Olof Schwartzkopff, V. M. D., Physiology, tered the college of agriculture in the University Veterinary Science. D. W. Sprague, Penmanship, Accounts. Samuel B. Green, B. S., Horticulture, Applied Botany. W. M. Hays, B. S. A., Agriculture, Stock. istry. proper, for the purpose of taking the advanced courses in the sciences pertaining to agriculture, and thus fitting themselves for teaching and experiment work. The secret of attracting the aspiring youth of the farm to such a collegetoward which President Northrop was vaguely D. N. Harper, Ph. B., Agricultural Chem- feeling his way when, early in 1887, he said, Mrs. Florence A. Brewster was the first matron of the institution. THE TENTATIVE STAGE. The tentative or experimental stage in the growth and establishment of the school may be said to have covered the first four years. The proper correlation of its work with that of the experiment station was a matter of much thoughtful consideration. The arrangement of the two-years' course so that it would articulate with that of the college of agriculture was a perplexing problem. The absence of text-books made it necessary that, in addition to their other duties, some members of the faculty should spend much time in their preparation. These textbooks were practically the first of their kind ever published in America. Their practical nature, and their adaptation to the purpose for which prepared, have secured for them a welcome in many another state; and they contributed much to foster the leadership which Minnesota soon assumed in this type of education. The attendance of students grew from fortyseven in 1888-89 to seventy-eight in 1889-90. In the latter year the first graduating class, fourteen in number, received diplomas. The building now known as Pendergast hall, containing dormitory facilities for sixty-five students, an assembly room, recitation room, etc., was erected in 1889, also a veterinary building. In 1890 the accommodations of the school were still further increased by the erection of a chemical laboratory; a small building devoted to offices and laboratory having previously been burned. These additions, and the growing reputation of the school, resulted in an attendance during the third year, 1890-91, of one hundred and four students. In addition, five of its graduates en Willet M. Hays, Formerly Vice-chairman. requisite. Henceforth the college of agriculture would never lack students. Scientific agriculture was becoming one of the "professions." More acutely felt than ever was the painful scarcity of teachers and of men competent to take up the growing work of the bureaus-soon to become "departments" of agriculture, federal and state. This scarcity inspired the regents to encourage those graduates from the school, who seemed adapted to the work, to take the advanced course and thus aid in supplying the demand. A similar plan has been pursued in other states. But so rapidly has agricultural education ex panded, and so remarkable has been the differentiation of single branches into several others requiring special knowledge for their teaching, that after twenty years the demand is intensified rather than lessened. The competition of the different schools, and of the government, for the services of the best men, shows how eager have become our people for the advancement of a department of learning for the needs of which the common school was once deemed amply sufficient. In 1891 Dairy hall was built at a cost of $15,000. Although its dimensions were considerably smaller than at present, it was well equipped for giving practical instruction in butter and cheese-making, beside containing a large lecture-room arranged for the admission of animals before the classes, and affording splendid facilities for lucid demonstrations by instructors; also for the time being, it accommodated many of the administrative offices of the school and experiment station. Preliminary to the completion of this building, the board of regents, early in 1891, announced the opening of a dairy school, in terms as follows: "A course in home dairying to be given this Dining Hall autumn, beginning November 16th and ending December 19th, is provided for the regular students of the school of agriculture, and for such other young men as cannot take the full course in that school and desire to take the dairy work only. "It is the desire of the regents, however, that the dairy school should have a more immediate effect on the dairy interests of the state than can be accomplished by the education of the young people alone. A course of instruction designed especially for the persons now actually engaged in the manufacture of butter and cheese in the factories will therefore be given, beginning on the 5th of January next and continuing six weeks. The instruction in this course will afford opportunity for the careful study, under the tuition of specialists, of the best methods practiced in the most successful factories, and will be directed towards inducing the general adoption of uniform methods of manufacture throughout the state." Such was the beginning of a department of the school which has lifted dairying in Minnesota to a greatly higher plane, and secured for the butter manufactured here a reputation superior to that of any other state. There had been also organized, as a separate department of the University, a "department of veterinary science." This arrangement, however, was of brief duration; the work of the department being, in 1893, merged in the regular courses of the school and college. Meanwhile the school faculty had grown from nine to thirteen members. In 1891, William Robertson, B. A., was added to the list as instructor in physics and language; John A. Vye succeeded Mr. Sprague as teacher of penmanship. and accounts; Clinton D. Smith became professor of dairy husbandry; T. L. Haecker's name first appears as instructor in butter-making; that of W. H. Philips as instructor in cheese-making; while Florence A. Brewster combined the offices of matron and librarian. In 1892 the only noticeable change in the faculty was the coming of Harry Snyder, B. S., to the position of chemist, in place of Mr. Harper. THE PERIOD OF PROGRESS. By 1892 it had been shown that a two-years' Course was inadequate, either to prepare the average student for the varied requirements of the farm or to fit him to enter on the college course in agriculture. The period was therefore lengthened to three years, and the course of study arranged accordingly. As formulated, the curriculum represented the result of the most painstaking thought and of four years' experience. Its excellence has been attested by the fact that although the course of study has since been brought up annually in the faculty meetings, and various suggestions have been received and discussed, very few changes of moment have been made. Such as have been made have been rather in the way of amplification of existing studies than of radical departure from established lines. In the sixth year, 1893-4, a still larger growth demonstrated the hold which the school was gaining upon the people of the state and country; for already it was attracting students from other states, and the liberal policy of the regents forbade their exclusion. Dr. David L. Kiehle, who originally formulated the plan for the School of Agriculture. mitory facilities for eight students. Despite this last addition, however, dormitory accommodations remained painfully inadequate, and it is no small tribute to the educational attractiveness of the school that so many students were willing to en dure the disadvantages of boarding in distant dwellings in order to share the benefits of its courses of study. In 1894 another element was added to the growth and usefulness of the school by the experimental opening of a summer school for young ladies. The term was only four weeks; and, to quote Mr. Owen again, it was "devoted The "plant" of the institution was enlarged, mainly to instruction in dairying from the stand point of the home-home butter and cheese making and to cooking and domestic economy, though lectures on small fruit growing, entomology, chemistry of foods, and hygiene, were given." The results were so gratifying that the regents were encouraged to lengthen the term to six weeks in 1895. Drill hall was eclipsed in size by the erection, in 1895, of a new building known as the Dining hall. Besides a dining room forty by one hundred and thirty feet, in which about five hundred persons could be seated, and kitchen facilities on a large scale, it has dormitory accommodations for sixty persons. It cost about $40,000. During the same year, Dairy hall was enlarged; doubling its capacity and making it, according to Mr. Owen, "the largest dairy school building in the country, if not in the world." A substantial blacksmith shop, with room for twenty-five forges, was also erected; and the importance of the American hen was recognized by the provision of a poultry building. A further advanced step was taken in 1897, when the legislature appropriated $25,000 for a dormitory for girls, that the school of agriculture might better fulfill its mission, through the admission of farmers' daughters to the winter course on equal terms with the young men. The handsome structure afforded accommodations for ninety young ladies. This advanced step was not taken, of course, without much previous debate and some opposition. Commenting on a letter from Professor Brewster, favoring the plan of co-education, the St. Paul Pioneer Press very cogently said: "It has been generally conceded that the higher education of women is as important as that of men, and that the same arguments that have at last proved that proposition to the satisfaction of the world, apply to the special education of women engaged in a particular line of work. The girls who are reared on farms commonly marry farmers. They need, as much as their husbands, the widening influences which come from education, and which fit them to teach their sons and daughters in their turn. There is not only no reason why education should not play |