30 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



A LARGE MEETING OF DELEGATES. 



The annual meeting of delegates for the election of Trus- 

 tees assembled September 2d, 1857. There were dele- 

 gates present from Allegheny, Berks, Blair, Bucks, Cam- 

 bria, Chester, Clinton, Cumberland, Centre, Delaware, Erie, 

 Huntingdon, Juniata, Lancaster, Mifflin, Northumberland, 

 Perry, Schuylkill, Westmoreland, and Union. This meet- 

 ing was opened by the Hon. Jas. T. Hale, thanking the 

 audience for their attendance, and expressing a hope that 

 the Hon. President of the Board of Trustees would favor 

 them with some remarks upon the subject of the meeting, 

 whereupon Judge Watts arose and said, that observation 

 and reflection teach that men are classified by the amount 

 and quality of their education, and not by their calling. 



That the merchants and manufacturers in the eastern 

 states, the professional men of the middle states, and the 

 planters of the Southern States, were the most influential 

 men in their respective states, because the best educated. 

 The importance of agriculture in Pennsylvania, and the 

 necessity of the agriculturist exerting a marked influence, 

 pointed out the necessity of agricultural schools, at which 

 to secure that education out of which this influence only 

 can grow. He dwelt upon the great benefits conferred 

 upon the agricultural interests, by the many agricultural 

 societies which have recently been founded; and urged the 

 necessity of building up the Farmers High School, as a 

 means of still further enlightening the farmer on the duties 

 of his calling, by affording a suitable course of instruction 

 for his sons, at prices commensurate with his means. After 

 alluding to the fact that the expense of an ordinary College 

 course was too great to be met by the generality of farmers, 

 he said: 



" But the cost is by no means the greatest objection; for the effect 

 of this education upon the farmer's son in almost every case is, that 

 of utterly estranging him from, and unfitting him for, the safe and 

 healthful and normal pursuit of his father. The youth who returns 

 to the farm at home, after three or four years' study of books at col- 

 lege desks, and in purely literary society, finds utter uncongeniality 

 in the company of his own father and brothers ; his mind has been 

 turned into paths leading quite away from rural pursuits, and his hands 



