STATE INDUSTRIAL COLLEGE. 31 



ing labor that shall not only be profitable to these boys, but, if 

 possible remunerative to the institution. During a portion of the 

 time when they can work upon the. farm, their labor can be made 

 remunerative, but there is at the close of the season, a time when 

 it is difficult to find work enough for them to do. We do the best 

 we can under the circumstances ; but there may be times when 

 we cannot furnish any work which the students can do, and then 

 of course there will be a falling off in the weekly earnings. 



Mr. Lucas. Do you depend upon them to do all the work upon 

 the farm ? 



Prof. Fernald. Only so far as they can in three hours daily. 

 We do not ask more than that. There is a disadvantage under 

 which our farm labor suffers. You are all aware that it is a great 

 advantage to take men into the field and be able to control their 

 labor through the day, when you have your teams and tools in 

 the field. You can use them to much better advantage than you 

 can a large force put on for three hours in the afternoon. We 

 have all these things to consider. Our farm superintendent does 

 as well as he can under the circumstances. There are necessarily 

 some disadvantages in this method. 



Mr. Lucas. Do you ever employ them all day during the busy • 

 season ? 



Prof. Fernald. Their primary object in going there is to 

 obtain an education. Nothing should be permitted to interfere 

 with that. Mental labor occupies the time until noon, then they 

 have an hour for dinner. From one to four o'clock is occupied 

 with physical labor, after which there arc two hours for recrea- 

 tion, or other use if they prefer. At seven o'clock the bell for 

 study is struck and the students repair to their rooms and pursue 

 their studies during the evening. 



Mr. Pierce. If I understand it, there is an opportunity for a 

 young man, if he has a fair education and wishes to be a book- 

 keeper, to go there and study book-keeping alone, if he does not 

 wish to study anything else. 



Prof. Fernald. We do not deem it best to receive students 

 who wish merely to pursue for a term or two such studies as he 

 could pursue equally well at an academy or a so called commer- 

 cial college. In such case I would advise him to go to the 

 academy rather than to our college. If he wishes to prepare him- 

 self more fully for the work of life we should he happy to receive 

 him. 



