PKOGKESS OF INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION. 385 



VIKaiNIA. 



The general assembly of Virginia passed au act approved February 

 7, 1872, authorizing the board of education to sell the congressional 

 land-scrip, and invest it in bonds of the State of Virginia or of the 

 United States, or in any other safe bonds or stocks, for the support of 

 one or more industrial schools. In accordance with this act, the land 

 was sold for $285,000, and $192,000 of this sum have been paid in and 

 invested in Virginia State bonds, at G per cent, annually. The remain- 

 der is to be paid by the 1st of January, 1873. On the 19th of March, 

 1872, the general assembly established two industrial institutions, in 

 different sections of the State, one for white students and the other for 

 colored, as follows : 



Virginia Agricultural and Meclumical College., at Blaclcshurgh, C. L. C. 

 Minor, M. A., president. — In the act establishing this college, the gen- 

 eral assembly gave two-thirds (§190,000) of the proceeds of the con- 

 gressional land-grant to the Preston and Olin Institute, at Blacksburgh, 

 in Montgomery County, on condition that the name of that institution 

 should be changed to the " Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical Col- 

 lege ;" that the trustees should transfer, by deed, the land, buildings, 

 and other property of the mstitute to the Virginia Agricultural and 

 Mechanical College; that a certain number of students should have 

 the privilege of attending the college without charge for tuition ; and 

 that the county of Montgomery should appropriate 820,000 to be ex- 

 pended in the erection of additional buildings, or in the purchase of a 

 farm for the use of the college. These conditions were complied with 

 by the respective parties, and the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical 

 College was therefore established at Blacksburgh, March 19, 1872. 



A number of students, equal to the number of members in the house 

 of delegates, is to be selected, each second year, by the school trustees, 

 with reference to the highest proficiency and good character", from the 

 white male pupils of the free-schools of their respective counties, cities, 

 and election districts ; or, in their discretion, from others than those at- 

 tending the free-schools, and to be admitted free of tuition for two years, 

 with the privilege of being returned by the trustees for a longer i)eriod 

 on recommendation of the faculty of the college, for extraordinary dili- 

 gence or proficiency in their studies. The course of study embraces 

 " such branches of learning as relate to agriculture and the mechanic 

 arts, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and in- 

 cluding military tactics.-' 



The college was opened as an industrial institution, under the patron- 

 age of the National Government and the State, October 1, 1872. Besides 

 the president, previously mentioned, the faculty consisted of General 

 James H. Lane, A. M., graduate Virginia Military Institute, professor 

 of chemistry and natural philosophy ; Gray Carroll, ]\I. A., professor of 

 mathematics and modern languages; and Charles Martin, A. M., pro- 

 fessor of the English languages and literature and of the ancient lan- 

 guages. The farm superintendent and professor of agriculture will be 

 iippointed in January, 1873. The college farm contains 214: acres, and 

 cost $20,740. At present it is all in blue-grass, and intended to be 

 used principally for raising improved stock. The college building is a 

 substantial three-story brick edifice, 100 feet by 40, containing three 

 recitation -rooms, a chapel, and twenty-four lodging-rooms. 



Tho number of students in attendance during the present vear, (1872,) 

 is 113. 



Hampton formal and Agricultural Institute, at Hampton, General /S'. 

 25 a 



