THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 23 



and their value thoroughly appreciated ? " County surveys " 

 made in this way might be invaluable, and the Board might rank 

 in this respect with any similar bureau in the Old World or the 

 New, and Massachusetts take the lead in collecting and arranging 

 the statistics of agriculture and natural resources — in which 

 work the department of agriculture under the general govern- 

 ment has so lamentably failed. The information which the 

 Board has already collected is of great value. How much more 

 important may it be made by being brought to the college, and 

 thence diffused through lecture and publication. 



It seems to me, moreover, that by the connection proposed, 

 the Board of Agriculture may do much towards the support of 

 the college. Representing, as the members of the Board do, 

 every farm in the State, they enjoy an especial opportunity to 

 bring the college under the notice of all farmers, and to enlist 

 the sympathy of others who have acquired the power to own 

 land and the taste to adorn and improve it, and who only ask 

 for sufficient knowledge of its management to be able to develop 

 all its capacity and beauty. Let us bind, then, the farm, the 

 agricultural society, the board and the college, into one grand 

 system of agricultural education, in which each may aid the 

 others in performing well their part. 



The liberality of the Commonwealth towards the Board of 

 Agriculture and the societies is well known ; and, while it is 

 entitled to our deepest gratitude, it places us Under the most 

 sacred obligations to see that the bounty bestowed is turned to 

 the best account. The annual expenditure of nearly forty 

 thousand dollars upon societies and the Board, for the improve- 

 ment and development of agriculture, and for the diffusion of 

 agricultural knowledge, ought to be so directed as to produce 

 the largest possible benefit. Elevate, for this purpose, the Secre- 

 tary of the Board to the position of teacher, or lecturer, or 

 professor in the college ; plant our excellent agricultural museum 

 at the college ; connect the scientific investigations now made by 

 employes of the Secretary of the Board with the college ; call 

 the board together annually, or oftener, within the walls of the 

 college ; provide that all State agricultural publications shall 

 emanate from the college ; and the money now expended upon 

 the Board and its officers alone, would be devoted to the double 



