Cl909j 
 
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THE 
 
 SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE 
 
 AND 
 
 EXPERIMENT STATION 
 
 IN 
 
 THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE COLLEGE 
 
SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE AND 
 
 EXPERIMENT STATION 
 
 /v. 
 
 Address during Farmers' Weekj^January 4, 1909 
 By THOMAS F.AuNT 
 
 WE 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 call 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 
 
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. Tlie vast possibilities in this line 
 
 r TT j^x. can scarcely be estimated. For example, the 
 
 of Heredity . , . , . „ ,.1 
 
 universal mtroduction of a stram 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, (500, 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. 
 
 2 
 
 TT-.' 
 
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 our 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, gi-ains 
 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." 
 
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, 
 Factors in second, his ability to make use of these 
 
 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 
 Function of ^^^ j^^j^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^, ^q^jp. 
 
 Stafon 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 
 
may be diverted to instructioual 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 
 
 The Demand , , ^ ' . ^ . , . ^ 
 
 for Bulletins demand upon every experiment station tor 
 
 bulletins of an informational character, so- 
 called popular bulletins. No part of the Adams fund 
 can 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 average number of persons on the 
 School a^nd*^ 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 
 
 5 
 
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- 
 
 Incomeof j^^^^j.^ appropriated $4,000 for two years 
 
 xpenmen ^^^^ ^^^^ tobacco investigation. The analyses 
 
 Station . . 
 
 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 
 New Lines of ^^^^ 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. 
 
The experiments in progress may be divided roughly 
 into those in agi-onomy, 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 j^ears 
 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 crojis for 
 stable -fed herds, are being conducted. 
 
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 
 Experiments in , . , jx i. ^.-i • u j t- 
 
 H rt* itu causes which aiiect the yield and quality 
 
 in apples. 8ome of the specific lines 
 
 of inquiry are: 
 
 (1) The influence of commercial fertilizers and barnyard 
 
 manure. 
 
 (2) The influence of cultural methods. 
 
 (3) The effect of tj'pes of soil. 
 
 '4) The influence of climatic 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- 
 Experiments • • , .,i v 
 
 'th V t hi ^'^^^ 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 
 
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 
 Shelter for a yard containing an open shed. As is now 
 
 Steers ^^^^ 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 
 carload of steers last winter, and is being 
 xpenmensin ^.^^pgo^tied 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, 
 Experiments — ^^iq only appropriation made by the legis- 
 i. , ^ ^ ^ lature specifically for experimental work. 
 
 These experiments are principally along 
 two lines, namely shelter-tent experiments with Sumatra 
 
type tobacco and the improving of strains of tobacca 
 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- 
 Lines of Study ^^ents, have offered opportunity to revise 
 Staf o ^^^ extend the courses of study. The work 
 
 of instruction in the School of Agriculture 
 and Experiment Station is along the following lines : 
 
 (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 Chemistr3\ 
 
 (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 zoology. 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 crate- 
 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, I 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 can give more training than two or 
 four years. 
 
 The following table shows the number of 
 „ , students enrolled during the past three 
 
 Station years in the School of Agriculture and 
 
 Experiment Station. 
 
 1906-7 1907-8 1908-9 
 
 Four years' students 45 90 193 
 
 Special students 14 24 38 
 
 Winter courses 52 88 92 
 
 111 202 323 
 
 The following is a classification of students in the four 
 years' courses in agriculture: 
 
 1900-7 1907-8 1908-a 
 
 Seniors 3 5 15 
 
 Juniors 5 14 26 
 
 Sophomores 14 20 52 
 
 Freshmen 23 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 
 
 July 108 87 153 218 
 
 August 112 120 137 196 
 
 September 128 101 120 259 
 
 October 229 204 168 509 
 
 November 227 275 246 686 
 
 Total 804 797 824 1,868 
 
 The months of December, January and February are 
 always the heaviest months. 
 
 Last summer the school printed 20,000 copies of a 
 
 circular setting forth the thirty-one courses of instruction 
 
 which it offers by mail, but the number of 
 
 ns rue ion y gj-^fiei^^s increased so rapidly that it has not 
 Correspondence _ ., ^ . „ n ,, , c ^ 
 
 distributed it, tor tear the number ot lessons 
 
 received would be more than our limited force 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 
 
 Demands , j i i ^n -^ 
 
 work and hence one-halt 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 fo,culty. 
 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 13, 
 
 13 
 
1908, or at the rate of more than 20,000 letters per year. 
 Many of these letters contain inquiries concerning agii- 
 cultural topics not infrequently requiring the analysis of 
 samples, the examination of specimens or the search for 
 data, before they can 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- 
 Analyses of g^^^ time of seven members of our staff. 
 p , 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 
 Assistance fertilizer requirement of their soils, with 
 
 Solicited ^^^^ 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- 
 Educational ^^^ ^qqq^ j.^^j^ j^-^, p^yg ^^q j^^, ^j^-g ^^_ 
 
 ^ tv F ■ hibit, and the College pays the additional 
 
 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 
 fn Elfrn ^°'^^ ^ survey of Centre County on April 1, 1907, 
 p .. 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, tlie 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 
 
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 agricultnre, 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. 
 Great Demand j, , i i-i •;! . j 
 
 , _ , and how to make bricks without straw. 
 
