ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT WILLITS. 25 



nomical, and so all along the line the board and the faculty Tvorked at a disad- 

 yaiitiigc, but with heroic persistency they continued their efforts until the peo- 

 ple begin to think the enterprise pays, not always in the direct sense of financial 

 profit in the enterprise itself, but as we hope and feel assured, in the higher 

 field as a promoter of scientific intelligence. 



We will not spend time on the second disability encountered. It needs but 

 a casual inquiry into the fate of all those cases where an agricultural school has 

 been niaue an adjunct of a purely literary or scientific educational institution, 

 to be convinced that sooner or later the agricultural feature is lost, or plays so 

 subordinate a part as to discourage young men from entering it, and to dis- 

 hearten those who had hoped that literature and science would illumine the 

 path of the agriculturist. We will, before we close, attempt to explain why, 

 logically, this must always be the result; suffice it to say that in Europe and in 

 this country, those agricultural schools have prospered best that have retained 

 their independent status. 



But we have now passed the pioneer steps of our history, and we stand to-day 

 well equipped for work, and better able to meet all just demands than ever 

 before. Fair consideration of the past will demonstrate that this Agricultural 

 College lias been a potent factor in the dominion of scientific investigation and 

 has done a grand work. Twenty-eight years ago this spot, now the center of a 

 beautiful park of nearly 100 acres, with its outlying fields of fertile beauty, its 

 sweeping drives and foot paths, its beautiful residences and stately structures, 

 was a g'rdled clearing Avith its two or three college halls, the beginning of a 

 future full of hope, and a future not without its victories and substantial results. 

 In the years that have intervened nearly 2,000 students have entered its halls, 

 360 have graduated, and all, whether they have stayed months or years, have 

 gone forth with a purpose ennobled by their associations here, and the larger 

 proportion of them have in the following years adopted agriculture as a profes- 

 Bion. Of the graduates over 50 per cent of them are farmers or in kindred 

 pursuits. Sixteen are professors or instructors in agricultural colleges, north 

 and south, east and west. One is the president of an agricultural college. 

 Another has almost from its foundation been a member of the Illinois industrial 

 university, and is now president of the board. There is not a professional 

 school, either of law or medicine, in the country which can show a larger per- 

 centage of graduates who finally follow the profession therein taught, and this 

 notwiihstanding thefactthat many h;ive entei'ed the Agricultural College with 

 the avowed intention of nut following agriculture as a life pursuit. The doors 

 have not been barred against such, for the reason that even these in their 

 respective spheres in life will be instinct with agricultural tendencies, and will 

 be active promoters of agricultural science. 



So much in rapid sketch of what this college has been; now a brief outline 

 of what it is and what it has facilities for doing. IJemark has been made 

 of the beautiful park that lies around us. It is an open book for the daily in- 

 Btructioii of the student, with nearly every tree and plant that can be grown in 

 this climate duly labeled, with its lesson in landscape gardening the daily study 

 of teacher and pupils, all an educator of refined taste, and a practical exempli- 

 fication of what tree and shrub, lawn and drive can do in adorning a home. 



THE FAKM. 



Extended practical instruction is given upon land drainage, rotation of crops, 

 the proper cultivation of crops, the management of manures, caro of farm 



4 



