SECRETARY'S REPORT. 14 Y 



those who should know, that the appointment or confirmation of 

 one as chief of the department was seriously urged simply on the 

 ground that he was a remarkably good farmer. This is well so far 

 as it goes ; to be a model farmer is certainly far from being a dis- 

 qualification. If Congress had decided upon carrying on a farm, 

 it would properly have much influence. But if it be enough for the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture to be a model fiirmer, then by parity 

 of reasoning the man who can handle money and keep accounts 

 with most dexterity and accuracy should be appointed Secretary 

 of the Treasury ; the best sailor should be Secretary of the Navy ; 

 the bravest and best-disciplined private in the army should be put 

 in charge of the War Department, and so on. No. At the head 

 of the treasury department is needed not so much a nimble-fingered, 

 quick-witted bank clerk as a man of large intellectual powers, and 

 acquirements which will enable him to grasp and to master diffi- 

 cult problems in finance and political economy ; and for the head of 

 an agricultural department is wanted less a model farmer than a man 

 of broad views, extensive knowledge, and powers of mind enabling 

 him successfully to investigate and to elucidate equally difficult 

 problems in rural economy ; intelligently to direct scientific re- 

 search, and to give tone and direction to the thoughts and labors 

 of millions. 



There were in England, in the d.iys of Arthur Young, many 

 farmers, every one a thousand times more successful than he, as a 

 farmer, but never one of them did for the agriculture of England a 

 thousandth part of what Arthur Young accomplished. — But to 

 return from this digression. 



Not only did Congress institute a Department of Agriculture, but 

 a very liberal act was passed in aid of agricultural education, as 

 follows : 



An Act donating lands to tlie sevei-al States and Territories which may provide 

 colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts. 



Be it enacted by the Smate and House of Representatives of the United 

 States of America in Congress assembled. That there be granted to tlie several 

 States, for the purposes hereinafter mentioned, an amount of public land, to 

 be apportioned to each State a quantity equal to thirty thousand acres for each 

 senator and representative in Congress to which the states are respectively en- 

 titled by the apportionment under the census of eighteen hundred and sixty : 

 Provided, That no mineral lands shall be selected or purchased under the 

 provisions of this act. 



Sect. 2. And be it further enacted. That the land aforesaid, after being, 

 surveyed, shall be apportioned to the several states in sections or subdivisions 

 of sections, not less than one quarter of a section ; and whenever theie are 



