be an intelligent citizen, and
should therefore study questions of government. As a man, he should be
the equal of other men of his same social rank. He therefore needs a
good general education. He is more than mere farmer. While as farmer he
must connect his business with its environment and out of his
surroundings gain sound culture; while he should know nature, not only
as its master, but as its friend; he should also be in sympathy with all
that makes modern civilization worth while. And even as mere farmer, he
finds himself face to face with grave social problems. He must not only
produce but he must sell, and his selling powers are governed by
conditions of the market, by transportation facilities and practices,
and are affected by the laws of the land. Hence he must be a student of
these problems and must know the broad phases of agriculture and its
relations to other industries.

No intelligent man doubts the need of agricultural education. Let us,
then, say a word about the kind of education demanded. This question is
settled very largely by the discussion we have just had about the need
of this education. First of all, this education will give a fair mastery
of the principles that govern proper soil management and plant and
animal growth. This is fundamental. The farmer is dealing with natural
laws, and he must know in them their applications. He cannot be blind
to their dominance. They insist on recognition. They are jealous masters
and good servants. Nature serves only the man who obeys her. To obey he
must know. The truth shall make him free. How to secure larger crops of
better products at less cost and still maintain soil fertility, is the
first demand of modern agriculture, and its solution depends in large
measure upon education.

But education does not stop here. The farmer is also a seller as well as
a producer. He is a business man. He is manager of an industry. He is an
investor of capital. So the question will arise, Can he get any help
from education in the handling of the business phases of his farm? He
certainly can. You cannot teach a man business in the sense of supplying
him with good sense, business judgment, ability to handle men, and so
on. But you can study the general conditions that govern the business of
agriculture, and you can report the results of your researches to the
practical farmer; and he, if he is willing, may learn much that will be
helpful to him in deciding the many diff