904 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



c'iated. But even so, the taking of so important and novel a step by 

 this frontier State was a bold and radical departure from the tra- 

 ditions of education. 



The State Agricultural Society was organized in 1849, and, as 

 agriculture was the great industry of the State, the society had the 

 support and cooperation of the leading men, as well as of the farmers 

 themselves. Secretary Butterfield. in describing the influences that 

 have made the college what it is, credited the Agricultural Society 

 with having been a very potent influence in this direction, and with 

 having secured funds for the establishment of the college in 1855, 

 after repeated appeals to the legislature. Two years later, in May, 

 1857, the college opened its doors to students. 



The anniversary exercises brought out much of interest regarding 

 the early history of the college, which showed how humble and crude 

 were its beginnings and how great the obstacles against which it had 

 to contend. One session was given up to the '' builders of the college," 

 with addresses upon the men and the conditions of the earlj^ days. 

 The conditions surrounding the new institution are well illustrated 

 by a statement from the address of President Monroe, of the State 

 board of agriculture, who spoke for the college and the students of 

 '57 to 'GO. " The college was a typical Michigan pioneer," he said, 

 " in starting in the woods, in opening up roads, in logging and burn- 

 ing green timber — much of it in the wet season of the year — the pulling 

 of green stumps and digging where an ax was as imj^ortant as the 

 spade or the shovel." The transformation in the college and its sur- 

 roundings which fifty years have wrought is typical of the progress 

 and upbuilding of agricultural education which have taken place in 

 that period. 



From the nature of the occasion, interest centered largely around 

 matters historical, both at the anniversarj' celebration and the conven- 

 tion of the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Ex- 

 periment Stations, which was held in connection with it. The exer- 

 cises took on a historical cast and there Avas much discussion along the 

 lines of the unwritten history of agricultural education and research 

 in this country, the agencies and influences that have been operative 

 at dilferent stages of development, and the sources from which the 

 leaders drew their inspiration. 



These discussions served to show how little systematic study has 

 been given to the movement for these land-grant institutions in con- 

 nection with the condition of the times, the influences and tendencies 

 then in evidence, and the individual efforts of prominent exponents 

 working in different parts of the country. The question was even 

 raised as to the causes which first led Mr. Morrill to i^ropose national 

 legislation, for the opinion seemed prevalent that the ideas embodied 

 in the measure wdiich he so persistently and untiringly pressed 



