THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 171 



women are not admitted to the previous studies at Harvard, 

 this puts them at a disadvantage in comparison with young 

 men. Still, I think graduates of our good high schools would 

 find no difficulty in following out the course at Bussey. 



At the school at Newton it was especially desired to give an 

 opening to those women who are at once anxious to make 

 horticulture a profitable business, and we therefore tried to 

 provide them a good home at a low price, where they could 

 live at a cheap rate while pursuing their studies. At West 

 Roxbury no such provision is made for either men or women, 

 so that its advantages are at present confined to those who cart 

 live within a convenient distance. 



So strongly did the directors feel the need of these additional 

 opportunities for women, that they considered the project of 

 establishing a home school in the neighborhood of the Bussey 

 Institution, where young women could live and study under 

 careful superintendence, and yet have the opportunity of 

 attending the college lectures. But the subject is yet so wholly 

 new, and the Bussey Institution offers so much that has never 

 before been within the reach of women, that the directors do 

 not at present feel justified in asking from the public the 

 means to support a separate school. 



Retaining their organization, they will use the interest of the 

 funds in their hands, in assisting women of superior talents and 

 persistent determination of purpose, to obtain an education in 

 horticulture, either at the Bussey Institution or elsewhere, and 

 will endeavor to spread the idea of the fitness of this occu- 

 pation for women, and to awaken an interest among them for 

 the work. The President, Miss Abby W. May, and the Sec- 

 retary, Miss Lucia Peabody, of Boston, are a committee for 

 the management of this fund, and will decide upon its appro- 

 priation. 



Their two years' experience has been of great value in testing 

 the truth of the ideas which I have endeavored to enforce. 

 The pupils have been from the most cultivated classes in so- 

 ciety. 



One point of great interest was in regard to the effect of the 

 school life on the health of the pupils. The impression seemed 

 to get abroad that the school was to be a hospital or sanitarium 



