UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION, ST. LOUIS, 1904 Chief of Department HOWARD J. ROGERS, Albany, N. Y. MONOGRAPHS ON EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES EDITED BY NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER President of Columbia University in the City of New York I EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION- ANDREW SLOAN DRAPER, President of the University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois 2 KINDERGARTEN EDUCATION-SUSAN E. BLOW, Cazenovia, New York 3 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION-WILLIAM T. HARRIS, United States Commissioner of Education, Washington, D. C. 4 SECONDARY EDUCATION-ELMER ELLSWORTH BROWN, Professor of Edu cation in the University of California, Berkeley, California 5 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE-ANDREW FLEMING WEST, Professor of Latin in Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 6 THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY-EDWARD DELAVAN PERRY, Jay Professor of Greek in Columbia University, New York 7 EDUCATION OF WOMEN-M. CAREY THOMAS, President of Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania 8 TRAINING OF TEACHERS-B. A. HINSDALE, Professor of the Science and Art of Teaching in the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 9 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE AND HYGIENE - GILBERT B. MORRISON, Principal of the Manual Training High School, Kansas City, Missouri PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION-JAMES RUSSELL PARSONS, Director of the College and High School Departments, University of the State of New York, Albany, New York ΙΟ T. II SCIENTIFIC, TECHNICAL AND ENGINEERING EDUCATION 12 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION-CHARLES W. DABNEY, President of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 13 COMMERCIAL EDUCATION-EDMUND J. JAMES, Professor of Public Administration in the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 14 ART AND INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION-ISAAC EDWARDS CLARKE, Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. 15 EDUCATION OF DEFECTIVES - EDWARD ELLIS ALLEN, Principal of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind, Overbrook, Pennsylvania - GEORGE E. VIN 16 SUMMER SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITY EXTENSION CENT, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Chicago; Principal of Chautauqua 17 SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES AND ASSOCIATIONS-JAMES MCKEEN CATTELL, Professor of Psychology in Columbia University, New York 18 EDUCATION OF THE NEGRO-BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Principal of the Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama 19 EDUCATION OF THE INDIAN-WILLIAM N. HAILMANN, Superintendent of Schools, Dayton, Ohio 20 EDUCATION THROUGH THE AGENCY OF THE SEVERAL RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS-DR. W. H. LARRABEE, Plainfield, N. J. NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER President of Columbia University in the City of New York 12 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION BY CHARLES W. DABNEY President of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee THIS MONOGRAPH IS PRINTED FOR LIMITED DISTRIBUTION BY THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION COMPANY AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION The earliest farmers in America had to contend with innumerable and great obstacles; with the wildness of nature, the attacks of Indians and wild beasts upon their stock, the difficulty of obtaining farming implements and seeds, and with conditions of climate and soil, very different from those of the old countries whence they derived all their methods. The colonial farmer was compelled to use the crudest methods. He cut down, heaped and burned the small trees and undergrowth, and belted the large ones. He scratched the surface a little with a home-made plow, and cultivated his corn and tobacco with a wooden hoe. He harvested the crop that nature gave him in a careless manner and used it wastefully. He cultivated the same field until it was worn out, when he cleared another and moved his family near to it. So long as land was so abundant, no attention was paid to the conservation of fertility of the soil. America was such a vast and fertile country that it took the people over a century to find out that there was any limit to its productiveness. These conditions were quite sufficient to explain the slow progress made in agriculture during the first century or more after the settlement of America. It was not until the close of the eighteenth century that the attention of practical men commenced to be directed to the discoveries of science, and hopes were excited that immediate benefits would accrue from them to agriculture as they had to the other arts. Lavoisier's discoveries and teachings had aroused the hope that chemistry could do a great deal to promote the advancement of farming. Americans commenced to appreciate their disadvantages as compared with British and continental farmers, and to seek better implements and methods for their work. The newly |