FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 79 



lories were erected for the analysis of soils and fertilizers, and practical 

 demonstrations were given in raising different varieties of trees, shrubs, 

 fruits and vegetables, in budding and grafting. My brother resigned 

 the presidency of the college to take charge of the agricultural depart- 

 ment, which was not continued many years for want of funds. The 

 institution was founded on the scholarship plan, which proved not to be 

 successful nor practicable. In the height of its prosperity, there were 

 more than three hundred pujjils in attendance. It flourished until the 

 time of the civil war, when its numbers were diminished, and it never 

 regained its old footing. The directors thought, as the character of the 

 institution had changed, a change in name might be beneficial, and for 

 a time it was called Belmont College, and finally merged into the Ohio 

 Military Institute. My brother severed his connection with the insti- 

 tution in the fifties, and moved to a farm near Hamilton, Ohio, where 

 he had an opportunity to gratify his taste for agricultural pursuits. 

 He was an enthusiast in his line. He died at the age of 79, in 1888, 

 of heart failure, never having had a day's illness." No more fitting 

 sentiment can be associated with Gary's name than the following sen- 

 tence, which he wrote in "Cincinnatus," in 1857, when speaking of the 

 newly founded Agricultural College of Michigan: "We trust it is the 

 mission of American institutions to enlarge the platform of a university 

 education until it shall embrace the liberal education of men for every 

 honorable calling and pursuit, and let it be our zealous endeavor 

 unitedly to labor to effect so desirable a consummation." 



The "Ohio Agricultural College" was opened in Oberlin, Northern 

 Ohio, in 1854. It ran one 3'ear at Oberlin and two years at Cleveland. 

 The largest attendance was about forty students. It did not grow, and 

 therefore was discontinued. Dr. Towmshend, one of the lecturers, then 

 went to Columbus and urged the State Board of Agriculture to endeavor 

 to secure aid from the legislature. It was suggested that |3,000 be 

 asked. The board did nothing, and the matter was dropped. Pro- 

 fessor George T. Fairchild, writing of it in 1897, speaks as follows of 

 this venture: ''A course of w^inter lectures for farmers was organized 

 about fifty j^ears ago in Cleveland, Ohio, under the leadership of the 

 lamented Dr. Norton S. Townshend, late professor of agriculture in the 

 Ohio State University. Some of the best educators in the region were 

 associated in the work. An elder brother of mine, then and since con- 

 nected with Oberlin College, carried the literary part of the work, with 

 the earnest hope of opening to farmers of the Western Reserve the 

 treasures of pleasure and of power in the world's best thoughts. This 

 lecture course failed for lack of patronage, as well as lack of endow- 

 ment, just as other good enterprises have failed." 



THE GOVERNMENT COLLEGES. 



We now come into the period of the founding of the great agricultural 

 colleges. The reaction from the old academic and classical education 

 had awakened a widespread sentiment for popular education. In many 

 of the older states this movement had acquired great power, and the 

 leading fields in which this new education was to be applied were 

 agriculture and the mechanic arts. As early as 1826, Lieutenant Gov- 

 ernor Talmadge recommended that greater attention be paid to the 

 general teaching of "the sciences connected with agriculture and the 



