data, before they ean be answered properly.

The analyses of fertilizers and foods for the State
Department of Agriculture involve over 10,000 determina-
tions a year, and occupy the almost exclu-
sive time of seven members of our staff.
These outside demands upon the school and
station are increasing, and we are finding
it more and more difficult to meet them.

The Station is cooperating with farmers by furnishing
them, free of charge, the necessary fertilizers and giving

the needed directions for determining the

Analyses of
Fertilizers and
Foods

eee fertilizer requirement of their soils, with
of Farmers th Jeu anaea heels siti le bie cela
Solicited 1e understanding that the party receiving

such fertilizers follows the directions and
reports the results to the Station. During 1907, ninety-
five applications and seventy-one reports were received.
The supervision in Pennsylvania of official tests for ad-
mission to the advanced registry of the several dairy-breed
associations is in charge of this station. One-hundred and
twenty-five animals representing Jerseys, Guernseys and
Ayrshires are on yearly tests, while forty-one seven-days’
tests of Holstein-Friesian cows have been made.

A butter-scoring exhibit has been inaugurated, in
which five-pound packages of butter have been sent to be
judged, the scores, criticisms and suggestions being re-
turned to the makers. Over eighty creameries and dairy
establishments in Pennsylvania were visited during the
season of 1907, for the purpose of gathering information
concerning the methods employed therein. While this
work was found to be of direct service by correcting faults
in operating the Babcock test in the use of commercial
starters and in the adjustment of machinery, it has been
discontinued during the past year for lack of funds.

14

Through the suggestion of one of our trustees, Mr.
Bayard, educational exhibits were placed in seven county
fairs during 1907, and in eleven fairs dur-
Beueaponel ing 1908. Each fair pays $50 for this ex-
Exhibits at hibit, and the College pays the additional
County Fairs ‘ 3 re :
expenses. The Pennsylvania Railroad ran
an educational special in the southeastern portion of the
state, in which six members of the staff of the School and
Station gave the lectures. Twenty-two stops were made
during three days, with an average of about one-hundred
persons at each place. Applications are now on file from
both the Pennsylvania and Reading Railroads for addi-
tional service of this kind in the spring.

At the request of the Director of this Station, the Chief
of the Bureau of Soils of the United States Department
of Agriculture assigned a soil party to begin
a survey of Centre County on April 1, 1907,
and during the past season the survey was
completed. Acting on the further sugges-
tion of the Station, the United States Bureau of Soils has
begun a reconnoissance soil map of Pennsylvania, and
ten counties in northwestern Pennsylvania were surveyed
the past season. A member of our staff, the instructor in
soils, has taken part in both these surveys.

Arrangements were effected through the suggestion of
Dr. N. C. Schaeffer, the State Superintendent of Public
Instruction, by which courses of instruction were given
by members of our staff at two of the state summer
schools during last July. These courses were designed to
train teachers to present the subject of agriculture in high
schools. I have received a letter from the principal of the
Mountain Assembly at Ebensburg, which reads in part as
follows: ‘‘Last year Professor Gilmore was such a
splendid man in the department of agriculture at our
summer assembly that I am writing to you early in order
that we may get some man equally good. We want the
strongest man possible in that department. Last year we

15

Survey of Soils
in Eleven
Counties

had forty students. This year we hope to make the sub-
ject of agriculture the all-important subject at our sum-
mer school.’’

At the State Educational Association held here in July,
the following resolution was adopted:

“Resolved VI, That in view of the present-day demand for
teachers to instruct in agriculture, domestic science, and manual
training, and in view of the possibility of using the property of
Pennsylvania State College for this purpose, we call on the State
to provide a Summer School for teachers at this institution,
which shall furnish instruction to teachers in these practical sub-
jects at the actual cost of transportation, board and lodging.”

I trust I need not go into further detail to illustrate how
many demands are made upon the time and energy of our
staff, entirely aside from routine classroom instruction.