 TOT I l*fl.Cni*T^ 
 
 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 
 
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 recentl}^ resigned, told 
 
 me long before he thought of resigning that this was not 
 
 ^ , , known as an experiment station but as an 
 
 Too much of a , , . , . 
 
 Training School 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 
 
 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 
 instances, if I thought it proper to do so in a public 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. 
 Requisites for y, • n i • n • •\ t i. 
 
 P St d it IS, of course, physically impossible to 
 
 give instruction if you do not have places 
 for students to sit or desks at which students can 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- 
 
 18 
 
cultural chemical laboratory cau 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 
 Present facilities always means an increase in the 
 
 Inadeaimte number of students. There is no man 
 
 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 1,300 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 
 could be completed. The present botanical building was 
 designed for both botany and horticulture, and w^as 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 
 Ste^^^c n 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 thej' 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 
 
THE LEGISLATIVE APPROPRIATIONS 
 
 EDMUND J. JAMES, President of the University 
 
 The legislature of Illinois granted at the last session 
 the following appropriations: 
 
 Per For the 
 
 annum bieunum 
 
 I College of Agricultdre $50,000 $100,000 
 
 Feeding experimeuta 25,000 50,000 
 
 Experiments in corn-growiug 15,000 30,000 
 
 Examination of soils 25,000 50,000 
 
 Orchard investigations 15,000 30,000 
 
 Dairy investigations 15,000 30,000 
 
 Floriculture investigations 7,500 15,000 
 
 $305,000 
 
 U Ordinary operating expenses $450,000 $900,000 
 
 Material for shop practice 5,000 10,000 
 
 Increasing cabinets and collections 2,000 4,000 
 
 Purchase of books, etc., for library 25,000 50,000 
 
 Additions to apparatus and appliances .... 3,000 6,000 
 
 Fire protection 1,500 3,000 
 
 Engineering College and Experiment Station . 75,000 150,000 
 
 Buildings and grounds 14,345 28,690 
 
 State water survey 6,000 12,000 
 
 Draining, etc. , on experimental farms .... 5,000 10,000 
 
 Department of social and political science . . . 25,000 50,000 
 
 School of Music :^,000 6,000 
 
 Agricultural extension 6,000 12,000 
 
 Law School 15.000 30,000 
 
 Chemical Laboratory 10,000 20,000 
 
 School of Pharmacv 5,000 10,00U 
 
 Graduate School . ." '^0,000 100,000 
 
 Veterinary College • • 30,00(i 
 
 School of Household and Domestic Science . . 10,000 20,000 
 
 Additional equipment of the water station ... . . 3,000 
 
 Increasing telephone exchange • • 1,500 
 
 Enlarging general heating and lighting plant . . . 35,000 
 
 For purchase of farm land • • ^__lil^i* 
 
 $1,502,790 
 
 III Physics laboratory • • $250,000 
 
 Natural History hall • • 150,000 
 
 $400,000 
 
 * Administration Building - • f 150,000 
 
 * Housing College of Medicine • • 386,000 
 
 $ 305,000 
 
 1,502,790 
 
 400,000 
 
 Grand total $2,207,790 
 
 *V«toed by the QoT«mor 
 21 
 
THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE COLLEGE 
 
 Deficiency Appropriation by Pennsylvania Legislature, 1907 
 
 Agricultural Building $85,000 00 
 
 Tunnel and Dairy Building 24,169 60 
 
 Deficiencies 70, 361 32 
 
 Total $179,530 92 
 
 THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE COLLEGE 
 
 General Appropriation by Pennsylvania Legislature, 1907 
 
 School of Agriculture $70,000 
 
 School of Engineering 60,000 
 
 School of Mining and Metallurgy 50,000 
 
 Department of Chemistry 10,000 
 
 Department of Home Economics 12,000 
 
 General Maintenance 30,000 
 
 Science Building 20,000 
 
 Enlarging Woman's Dormitory 13,000 
 
 Athletic Field 15,000 
 
 Tobacco experiment . . . .* 4,000 
 
 Total $284,000 
 
 It will be noted that the Illinois legislature appropri- 
 ated $305,000 for the maintenance of instruction and 
 i-esearch 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, OJO 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 cut out the 
 appropriation for the administration Imilding, $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 Illinois 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." 
 
 28