THE AGRICULTURE COLLEGE. 219 



11,500,000, aud they told me that they had still unsold pine lands in Wisconsin 

 for -which they had refused 1800,000. When they had told me this I asked to 

 see their agricultural department. With this $2,500,000 endowment they had 

 but 14 students in agriculture. 



The Michigan College was from the first an independent and purely agricul- 

 tural school. It was first opened to students in 1857 and from that time till 

 now has steadily grown in reputation and influence. It has a farm of 676 

 acres, of which 100 acres is a beautiful jiark in which the various College build- 

 ings are located. It is situated three miles east of Lansing. 



In 1863, Congress saw that we were drifting into sterility aud that science was 

 needed to restore our land and donated some of the good lands to endow colleges 

 of which the leading purpose should be Agricultural instruction, not experimen- 

 tation. The act gave to each of the States 30,000 acres for each Senator and 

 Kepresentative in Congress, by which Michigan received 340,000 acres of land, 

 and the whole of this was at once given by the State to her already existing- 

 State Agricultural College. One-half of this has been sold and the proceeds 

 are held in trust by the State, which gives 7 per cent, interest on the same. 

 This gives us 130,000 per year, and enables us to give tuition free and rooms at 

 the cost of heating; privileges which at Princeton cost the students $150 each per 

 year. This endowment was primarily educational in its intent. It did not 

 provide for experimentation. But all along, public sentiment has demanded 

 experimentation and thus it has been introduced as a secondary thing with what 

 has been left over from instruction. Now we wish from Congress a supple- 

 mentary endowment for agricultural experimentation, which would give $15,000 

 a year to each of thirty-eight ex])erimental stations in the several States. 



In Louisiana the burden of this experimentation would be about the produc- 

 tion of sugar and cotton, and in each State the work would be devoted to the 

 specialties of that State. 



Everywhere the advanced agriculturists are interested in this matter and they 

 are looking to our College as a leader in the work and they seek our counsel 

 aud copy our example. 



Experimentation that is of decisive value is a slow and costly thing. Dr. 

 Kedzie's experiments upon which his article on Nitrogen is based, ran through 

 four years. In England, Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert have been working twenty- 

 eight years to. test the effect of manures. 



Then, too, after an experiment has been made the probability is ten to one 

 whether its results are of great value ; but when we do get one that succeeds 

 that one is worth more than the cost of all. Was it not so in Germany? 



It is our duty thus to build up our country. Michigan has done well, 

 has made a good beginning, and has a grand college at Lansing. I say 

 this not because I am connected Avith it, for I examined it carefully be- 

 fore embarking my reputation with it and I thoroughly believe in it. I 

 believe that there is a coustituency of young men in this State who want to be not 

 lawyers nor doctors, but farmers or mechanics, and that if the Legislature will 

 stand by us we can have five hundred students in five years and be ahead of 

 anything of the kind on the continent. The past year we put up $25,000 worth 

 of new buildings with money given us by the State Legislature, because by the 

 terms of our grant from the United States we are prohibited from using any of 

 our interest money for that purpose. Now we want your boys. I am gunning 

 for boys. When I went to Lansing, I found the attendance running low and I 

 determined if possible to increase the number of students. We have a plant 