The plain and obvious problem of the Dean of the
School and the Director of the Station is how to organize
this work most efficiently and effectively,
and how to make bricks without straw.
The one thing that has been borne in upon
me most deeply in the past year and a half is the fact
that if this enterprise is to keep its head above water it
must be in a position to pay better salaries to members
of its staff. During the past year and a half, eight mem-
bers of our staff have resigned, to accept better positions.
One man, to whom we were paying $1,200 a year, re-
signed to accept the management of a farm at $1,600 a
year, and another, to whom we are paying much less, is
to leave us to take charge of a farm at $1,500 a year.
Another man, to whom we paid last year $720 a year
and were paying this year $900, has resigned to accept
an experiment-station position at $1,000 a year, with a
promise of $1,200 next year. Another man, to whom
we are paying $1,000 a year, was recently offered $1,400,
and another, to whom we are paying $1,800, was offered
$2,000. Both these men, I am glad to say, are still with

16

Great Demand
for Teachers

us, but I do not know for how long. A young man to
whom we were paying $1,200 a year was offered $3,600 a
year to go to Manchuria to assist in establishing a school
and station for the Chinese government, and the head of
one of our departments, to whom we were paying $2,500
a year, was elected President of the College of Hawaii
at $4,800 a year. Every time I hear of an especially
attractive opening elsewhere, I tremble for fear some
member of our staff will be plucked; and, when a
younger member of our staff comes into the office and
quietly looks me in the eye, I may be sure he is going to
announce that he has a better opportunity elsewhere, and
desires to offer his resignation and to receive our best
wishes.

A member of our staff, who has recently resigned, told
me long before he thought of resigning that this was not

known as an experiment station but as an
| eXperience station—good place to come

to get experience before going to a desir-
able position elsewhere. As it used to be said of a certain
county in Ohio, it was a good place to be born, if you
only got away soon enough. This constant changing
is especially harmful to continuous experiment-station
work. I once asked an experiment-station man who was
an expert on potatoes, why no experiment station had
ever produced a new variety of potatoes, and why the
production of varieties of potatoes had always been the
result of private effort. Without a moment’s hesitation
he replied: ‘‘Because experiment-station men do not
remain long enough in one place.’’

This is, however, by no means the most important
phase of the subject. ”There are sometimes advantages in
having a man resign, provided you can offer enough to
get a better man. I have myself rendered signal service
in this direction to at least three institutions. Each has
prospered immensely since I left it.The number of men
that have declined to come here in the last eighteen

Too much of a
Training Schoo

17

months, on account of unsufficient salary, is much greater
than the number who have left it in the same time for the
same reason. Obviously, this is a matter that cannot be
discussed in detail, but, were it possible to do so, I could
make it clear to you that existing conditions require that,
if the School of Agriculture and Experiment Station is to
be brought to that plane of usefulness which the people of
this commonwealth should, and I believe, do most ur-
gently desire, it must be in a position to pay at least
$3,000 a year to heads of departments and at least $2,000
a year to assistant professors. Several colleges of agri-
culture in states of the same class with Pennsylvania do
not hesitate to pay from $3,000 to $4,000 a year to secure
men they wish, or to keep men they do not desire to lose.
I could easily prove this to you by mentioning specific
instanees, if I thought it proper to do so in a publie ad-
dress.

While the most important factor of an institution is the
ability of its staff, nevertheless classrooms, laboratories
and equipment must be provided for them.
It is, of course, physically impossible to
give instruction if you do not have places
for students to sit or desks at which students ean work.
In the matter of buildings, the state has dealt liberally
with the School of Agriculture and Experiment Station.
It has spent nearly $300,000 on buildings which, so far as
they go, are not excelled, probably, elsewhere in America.
When this group of buildings was planned, it was doubt-
less thought that they would be big enough to provide for
the School of Agriculture for a generation. We moved
into the Agricultural Building thirteen months ago. This
building has two laboratories, one for agricultural chem-
istry and the other for soils. The first has twenty-two
desks and the second has twenty-four, eight of which are
used for research work, hence cannot be used by students.
These desks each have two sets of drawers and lockers,
and hence by dividing the classes into sections, the agri-

Requisites for
Proper Study

18

cultural chemical laboratory can accommodate properly
forty-four students, and the soils laboratory thirty-two
students. Next semester, the department of agricultural
chemistry will have not less than eighty students, and in
the soils laboratory there will be at least sixty. Next
year, there will be not less than one hundred in the
soils laboratory, and not less than one hundred and
twenty-five in the agricultural chemical laboratory. The
library room was found to be too small when the building
was first occupied; we therefore took a room away from
one of the departments this fall and made a reading-
room of it, and now it is crowded. The largest room in
the building will seat about two hundred people by bring-
ing in extra chairs. On three days in one week last
month, students were required to stand while listening to

lectures.
The fact that this building has proved inadequate is
not a criticism of any one. This has occurred over and
over again in many institutions. Improved

nett facilities always means an increase in the
Buildings I ie st lents. There is no man
Inadequate number of students. ere

living wise enough to predict what will be
the needs of The Pennsylvania State College twenty-five
years hence.

