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AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 



University, December 18tb, 1851. 



Dear Sir — Since the receipt of your note of the 10th ult, my attention has 

 been engrossed with matters more nearly pertaining to the administration of the 

 University, and to my official duties therein, than even that very interesting topic 

 to which you call my attention, and which I hope to be able, at some future 

 time, to consider more at large than I can now do. 



The policy of connecting a Depaitment of Applied Science with the Univer- 

 sity of Wisconsin, for the professional benefit of the young farmer and the 

 artizan, was discussed by the Board of Regents, in their Third Annual Report. 

 An extract from that Report, which I transmit to you herewith, contains the 

 substance of the argument. The propriety of bringing the philosophy of the 

 industrial occupations within the scope of the State University, is clearly and 

 truthfully set forth in that portion of the Regent's Report. 



Provided the pohcy therein indicated be adopted by the State, and incorpo- 

 rated into its system of public instruction, the two practical questions, which are 

 raised, concern: — 1. The proper organization of the proposed Department of 

 the University ; and — 2. The amount of the endowment necessary to carry the 

 plan into effect. 



1. A school for professional instruction in Industrial Philosophy to be part 

 and parcel of the University system, will require two Chairs at least ; one of 

 Chemistry, and its applications both to Agriculture and the Arts; the other 

 of Mechanical Philosophy, with the like applications. 



The instractions of the firet Chair, in addition to elementary chemistry, will 

 embrace the analysis of soils, and of organic substances, both animal and vege- 

 table ; the doctrine of specific manures ; the theory of the nutrition of plants ; the 

 proper preparation of the soil for its service in production ; and other topics of 

 like practical interest. 



The attachment of a Model Farm to the Department, would require a consi- 

 derable outlay in the beginning; but, if well conducted, it ought to pay its 

 annual expenses, and afford some support to the pupils. 



It should be a part of the duty of the Professor, during his vacations, which 

 might occupy five months of the year, to make geological examinations of 

 different portions of the State, with a view not only to the general scientific 

 value of his observations, but to their special bearings on the discovery and 

 development of the agricultural capabilities of the soil. He should make full 



