PLAN FOR INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITIES. 



and 9th, to 75"; it then fell off, and has ranged at a low temperature since, falling as low- 

 as 40 and not rising above 65. 



These records, passing over a century and a quarter, show the regularity with which 

 nature moves in her plans for the supply of the material wants of man, notwithstanding 

 he is ever complaining of the manner in Avhich she does her work for his benefit and de- 

 light. She goes on uniformly and calmly, in her beneficent labor, spreading her beauti- 

 ful flowers where no mortal eye ever falls upon them, and then maturing the fruit which 

 is to afford him nourishment and gratify his sense — -not essentially impeded by what man 

 chooses to call a backward spring, nor overflattercd by a sunbeam or an occasional zephyr, 

 so as to lose the great balance which keeps all things moving well. How few days sepa- 

 rate the earliest from the latest period on which she puts on her gay and delightsome appa- 

 rel of flowers, the preceding record clearly reveals; still fewer is the difference between 

 those in which she pours into our lap the ripened harvest. When the whether in spring 

 continues cool, the secret roots and vessels of plants are gathering strength and resources 

 to supply the exhausting processes by which the flowers, and fruits and seeds, are matur- 

 ed; while on the contrary, an early and unseasonable warmth calls upon them for an ex- 

 hausting effort, before they are prepared to encounter it. Wm. Willis. 



Portland, Me.. May, 22, 1952. 



PLAN FOR INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITIES. 



BY PROFESSOR TURNER, JACKSONVILLE, ILL. 



The leaven of the necessity for education among the industrial classes, begins to work, 

 we are happy to perceive, in many parts of the country. Massachusetts is likely to be the 

 first to set an Agricultural School on a comprehensive scale, in operation — but we see in- 

 dications of marked interest in half a dozen other states. At a Farmers' Convention in 

 Illinois, our correspondent Professor Turner, of that State, submitted a plan for such an 

 educational institution, which has since been published in pamphlet form. We think the 

 importance of the subject one that will be sufficient apology for allowing the Professor to 

 be heard by a large audience. It is not often that the weak points of an ordinary collegi- 

 ate education, are so clearly exposed, and the necessity of working-men's universities so 

 plainly demonstrated. Ed. 



Plan for the State University. — There should be connected with such an insti- 

 tution, in this state, a sufficient quantity of land, of variable soil and aspect, for all its 

 needful annual experiments and processes in the great interests of agriculture and horti- 

 culture. 



Buildings of appropriate size and construction for all its ordinary and special uses; a 

 complete philosophical, chemical, anatomical, and industrial apparatus; a general cabinet, 

 embracing everything that relates to, illustrates or facilitates any one of the industrial 

 arts; especially all sorts of animals, birds, reptiles, insects, trees, shrubs and plants found 

 in this state, and the adjacent states. 



Instruction should be constantly given in the anatomy and physiology, the nature, in- 

 stincts, and habits of all animals, insects, trees, and plants; their laws of propagation, 

 primogeniture, growth and decay, disease and health, life and death; on the nature, com 

 position, adaptation and regeneration of soils; on the nature, strength, durability 

 servation, perfection, composition, cost, use and manufacture of all materials of ar 