Our needs are so pressing in many directions that I am
sometimes in doubt as to whether one can say that one
need is greater than another, but on the whole I am dis-
posed to think that our most immediate need is for a
horticultural building and greenhouses. This building is
planned to provide quarters for instruction in botany.
No efficient and practical instruction in horticulture can be
given during a large portion of the academic year without
the aid of greenhouses and properly equipped laboratories.
The present Agricultural Building was planned to provide
one room for horticulture containing about 1,500 square
feet of floor space. Our professor of horticulture, how-
ever, has suggested plans for a new building containing

19

four floors, one for botany and three for horticulture, each
floor containing 13,000 feet of floor space. If the Legis-
lature should tomorrow make the necessary appropriation
for this building, every room would be needed before it
eould be completed. The present botanical building was
designed for both botany and horticulture, and was in-
tended, I suppose, to accommodate a couple of dozen
students. Its largest room, used as a combined class-
room and laboratory, is perhaps 35x45 feet. Fifty stu-
dents can be handled in this building with some degree of
comfort and efficiency. This semester, there have been
enrolled 181 students in botany, not counting the winter-
course students who had to be provided for elsewhere on
account of the crowded conditions. This is a great horti-
cultural state, the third in the Union in the value of its
horticultural products. This institution has, owing to its
environment and to the organization of the department of
horticulture, a great opportunity to become a leader in
horticultural education in this country. With proper sup-
port, this is almost as certain as that the sun rises and
sets.

What about the support? Can the great commonwealth
of Pennsylvania afford it? This matter of appropriation
is largely a habit of mind. You are in the
habit of thinking of battleships costing
$8,000,000 each, and therefore you do not
think one Dreadnought more or less matters; and yet the
people of Pennsylvania contribute $500,000 toward the
building of every one of these ships. The legislature
of Illinois found it easier to contribute $2,000,000 to
the University of Illinois than did the Pennsylvania
legislature to appropriate $500,000 to The Pennsylvania
State College. This is not because there are more peo-
ple or wealthier people in Illinois or because they have
more interest in education, but because they have the
habit of supporting their state institution liberally. The
people of Pennsylvania need to get the habit.

20

Support of
State College

if

It

THE LEGISLATIVE APPROPRIATIONS

EDMUND J. JAMES, President of the University

The legislature of Illinois granted at the last session
the following appropriations:

College of Agriculture. .
Feeding experiments. .
Experiments in corn-growing. .
Examination of soils... .
Orchard investigations. . .
Dairy investigations . . ie
Floriculture investigations . .

Ordinary operating expenses. .
Material for shop practice ea
Increasing cabinets and collections . .
Purchase of books, ete., for library . .
Additions to apparatus and appliances
Fire protection

Engineering College and Experiment Station

Buildings and grounds .

State water survey.

Draining, ete., on experimental ‘farms’
Department of social aud political science .
School of Music . . vr. cl
Agricultural extension. .

Law Sehool . .

Chemical Laboratory

School of Pharmacy. . .

Graduate Sehool .

Veterinary College

School of Household and Domestic Science

Additional equipment of the water station . .

Increasing telephone exchange . .
Enlarging general heating and lighting plant
For purchase of farm land Tae

Physies laboratory .
Natural History hall .

