THE 'AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 93 



development, but also in those indispensable attributes which 

 help to make a true gentleman, that we do not believe too 

 much importance can be laid upon this branch of their edu- 

 cation, both as exerting a healthful influence upon the stu- 

 dents themselves and as a safeguard for the protection of 

 our country in the future." 



The Examining Committee of 1872, Hon. Leverett Salton- 

 stall, chairman, having attended the quarterly examinations, 

 and the annual graduation exercises in the month of June, 

 say in their report, "It is truly wonderful, that, in so short a 

 time, this admirable institution should have assumed such 

 proportions. Only incorporated in 1863, receiving its first 

 class late in 1867, it now stands in the front rank of agricul- 

 tural colleges in this country, — an object of reasonable pride 

 to the Commonwealth. 



" The classes in April were examined in botany, moral phi- 

 losophy, agricultural chemistry, mathematics, English litera- 

 ture, and practical farming ; at Commencement (inter alloc), 

 in the relation of science to practice in agriculture, renova- 

 tion of exhausted soils, rotation of crops, manures, stock- 

 husbandry, and in agriculture as a business-pursuit; in 

 November, in road and railroad construction, zoology, use 

 of manures, chemistry, and military drill ; all of which were 

 creditable alike to professors and students, the relations 

 between whom seem to be of the most agreeable nature." 



The Committee of 1873, Dr. Horace P. Wakefield, chair- 

 man, enter into the condition of the institution at considera- 

 ble length, both as to the details of the farm and the educa- 

 tional departments, and say, " In November, at the close of 

 the term, the freshmen were examined in physiology, the 

 sophomores in agriculture, the juniors in physics, and the 

 seniors in botany. The classes acquitted themselves credita- 

 bly ; and, when compared with similar performances a little to 

 the south forty years ago, they were of a high order. But 

 facilities, advantages, and times change ; and boys must change 

 with them. Not that every student was a perfect master of 

 the subject he had studied, an adept in science, — the teach- 

 ers themselves would not claim that, — but these young men 

 were familiar with the principles laid down in text-books, and 

 inculcated by their teachers, and showed that they had them 

 fixed in their minds, and could use them in stating a proposi- 



