AGRICLLILRAL EDUCATIQiV. 221 



nected therewith ; but still be ignorant of the profitable arrangement of 

 his land, the suitable grains and their varieties and succession on his 

 farm, and those general principles, which are to govern his judgement 

 and practice, under the thousand and one circumstances to which he 

 will be subjected. I have not yet met with any great agricultural ad- 

 vancement as the result of Fellenberg's plan. It was defective in that 

 item of knowledge and skill, which forms the experience and judg- 

 ment which leads on to profitable farming. 



During the month of March last, an announcement appeared in the 

 public prints, that a Farm-school would be opened upon the farm of 

 General Harmon, in the western part of this state. About the same 

 time, Mr. John Wilkinson, of Dutchess county, of this state, announced 

 that he would open a school upon his farm consisting of two hundred 

 and twenty acres of land. These schools have for their design, as an- 

 nounced, the instruction of young gentlemen in practical and scientific 

 agriculture. About the same time G. G. llowland, a merchant in New 

 York City, owner of a large and very highly cultivated farm on Long 

 Island, offered that farm to the American Agricultural Association, rent 

 free, for the establishment of an agricultural school and experimental 

 farm. The offer was entrusted to a committee whose report I have not 

 seen, if one has been made. These schools seem deficient in the same 

 point in which I had viewed Fellenberg's. 



At about the same time with the above, our announcement was is- 

 sued. The plan was intended to meet the defect of Fellenberg's school, 

 and to have no other design than to educate farmers for farming, as phy- 

 sicians are educated physicians, and members of other professions and 

 employments for those professions and employments. The plan was 

 the subject of study about eighteen months before it assumed shape and 

 form. We now think it is calculated to accomplish the design in view, 

 viz. a full English education connected with the theory, economy and 

 practice of agriculture. 



I have now, in as concise a manner as practicable, presented the pre- 

 sent condition and facilities for agricultural education. Our Institute 

 stands alone in its place. It is yet an experiment. We augur success; 

 but if it fad, we feel that it will only be because of our insuffxciency, 

 and not from any inherent defect in the scheme. I must confess when 

 I look upon the great mass of facts to be gathered, the principles to be 

 applied, through the wide range of science, all touching at some point 

 upon agriculture, I am constrained to cry out, Who is sufficient ? I am 

 not. When I remember, that one thing at a time is all which is re- 

 quired, hope revives and courage i:> excited to persevere. 



