196 LETTER-FILES OF S. W. JOHNSON 



the expediency of the establishment of an experiment 

 station, reported through its chairman, Professor 

 Johnson, "their unanimous opinion that the State of 

 Connecticut ought to have an experiment station as 

 good as can be found anywhere, and they are of the 

 opinion that the Legislature of the State ought to 

 furnish the means for its immediate establishment and 

 for carrying it forward. They recommend that a per- 

 manent committee be appointed by this convention to 

 do such work as is necessary to bring this matter 

 before the people and before the Legislature, and to 

 accomplish the desired result either by direct legisla- 

 tive action or by whatever means may be necessary to 

 effect it, this committee to begin now and to work until 

 the thing is done." 



During 1874, agitation for the establishment of a 

 State agricultural experiment station in Connecticut 

 went on unremittingly. Professor Johnson took his 

 full share of this, cooperating with his associates in 

 the Board of Agriculture, and endeavoring to educate 

 the people and their representatives in the General 

 Assembly to a full understanding not only of the bene- 

 fits, but of the proper scope and necessary equipment 

 of a State station which should be able to perform all 

 that its friends would expect from it. He visited many 

 places in the state, lecturing and leading discussions 

 before local organizations of farmers. He also pre- 

 pared, under the title "Science as a Means of Agri- 

 cultural Progress," a full historical account of the 

 agricultural experiment stations of Europe, and the 

 benefits which would follow their establishment here, 

 which was printed as a part of the report of the Shef- 

 field Scientific School for the year. Ten thousand addi- 



