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I forward you for the purpose of convenient reference, a copy of 

 document No. 6, relating to public instruction. On page 488 you will 

 find the act of the Legislature relative to the establishment of the Nor- 

 mal School ; in section 7 of which it is provided that " the Board of Edu- 

 cation shall have power, and it shall be their duty, from time to time, 

 (fee, to provide suitable grounds and buildings, implements of hus- 

 bandry and mechanical tools, for the purpose of more effectually 

 carrying out the second provision of the act, which provides for in- 

 struction in these subjects. 



Repeated attempts, you are aware, have been made in our State, to 

 procure more satisfactory legislative action in relation to agriculture, but 

 •without success. The memorials of the State Agricultural Society in 

 relation to the establishment of an Agricultural Branch of the Univer- 

 sity, you will find on page 205 of the document referred to; and on 

 page 206 another memorial to the Legislature, praying for the estab- 

 lishment of an Agricultural College. The objects and purposes contem- 

 plated in this memorial, if successfully carried out, would seem to fill 

 the whole field required by the interests of agriculture, and by the pro- 

 risions of law, making it the duty of the Board of Education to pro- 

 vide for instruction in these branches, and to furnish materials, (fee, for 

 the purpose of reducing such instruction to practice. It was proposed 

 to attach an institution to be designated the "State Agricultural Col- 

 lege" — a farm, upon which " the culture of all the useful grains, grasses 

 and roots, the raising of stock, <fec., could be conducted to the best ad- 

 vantage ; and where the operations of draining, and the treatment of 

 different soils could be thoroughly exhibited — a farm — which, under the 

 superintendence of practical and scientific masters, should become a 

 model for the farmers of our State. The studies proposed in the me- 

 morial were those which should, and will probably be adopted at the 

 Normal School, viz : " those of a practical kind, including Beade's Ag- 

 riculture, in its details, Mathematics, the keeping of accounts. Mechan- 

 ics, Natural Philosophy, and the Natural Sciences, in their application to 

 Agriculture ; and added to these, the study of Anatomy, so far as con- 

 nected with the diseases of animals, the study of insects, and their 

 habits, and to some extent Engineering, Architecture, and Landscape 

 Gardening." 



