436 



that serve for food to man, being designed for the nourishment 

 of the bud, begins to be consumed as soon as the latter starts 

 into existence." 



Here now is a most important fact, which science alone 

 could have discovered, and which has at once various practical 

 bearings in the gathering and uses of these productions. 



How far the productiveness of plants is affected by the na- 

 ture and condition of the soil, how manures operate to produce 

 their effects, what relation the fertility of a soil bears to its 

 mineral constituents, the dependance of vegetable life upon air 

 and water, and heat and light, are all questions, which with 

 many others must materially affect our cultivation. These are 

 points, which science, properly so called, alone can solve. 



When many minds are concentrating their rays upon the 

 same point, why should it not be rendered luminous ? It is to 

 the glory of Massachusetts that she has taken the lead among 

 these States in forwarding the plans of scientific improvement ; 

 and by her geological, botanical and zoological surveys she has 

 already contributed to practical science in the most essential 

 manner. These contributions are not to be estimated by a pe- 

 cuniary value ; and the cost, compared with the good accom- 

 plished and ultimately to result from them, deserves not a sec- 

 ond's consideration with an inteUigent and patriotic mind. 



It is only for these sentiments, which are founded on the 

 highest truth, to become more deeply impressed on the minds 

 of the agricultural community, for them to take a just interest 

 in the great subject of practical education ; and to see that, 

 where their patronage is in any form bestowed, it should be ap- 

 plied with an impartial hand to the advancement of their inter- 

 ests in a just proportion to those of other departments and class- 

 es in the community. It is my honest opinion, which I should 

 be most happy to correct upon farther light, that this is not 

 done in any of our colleges or universities to the extent which 

 is desired. The course of education in general pursued in these 

 places, is adapted almost exchisively to the training young men 

 for the learned professions ; and very little for the more practi- 

 cal and productive pursuits of life. 



