112 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



from the paper mulberry, of sugar from sorglium and froiu 

 the sugar-cane, of cotton from the cotton-plant, of oil from 

 cabbage and other seeds and nuts, and of charcoal and lum- 

 ber from plantations of forest-trees. But enough has been 

 stated to demonstrate that the art of agriculture has been 

 long since brought to remarkable perfection by a people who 

 had no knowledge whatever of the sciences to which we are 

 accustomed to ascribe so much of our progress, and who 

 never enjoyed the benefits even of a board of agriculture. 



When, in 1872, the great embassy from Japan visited this 

 country and Europe, they were amazed at the enormous 

 quantity and immense value of the agricultural products of 

 the Western nations. They perceived that by the introduction 

 of live-stock, improved machinery, and scientific methods, the 

 annual income of their own land might be increased many 

 fold, and the balance of trade with foreigners be perpetually 

 maintained in their favor. When they inspected the IVIassa- 

 chusetts Agricultural College, and were made acquainted 

 with its plan and purposes, and saw the students at work in 

 the laboratory and the field, and then at drill with their 

 rifles and cannon on the parade, they exclaimed at once, 

 " This is the institution for Japan, for this will teach our 

 people both to feed and to defend themselves." From that 

 time extraordinary efforts have been made to improve their 

 agriculture. Gen. Horace Capron, the Commissioner of Agri- 

 culture at Washington, was at once invited to accept a simi- 

 lar position in Japan, and furnished with a very large sum 

 of money for the purchase of the best implements, machines, 

 and live-stock of all sorts, as well as seeds and fruit-trees of 

 the choicest varieties. Model and experimental farms were 

 established in different parts of the empire, and placed under 

 the direction of Japanese officers educated at the INIassachu- 

 setts college. But the government soon learned that a large 

 number of well-trained and thoroughly intelligent men were 

 indispensable to success in the speedy improvement of their 

 agriculture. Accordingly the Sapporo Agricultural College 

 was established in 1876, and liberally furnished with every 

 thing requisite to its highest usefulness. About forty-five 

 thousand dollars is annually expended upon it, of which sum 

 fifteen thousand dollars is devoted to the expenses of the 

 farm. As the number of students is limited to fifty, and as 



