sure means of promoting the general good of tlie country. Everything which 

 has a tendency to benefit the tillers of the soil, is an advantage to the whole 

 c>immuuity, for their interests are reciprocal and inseparable ; and as the general 

 good is promoted by the fostering of the agricultural interest, it becomes the 

 dutv of those avIio are entrusted with the management and direction of public 

 affairs to give special attention to this great interest which lies at the foundation 

 of our national greatness. 



It is undoubtedly true that the agricultural is the most important interest of 

 the country, and that it is an advantage to the government to protect the in- 

 dustry of the people, especially when directed to so indispensable an end as the 

 means of subsistence. It is also true that those who are engaged in this branch 

 of industry outnumber all the other classes put together, and yet comparatively 

 little has been done in the way of legislation to encourage and promote the 

 success of agriculture. It is believed that one reason why the subject has met 

 with so little attention at the hands of the national legislature is, that their con- 

 stituency have not urged it upon them as zealously as a proper regard to the 

 subject demanded. And the object of the commissioner in now adverting to it 

 is to induce those who are immediately interested in the subject to press as an 

 argument upon their representatives the importance and the justice of bestow- 

 ing upon this great interest that consideration which a due regard for the general 

 AVL'lfare demands. 



A thorough svstem of- scientific and practical education in all the branches of 

 agriculture is certainly of the highest importance, and while the department is 

 ddino- what it can with the means at its disposal in the promotion of knowledge 

 on the subject, it is believed that the establishment by the government of an 

 experimental fiirm and agricultural school would afford large and better facilities 

 for the acquirement of a thorough education, which is so indispensable to a suc- 

 cessful prosecution of the profession of husbandry. We have only to look to 

 the activity with which agricultural schools have been founded on the continent 

 of Europe, and especially in Great Britain, if we desire to ascertain the esti. 

 mation in which such institutions are held there. 



Few of the leading German states have neglected to provide, at public ex- 

 pense, some institution or other designed for the improvement of agriculture. 



In the kingdom of Prussia there are several well-sustained schools with ex- 

 tensive model farms, comprising, in the aggregate, over five thousand acres of 

 land. Botanic gardens and valuable herbariums are also provided, with other 

 facilities for the education of youths designed for husbandry. 



About twenty years since the Emperor of Eussia established a school in the 

 neighborhood of St. Petersburg, which has been attended with much success. 



The imperial schools of France have exerted a wide influence in the agricul- 

 tural progress of that country. Austria, Bavaria, Saxony, all have their insti- 

 tutions for the increase and dissemination of agricultural knowledge, and the 

 English government has been constant and decidedly successful in its support 



