26 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



colleges. Those boys are employed ; they are given something 

 useful to do ; they feel that they are learning something useful all 

 the time, something they are going to practice, and he will not be 

 obliged to discipline them for bad conduct. 



I have had an opportunity during the past year of witnessing 

 the exercises in a great many institutions of learning, some of 

 them of high standing, and the students have all acquitted them- 

 selves well ; but I hesitate not to say that the boys in the college 

 at Orono, considering the time they have been there, taking into 

 consideration their physical and mental powers and everything 

 that goes to make up the elements of success in life, are equal, if 

 not superior, to any class I have ever seen. I believe that every 

 man who has heard the recitations of those boys, and witnessed 

 their mental and physical improvement, will be ready to attest to 

 the correctness of this statement. 



Prof. Fernald. Four years are required for the regular course, 

 but the institution also provides that a briefer course may be 

 taken, under certain circumstances, by those who want to go for 

 some special purpose. If a young man has the knowledge in 

 mathematics necessary to^prepai'e him to enter upon an advanced 

 course, for example, in civil engineering, it is not necessary that 

 he take the four years' course. If he come thus prepared, he can 

 pursue for a shorter season the studies that may be necessary to 

 prepare himself more fully for work in the field. I have in 

 mind now the case of a young man who called upon me but a few 

 days ago, who was formerly a student of mine, and who has been 

 three years in the field as a civil engineer, who wishes to enter 

 the college af the commencement of the next term, if it is possible 

 for him to do so, to carry his studies forward to a degree higher 

 than he has yet been able to do, to prepare himself for wider use- 

 fulness in the profession he has chosen^ There is this provision 

 for students to study with reference to special emergencies, or for 

 special preparation, and yet, with most young men, the full course 

 is very much more advisable. We have had cases of young men 

 making application to come for a term or two terms, who upon 

 examination proved not to have advanced sufficiently to enter the 

 college at all. We can do very little for such ; but a young man 

 who is ready to come to the college and put in time and study 

 and faithful work there, can prepare himself for almost any useful 

 industry that is carried on in this State or any other State. 



