College of Agriculture, Short and Winter Course records

Purdue’s agricultural faculty started offering special classes in agriculture during the winter of 1887-88.  Held annually in January and February, the eight-week “Winter School of Agriculture” offered Agriculture and Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, and Dairy and Creamery classes to non-Purdue students.  Taught by regular staff members in the College of Agriculture, the Winter Courses, according to a 1953 article in the Purdue Agriculturist, emphasized “current information on modern agriculture and the increasing complexity of farm operation due to more mechanization, larger capital investments, greater management skills, use of improved varieties of grains and pasture crops, conservation of soil fertility, use of improved feeding practices, and control of livestock and plant diseases and pests.” The Winter Course program was especially tailored for young male farmers who could not attend a four year college because of insufficient time, money, preparation, or desire.  The Agriculturist estimated that over 10,000 individuals participated in the program between the late-1880s and early-1960s. The College of Agriculture also offered various Farmers Short Courses, which were much shorter in duration than the two-month-long Winter Courses.  The Farmers Short Course held January 14-19, 1907, featured talks, discussions, and lectures by Agriculture and Home Economics faculty concerning such topics as: horticulture, corn growing, baking, insects and insecticides, animal parasites, bacteria and home sanitation, cattle and hog feeding, home planning and furnishing, fertilizers, milk testing and creaming, and horse, hog, and corn judging.  The February 1907 issue of Purdue Agriculturist informed its readers that the purpose of the course was “to get the practical farmers of this state together and lead them out along such courses of instruction as would tend to make them more interested in their business and make them better able to solve the agricultural problems that are constantly arising.”

Note written by John Michael Foster