142 APPENDIX. 



4 



setts, and contrary to the plain intent of the Act of Congress donating 

 the land, if it were so meagre in its requirements that the students 

 should be fitted only for one pursuit in life. No surer way could be 

 devised to defeat the very end for which the College was established, 

 than to conduct it on a plan which proclaimed in theory and practice, 

 that its students were to be kept in ignorance of certain things lest they 

 should be above their calling. No institution can ever succeed on such . 

 a plan, and it ought not. It is difficult to see what a student would 

 enter such an institution for. Such views are repugnant to every gen- 

 erous feeling which an educated man ought to possess, contrary to the 

 principles of our institutions, and are not sustained by the present posi- 

 tion of the agriculturists of this State. The adoption of such a system 

 would be simply saying to the farmers of Massachusetts that they are 

 tillers of the soil, because they are too ignorant for other pursuits. An 

 entirely different principle has been acted upon in organizing the Col- 

 lege. While the student is to be educated, agriculture, which rests 

 upon a knowledge of all the natural sciences, is to be made a means of 

 education. It ought to be so presented that it shall be an inviting pur- 

 suit for an educated man. When all its processes are scientifically 

 understood, it will be difficult to point to any business or profession that 

 offers a field of thought more desirable. The number of students will 

 undoubtedly be small until the true position of the College is fully 

 understood and it has established its character by the work it has 

 accomplished. 



The College will accomplish its design only by giving a sound educa- 

 tion to its students and by aiding in the work undertaken by the Board 

 of Agriculture, of developing the sciences of Agriculture and Horticul- 

 ture in the State. 



Respectfully submitted. 



By order of the Trustees, 



P. A. CIIADBOURNE, President. 



