494 [Assembly 



Extract from Address of Hamilton Murray, President. 

 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 



We have only glanced, and that most imperfectly at the compo- 

 nents of the air we breathe, and breathe a life time often, without^ 

 further inquiry. The question now arises how these subjects can 

 be made familiar to the farming community. In my opinion, in 

 but one way. A way by which we will in time raise the standard 

 of education in that class. Carry out the great doctrine ^'as th© 

 twig is bent the tree is inclined." Let works on agricultural chemr 

 istry become text hooks in our district schools-, let our State JVor- 

 fjial school make it a requisite part of the teacher'' s education; let thu 

 young and old pass a few evenings every winter in witnessing som© 

 of those chemical combinations which any ordinary teacher, with 

 a very ordinary and not expensive apparatus, could present. 

 This should be done preparatory and with reference to a more en- 

 larged sphere of education for some, in a State agricultural school^ 

 from whence would go forth those who would become professors 

 of Agricultural Chemistry, instructing our youth and counseling 

 the ignorant in the due management of their farms. This is not 

 Utopian but practical, and must be brought into active operation, 

 if we are to maintain the value of our lands on the eastern side oi 

 this great country, stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 



- My hope is, that the parent Society ol this State, through its effi- 

 cient, and intelligent Secretary, who has recently witnessed tbe 

 transforming effects of high culture in Great Britain, and could, 

 from his position, concentrate the action of the agricultural portion 

 of our citizens so as to bring about these desired results. Foi 

 one I appeal to him to accomplish this. He has the Chief Magis- 

 trates of this State, in succession, with him. He has the intelli- 

 gence of those active in and giving tone to the State Agricultural 

 Society with liim, and for its accomplishment, he will ever have 

 the thanks of the well wisher of our agricultural prosperity. 



It is a remarkable fact, that ever since the year 1796, the subject 

 of national action in relation to agricultural information, in the, 

 form of an Agricultural Board, or Bureau, has occupied the atten- 

 tion of successive National Executives, and you all know, that the 

 subject of agricultural education, in a practical and scientific 



