SECRETARY'S REPORT. 151 



These are not to be learned on the farm. Elementary instruction 

 in science is to be obtained by study under competent teachers, 

 aided by the necessary illustrations and apparatus with which the 

 school should be furnished. Elementary instruction, I say ; for it 

 is not proposed to have the farmer a thorough student of science. 

 It is sufficient if he be able fully to comprehend and to apply to 

 practice the results of the life-long researches of others, who each 

 pursue their own specialty. As a man may understand the lever 

 and screw suflSciently to put them to good service, without being 

 a second Archimedes, so he may also comprehend enough of vari- 

 ous branches of science to profit by them, without himself having 

 explored all the depths from whence the results were brought forth. 



Such a course of instruction might be made to insure as thorough 

 mental discipline and as much intellectual development, as the more 

 classical and metaphysical course usual in other colleges. 



It is a fact, and one much to be regretted, that comparatively 

 few of those who enjoy the usual collegiate course ever enter the 

 producing ranks. Whether this is due more to the character of 

 the studies pursued, or to the fact that physical labor is mostly 

 laid aside during the years of study, or whether to both these 

 and other causes combined, the fact is patent enough that society 

 recognizes a distinction between the educated classes and the 

 laboring classes, a distinction too wide, too deep, too much of it. 



An agricultural college should have a farm attached to it, as a 

 part of its apparatus, as much as its chemical department should 

 have a laboratory with its tests, re-agents, tubes, lamps, retorts, 

 &c., &c., or as a scholar in geography should have globes and maps 

 to assist him, and lend him their aid lohile studying. Every scholar 

 at school needs several hours daily of active bodily exercise. This 

 need is now so fully recognized that most of our colleges have a 

 gymnasium attached, and healthful exercise is a part of the regular 

 daily routine. To an agricultural college a farm would serve a 

 similar purpose, with the additional gain that every hour spent 

 upon it is equally an hour of exercise and of learning also. 



The Michigan State Agricultural College, for some years in suc- 

 cessful operation, and in which tuition is free to all students within 

 the State, in its last catalogue states its objects as follows : 



" 1st. To impart a knowledge of science and its applications to agriculture. 

 2d. To impart a knowledge of agriculture as an art. 



3d. To prosecute experiments in order to promote the science of agricul- 

 ture, and improve upon the methods employed. 



