PROGRESS AND PROSPECTS OF AGRICULTURE. 9 



At the last session of the Ohio legislature, an institution, bearing the name of the " Ohio 

 Agricultural College," was incorporated and located at Cleveland. In order to unite the 

 energies of all interested in agricultural education, it has since been determined to transfer 

 the agricultural department of the college at Oberlin to the new institution at Cleveland, 

 which, under favorable auspices, will commence its course of lectures and instruction on 

 the 1st of December, 1855. The following board of officers and instructors have been elected : 

 Harvey Rice, Esq., President; Professors, J. P. Kirtland, S. St. John, N. S. Townshend, J. 

 Dascomb, and J. H. Fairchild. The education course which has been proposed embraces the 

 following subjects : 



1st. Those that relate to the land. Geology, mineralogy, chemistry, &c. 2d. Those that 

 relate to plants. Botany and vegetable physiology, field crops, orcharding, gardening, &c. 

 3d. What relates to animals. Comparative anatomy and physiology, natural history of do- 

 mestic animals, veterinary medicine, insects, &c. 4th. What relates to labor. Rural archi- 

 tecture and landscape gardening, draining, use and construction of implements, surveying, 

 farm book-keeping, &c. &c. A reading-room, supplied with agricultural papers and jour- 

 nals, are additional facilities oflFered to the student. The price of tuition for the entire 

 course is $40. 



A "Farmers' High School," incorporated by the legislature of Pennsylvania in 1855, was 

 organized at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in June last. The trustees are empowered to make 

 choice of a suitable location, embracing not less than two hundred nor more than two thou- 

 sand acres ; and also'to choose a principal and other officers and assistants of suitable prac- 

 tical and scientific attainments, as well as make whatever arrangements the nature of the 

 institute may require. The State Agricultural Society is authorized to appropriate any sum 

 not exceeding $10,000, whenever the school may require it, and also to make annual appro- 

 priations according to the extent of its resources. 



The Gardeners' Educational School, established some years ago by the Belgian government, 

 and located at Ghent, under the superintendence of the celebrated horticulturist, Van 

 Houtte, is fulfilling the most sanguine expectations which have been formed concerning it. 

 The young men, admitted between the age of fifteen and twenty, receive instruction, board, 

 and lodging in the establishment. The expense is 600 francs per annum. The course of 

 lectures and instruction lasts three years, and comprises all matters which, in every way, an 

 accomplished gardener ought to know. The professors are appointed and paid by the Belgian 

 government. The institution is equally open to foreigners as well as citizens of Belgium, 

 and, although but recently established, has already pupils from many different nations. The 

 arrangements of the school comprise spacious lecture-rooms, sitting-rooms, and dormitories 

 for the pupils, a rich garden, museum, library, and herbarium, together with the immense 

 horticultural establishment of Van Houtte, where every branch of the business is carried on 

 on a great scale itself the best practical school for young gardeners. 



The Union Agricultural Society of Virginia and North Carolina, whose members reside 

 partially in Virginia and partly in North Carolina, have recently raised the sum of $20,000, 

 and established a model and experimental farm, in the immediate vicinity of the city of 

 Petersburg, Virginia. This society embraces within its organization the border counties of 

 Virginia and North Carolina, i.e. what is called the south side of Virginia, (from James 

 River south,) and all that portion of Carolina which finds a market at Petersburg. The 

 limits of the farm are about one hundred acres, embracing a considerable variety of soil, a 

 portion of which has been slightly improved by former applications of marl and lime ; but, 

 as a whole, its present condition affords an ample field for experiments in the improvement 

 of worn-out land, by the judicious application of manures, deeper and more perfect tilth, 

 subsoiling, under-draining, &c. 



Operations were commenced upon the farm, under the superintendence of Mr. Nicol, one 

 of the editors of the Southern Farmer, about the commencement of the present year. During 

 the past season, the suitable buildings, offices, and fences have been erected, the farm laid 

 out, trees planted, and some progress made in the course of practical experimentation. Thirty 

 acres were seeded with various kinds of oats, and treated with different manures, and in va- 

 ried quantities ; (the results will be found in the present volume, department of Agricultural 



