Chapters in Rural ProgressButterfield, Kenyon L. (Kenyon Leech)
Science
Chapters in Rural Progress
Butterfield, Kenyon L. (Kenyon Leech)
Agriculture -- United States
One powerful means of agricultural education is the farmers'
organization or association. All our dairy, horticultural, poultry, and
live-stock associations are great educators. So of an organization like
the Grange, its chief work is education. It brings mind in contact with
mind; it gives chance for discussion and interchange of ideas; it trains
in power of expression; it teaches the virtue of co-operation. Farmers
blunder when they fail to encourage organization. Sometimes, out of
foolish notions of independence, they neglect to unite their forces.
They are utterly blind to their best interests when they do so. They
should encourage organization if for no other reason than for the
splendid educational advantages that flow from it.
However, our chief interest is, perhaps, in those institutions that are
formed purposely and especially for agricultural education and which are
usually supported out of public funds. There are three great fields of
endeavor in which these institutions are working. The first step is to
know--to know the truth. So in agriculture we must know. Know what? Know
how nature works. So the man of science studies the soil and finds out
what plant-food it contains, how the water acts in it, what heat and air
do, and the inter-relation of all these elements. He studies the plant
and its habits and tries to discover how it grows and how it can be
improved for man's use. He studies the animal and endeavors to learn
what are the best foods for it and what laws govern its adaptation to
human food. He studies climate and tries to find out what plants and
animals are most appropriate to different locations. He studies
injurious insects and diseases and devises remedies for them. He
discovers, experiments. So we have research as the first term in
agricultural education. The institutions of research are our experiment
stations and United States Department of Agriculture. Their work may be
likened to the plowing of the field. They strive to know how nature
works, and how man can make use of her laws in the growing of plant and
animal.
The next thing is to teach. The farmer too must know. Knowledge confined
to the scientist has little practical use. It is the farmer who can use
it. Moreover, new teachers must be trained, new experimenters equipped,
and leaders in every direction prepared. So we have agricultural
colleges and schools. If experiment is to be likened to plowing, the
work of the schools may be compared to sowing and cultivating.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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