62 NEW YORK 



&quot; Shall we any longer be compelled to answer ? We have 

 no such institution ; we have provided an ample revenue for 

 all but a complete course of practical instruction in agricul 

 ture. In almost every State in Europe, the attention of des 

 potic governments has been called nay, seriously and sedu 

 lously directed to the formation and endowment of schools 

 of this description. There it is admitted the motive to a cer 

 tain extent may be mercenary to provide food for taxation. 

 Here it is a debt due from the State to a class which, before 

 they asked for themselves, have contributed to all others. 



&quot; It is conceded by your committee, that to a certain extent 

 farmers are not fond of innovations. If experiments are tried, 

 they are too often limited to one or two. If they fail, it is 

 condemned. That prejudices of this description are fast wear 

 ing away, we admit ; but that they still exist, to a consider 

 able extent, there can be no doubt. And a gentleman farmer 

 is generally at hand, as an instance of a poor farmer. But it 

 is not the intention of the committee to endow an institution 

 to rear up and educate persons in the mere theory of hus 

 bandry. It is to combine practice with science ; and if it 

 should be said that this would be a school only for the chil 

 dren of the more opulent, the unanswerable argument is, that 

 it is the same in regard to your colleges, and must be so of 

 necessity. Still the results of such an education, practised 

 upon in all parts of the State, must and will lead to the most 

 beneficial results. A good example is worth a world of mere 

 speculation. 



&quot; In a school of this kind, under competent managers, there 

 may be concentrated the best models of practice, in rural 

 labour, known at home or abroad. The various breeds of 

 domestic animals, the varieties of garden and orchard fruit, 

 and the implements of husbandry, may be here satisfactorily 

 compared, and their relative merits and advantages determined. 

 Diversified experiments may be made in the various depart 

 ments of husbandry, calculated to instruct and improve us in 

 practice. Mechanical science, particularly what is denominated 

 The Mechanics of Agriculture, may be illustrated and taught 

 in the best manner, in the shops, and on the farm. The ap 

 plication of science to the mechanic and manufacturing arts, 



