150 [Senate 



The remedy for these evils, is the establishment of agricultural 

 schools throughout our State, where, while pursuing all the varied 

 branches of science, the important art of agriculture will be ac- 

 quired, the health of the pupil preserved, and a constitution formed 

 that will fit them for future usefulness in their various pursuits in 

 life. 



There are many other important recommendations to this plan of 

 education, which ought to have weight with those who have the 

 care of youth: for the present, let the following suffice. 



1st. The school being located in the country, the pupil would be 

 removed from temptations which in towns and cities ruin thousands. 



2d. While taking the exercise necessary to health, they could 

 nearly earn their support, which in these times of pecuniary embar- 

 rassment, is worthy of consideration. 



Suffice it for the present, to presume that the above reasons are 

 sufficient to warrant the experiment, if it is at all probable that thus 

 much can be accomplished. The inquiry is, how can this be done 1 



1st. Let the N. Y. State Agricultural Society recommend to the 

 several county societies to apply to the Legislature for the passage 

 of a law, authorizing a loan to the several county societies, from 

 the common school fund, of a sum sufficient to purchase a farm of 

 50 or 100 acres of good land, on condition that the society raise an 

 equal amount and pay the interest upon the loan annually. This 

 will secure a farm and erect the necessary buildings. 



2d. Let the general constitution and by-laws for these associations 

 be sanctioned by legal enactments, fixing the terms of admission to 

 membership, the annual tax for each pupil attending the school, &c. 

 &c. 



Sufficient should be raised in this way to pay teachers, and the ne- 

 cessary labor, over and above that performed by pupils in carrying 

 on the farm. The pupils should be required to labor, or in other 

 words, study agriculture a certain number of hours each day, under 

 the direction of a scientific and practical farmer; the proceeds of the 

 farm to be used in boarding and defraying expenses. The pupils 

 would not only be benefited, but these would be emphatically schools 

 for the instruction of all the farmers in the State. 



These hasty and undigested thoughts are not submitted with the 

 expectation that they will be adopted, but with the hope that some 

 able and experienced pen may be employed in maturing a plan that 

 will eventually establish schools, wherein the sons of the farmers 

 throughout the Empire State, may obtain an education which will 

 fit them in every sense for the faithful discharge of the high and re- 

 sponsible duties of American citizens. 



