THE ALBANY, NEW YOKE, CONVENTION. 619 



another wreath, to her renown for the protection of our in 

 dustry and elevation of her sons.&quot; 



Eev: Dr. Hitchcock, President of Amherst College, while 

 advocating the endowments of such institutions, before the 

 Massachusetts Board of Agriculture (1851), testified as fol 

 lows : &quot; I have been a lecturer on chemistry for twenty years. 

 I have tried a great many experiments in that time, but I do 

 not know of any experiments so delicate or so difficult as the 

 farmer is trying every week. The experiments of the 

 laboratory are not to be compared to them. You have a 

 half dozen sciences which are concerned in the operation of 

 a farm. There is to be a delicate balancing of all these, as 

 every farmer knows. To suppose that a man is going to be 

 able, without any knowledge of these sciences, to make im 

 provements in agriculture by haphazard experiments, is, it 

 seems to me, absurd.&quot; 



THE ALBANY, NEW YORK, CONVENTION ON AGRICUL 

 TURAL EDUCATION. 



A general Convention on the subject of a national system 

 of practical university education, was held at Albany, Janu 

 ary 26, 1853. This Convention was numerously attended by 

 some of the most illustrious men of the country, including 

 many distinguished educators, scientists, and divines. A 

 committee of twenty-one was appointed* to report a plan of 

 action. Among these appear the names of President Way- 

 land, of Brown University ; Bishop Potter, of Pennsylvania ; 

 Washington Irving; Governor Hunt and Senator l)ix, of 

 New York ; President Hitchcock, of Amherst College ; Pro 

 fessors Webster, Dewey, Henry, and Bache ; Professor 

 Mitchell, of Cincinnati ; Professor Pierce, of Cambridge, etc. 



Rev. Dr. Kennedy spoke of &quot; the want that had long been 