* Administration Building
* Housing College of Medicine

Grand total

*Vetoed by the Governor

21

Per
annum

. . $50,000

25,000
15,000
25,000
15,000
15,000

7,500

$450,000
5,000
2,000
25,000
3,000
1,500
75,000
14,345
6,000
5,000
25,000
3,000
6,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
50,000

10,000

For the
biennum

$100,000
50,000
30,000
50,000
30,000
30,000
15,000

$305,000

$900,000
10,000
4,000
50,000
6,000
3,000
150,000
28,690
12,000
10,000
50,000
6,000
12,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
100,000
30,000
20,000
3,000
1,500
35,000
11,600

$1,502, 790

$250,000
150, 000

$400, 000

$150,000
386,000

$ 305,000
1,502,790
400,000

$2,207,790

THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE COLLEGE
Deficiency Appropriation by Pennsylvania Legislature, 1907

Agricultural Building: . (“206 2a ee ean 3 se nelle | ot ood COU sue
Tunndl.and Dairy Building <0. 2¥..5 0 oh fe ee tel ole tie eit ogee
Deficrenciesiiy ce eee ee ie oper ea bo conte Bic 70,361 32

MGtAl Beeb ala chal eee nd ee einotesonae

THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE COLLEGE
General Appropriation by Pennsylvania Legislature, 1907

Schooltof Avricultnrey iis) uit west oun y at oan) sp eneel oe i ento nre $70,000
Sehool of Engineering . . . Seth dusth. MorStg. uae ecm Ree aes ec UG UU
School of Mining and MetMuney Se det at we cl PO,, Ste cet oe Soe BeOS UOU
‘Departmentiof Chemistry 3 °.\cgo OPV ae, oes toe oe
Department of Home Economies. ..........-+...+.- 12,000
General: MaintenanGes.~- 0. asc) ob bhi ely Conds, 5 | oe eee en oe 30,000
Salence Guiing ose oo se) es ae wy ee wes ee a ee
Enlarging Woman’s Dormitory” 2)eis es ce ope ce eats te eee te 13,000
Athletia Wield) vm chackts Goyat le tees os, hemes: aol enemas 15,000
Tobacco Gxperiment .c) sashes fo hus 0) = geste eee on eure 4,000

Motel” i... couche Geass Sous oie ee gk nse cred en Ra ee $284,000

It will be noted that the Illinois legislature appropri-
ated $305,000 for the maintenance of instruction and
research in the College of Agriculture, and in addition
appropriated $12,000 for agricultural extension and
$11,600 for additional land. The total amount appropri-
ated by the Illinois legislature was $2,743,790, of which
$536,000 was vetoed by the Governor, leaving the total
appropriation available $2,207,790. The total amount
appropriated by the Pennsylvania legislature was $463,-
530.92. The population of Illinois in 1900 was 4,821,000;
in Pennsylvania it was 6,302,000. I take it that no Penn-
sylvanian would care to admit that the per capita wealth
was less in Pennsylvania than in Illinois.

The New York legislature meets annually. During the
last two years the legislature has appropriated each year
$150,000 to the New York State College of Agriculture, or
$300,000 for the two years for maintenance alone. It
appropriated other money for buildings. But this is not

22

all. The state of New York supports an experiment sta-
tion at Geneva. During the last two years this station
has received from the state legislature about $180,000 for
the maintenance of its work. In other words, there was
appropriated by the New York legislature for instruction
and research in agriculture $480,000. During the same
period the Pennsylvania legislature appropriated $74,000.
There were in 1900, according to the United States Census,
227,000 farms in New York and 224,000 farms in Penn-
sylvania. Comment is not necessary.

President James, writing to the alumni of the Uni-
versity of Illinois after the biennial appropriation of
$2,207,790 had been approved by the Governor, said:

‘““The Governor found it necessary to eut out the
appropriation for the administration building, $150,000,
and the appropriation of $386,000 for the housing of the
medical school, making a total of $536,000. It will be
seen, however, that the appropriations finally approved
by the Governor are considerably larger than those made
for the biennium of 1905-7. This increase in appropria-
tions, although much less than the trustees asked for and
much less than the needs of the University require, is still
considerable, and will enable the University to improve
the quality of its work in many different directions, as
well as extend somewhat its scope.

‘‘The income of the University of Llinois is still far
below that of other first-class institutions with which, in
the long run, the people of Illinois will wish it to be on a
full parity. The alumni of the University should not
cease to hold before themselves and before the people of
the State the ideal of the State University as that of an
institution entirely equal to the demands which the rising
standards of wealth and education demand.”’

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@ 002 776 170