418 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



somewhat pronounced public opinion that constant effort 

 should be made, and expenses incurred, for the benefit of the 

 general agriculture of the State, by carrying forward investi- 

 gations to demonstrate and establish principles of practical 

 importance. If the entire institution consisted of the college 

 proper, with the indispensable professorships supplied with 

 the necessary appliances and apparatus to make the instruc- 

 tion what it should be, the present income of the college 

 would be inadequate to its proper support ; and, as the farm 

 and horticultural departments must be used to a greater or 

 less extent to give technical education to students, they can- 

 not be relied upon to contribute to this purpose. Our efforts 

 the last two years to bring the college to the highest effi- 

 ciency having convinced us of its impossibility, with only its 

 present income, it was thought desirable to institute measures 

 to increase the endowment fund to such an amount as is 

 required to yield an ample and reliable revenue. Therefore 

 a joint convention to consider the subject, consisting of his 

 Excellency the Governor, and Executive Council, the Board 

 of Trustees, and the Board of Agriculture, was held at the 

 college on the 22d of last June. 



Gov. Long acted as president of the convention, and called 

 upon Hon. Daniel Needham of the Board of Trustees to 

 make statements showing the condition and wants of the 

 college, and the reasons for calling the convention. In re- 

 sponse, Col. Needham passed in rapid review the history of 

 the agricultural colleges of Europe, and the great benefit 

 resulting therefrom ; the early efforts to establish them in 

 this country, alluding in particular to the commission given 

 by the State of Massachusetts in 1851 to Dr. Hitchcock, to 

 examine the agricultural schools of England, France, and 

 Germany, and his report thereon to the Legislature. He 

 traced with some detail the subsequent efforts to establish 

 agricultural schools in several of the States, and the gradual 

 and decided change in public opinion in their favor until 

 about 1860, which reads as follows : — 



" Hon. Justin S. ]\Iorrill of Vermont, then a member of the Hou^e of 

 Representatives, brought the matter again before Congress. It was dis- 

 cussed from time to time — now prostrated by defeat, and again bidding 

 fair promise of success — imtil 1862, when the Act upon which the present 

 Agi-icnltural College is based was passed by both Houses of Congress, 

 received the signature of the President, and became a law. 



