EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Vol. XXV. October, 1911. No. 5. 



Endowment for agricultural education and research, except from 

 the federal and state governments, has been relatively quite small. 

 This is especially the case in view of the fundamental position of 

 agriculture and the avenue it opens for practical results which find 

 application in everyday life. 



Doubtless the aid which the sta*te and national governments have 

 given is responsible in part for this, and the further fact that the 

 institutions devoted to it are mainly state institutions. The appeal 

 has consequently not been made to private beneficence to the extent 

 that it has in other classes of institutions. Agriculture has been re- 

 garded as one of the branches which the state and federal govern- 

 ments were taking care of, and until quite recently there has been 

 no very widespread appreciation of any further needs of these insti- 

 tutions. However, private endowment for agricultural instruction 

 commenced many years ago, and while it has not represented in the 

 aggregate a very large amount, it has reflected the intelligent interest 

 of a considerable number of persons. 



The propriety of public aid to agriculture found early advocacy 

 in the well-known words of President Washington in his annual mes- 

 sage to Congress in 1796 when he said : " It will not be doubted, that, 

 with reference either to individual or national welfare, agriculture 

 is of primary importance. In proportion as nations advance in 

 population and other circumstances of maturity, this truth becomes 

 more apparent and renders the cultivation of the soil more and more 

 an object of public patronage. Institutions for promoting it grow 

 up, supported by the public purse; and to what object can it be dedi- 

 cated with greater propriety ? " 



Many years were destined to elapse, however, before the practical 

 realization of these views in public legislation, and in the interval 

 the efforts of individuals, even though isolated and apparently in- 

 significant, supplied numerous object lessons which doubtless paved 

 the way to subsequent public action. 



The first bequest for agricultural education in this country appears 

 to have been that of Mr. Benjamin Bussey, of Eoxbury, Mass. In a 



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