848 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



PKOGIIESS OF INDUSTIIIAL EDUCATION. 



All the States except Arkansas, California, riorida, Illinois, Iowa, 

 Kansas, INIicliigau, Minnesota, Missonri, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, 

 Oregon, and Wisconsin have sold the entire amount of land-scrip 

 granted to them by Congress under the act of July 2, 18G2. Of these, 

 some have sold none, and others only a part. Arkansas and Florida 

 have not yet received theirs from the Government, in consequence of 

 their indei3tedness to the Indian trust-fund, which is in the care of the 

 Department of the Interior, and the Secretary- did not feel authorized to 

 deliver the lands while this indebtedness remained. An act has there- 

 fore been passed by Congress, approved December 13, 1872, directing 

 the Secretary to deliver them, and they will be issued as soon as the 

 necessary arrangements can be made. The number of acres sold by the 

 twenty-three States which have disposed of aU their scrip is about 

 0,120,000 ; the amount received from the sales is some $4,126,000 ; and 

 the average price obtained i)er acre is about G7 cents. Some of the 

 States are holding their lands and renting them at 6 to 8 per cent, on 

 their estimated value, with the expectation of selling them at some 

 future time at advanced prices. 



There are now thirty-eight industrial institutions in tlie United 

 States which have received the national endowment, and these 

 are confined to thirty-five States. Louisiana and Nevada have not 

 yet established any. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, 

 and Virginia have established theirs the present year, 1872. Mas- 

 sachusetts, Mississippi, and Virginia have two each, which are located 

 in different parts of the State, and are entirely distinct in their adminis- 

 tration and government; the other States have one each. The univer- 

 sities of Georgia and Missouri have each established a branch in another 

 part of the State, but these branches are under the control of the same 

 governing board, and form a part of one Industrial institution. All 

 these industrial institutions are now opened and in operation, except 

 those in the States of Georgia, (North Georgia Agricultural College,) 

 Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas. They are attended 

 by more than 3,000 students, a large portion of whom are pursuing agri- 

 cultural and mechanical studies under the care and instruction of over 

 350 professors. Some of these colleges in the smaller States are very 

 much embarrassed for want of means to furnish a sufliicient number of 

 professors for conducting them profitably and successfully. A bill was 

 introduced into the United States Senate by Senator Morrill, of 

 Averment, in December of the current year, which, if it should be- 

 come a law, as is expected, will relieve them from the discouragements 

 under which they are laboring. The bill proposes to give 500,000 acres 

 of land for the further endowment of one national college in each State 

 and Territory. The land is to be held in custody by the United States 

 until it is sold, and the proceeds, after deducting expenses, are to be 

 invested in United States bonds paying 5 i3er cent, semi-annually. The 

 bonds are to be held by the treasurer of the United States, and the in- 

 terest is to be disbursed for the benefit of each of the colleges in the 

 several States and Territories. The minimum i)rice of the Government 

 lands is $1.25 per ncre, and the interest on the proceeds of these lands, 

 when they are all sold, will yield to each college an annual income of at 

 least $30,000, a sum sufficient to put each college, even in the smallest 

 State, on a firm foundation. The people are becoming deeply interested 

 in the success of these colleges, and liberal private donations have been 



