ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT ABBOTT. 387 



sixty per cent, of our students went back upon farms, or into hor- 

 ticultural pursuits. That is the difference between the prediction 

 and the result. I think this result is due to the fact, that they 

 keep up their habits of labor during the whole four years ; and 

 they labor cheerfully, becaiise their labor is all connected with 

 their class instruction. Our students frequently go out into the 

 barnyard, or into the garden, or into the green-house, and receive 

 their lecture there. But we do not allow them to depend upon 

 lectures entirely; they use text-books also, where suitable ones can 

 be obtained, and we oblige them to study and recite. In practical 

 agriculture we do not use text-books, but depend upon lectures, 

 with practice. 



Now, if all the farmers who come to a convention like this were 

 able to follow a lecture like that we heard this morning, and seize 

 upon and hold the scientific names of substances, and if they knew 

 their relations to each other and their action, how exceedingly in- 

 teresting and profitable a meeting like this, anywhere, would be to 

 the common run of farmers. There is too commonly a lack of the 

 elemeutary knowledge among farmers that would enable them 

 properly to take hold of these things and profit by them as they 

 should. 



But the Agricultural Colleges are exerting a general influence 

 in favor of scientific studies, and as this influence spreads we shall 

 have, by-and-by, this elementary education widely difi'used, and 

 people will be better able to read books and newspapers, and to 

 discuss matters of this sort intelligently ; the education of the 

 world will be more practical, and just as beneficial, just as disci- 

 plinary, and just as much calculated to elevate and make noble the 

 man. 



Question. How many students have you at the college ? 



Pres. Abbott. About 80. We have but one building for 

 students, which would not hold near that number, but our students 

 have been willing to room four in a room, if they could get two 

 beds in ; and we have been for the last three or four years crowded 

 all the time. Last winter the Legislature made an appropriation 

 of $30,000 for a new building ; the college added about $5,000 

 more, so that, at the opening of the next spring term, we hope to 

 be able to accommodate nearly 200 students. Whether we shall 

 have 200 I do not know, but we have had hitherto more applica- 

 tions than we could entertain, and of course there have not been 



