MILITARY SCIENCE IN THE COLLEGE. 323 



of such knowledge as can be thus afforded. We look forward 

 to a profitable extension of the veterinarian department. The 

 opportunity for growth will be realized when we consider that 

 the three veterinarian schools of France required, in 1862, 

 sixteen professors ; that the course of studies extended 

 through three years ; and that the number of students in 

 attendance exceeded six hundred. 



The presence at the College of a United States army officer, 

 as professor of military science and tactics, secures able in- 

 struction in this essential part of the education of the com- 

 plete citizen. If we pass by the chance of war and the value 

 of possessing among the people individuals fitted by previous 

 training to become militia officers upon sudden call, the value 

 of a military training, as promotive of a manly bearing, order- 

 liness, promptness of action and fitness of speech, etc., is ob- 

 vious, and recurs with greater force to such as witness the 

 several classes in their military manoeuvres. We trust there 

 will be no diminution of interest in the military features of 

 the College. 



The Durfee plant-house, stocked with a rare assortment 

 of plants from many climes, collected with reference to the 

 illustration, on a small scale, of the world's flora, is a 

 perpetual source of instruction and delight. The generosity 

 of Dr. Durfee is daily appreciated, and, through the seasons^ 

 recurring growth and bloom are exerting beneficent influence 

 on the human being. It affords us pleasure to say that no 

 suggestion of neglect or shiftlessness occurs to mar the pleas- 

 ure of the visitor. Its present condition is creditable to 

 Assistant-Professor Maynard, the custodian, and a graduate 

 of the college. 



Much of the education afforded by the College, it is well 

 known, is not more relative to the farmer's needs than that 

 of other classes in the community. The name of the institu- 

 tion carries the idea that all there taught must stand in 

 some peculiar relation to a particular calling. Tke fact is, 

 many of the students come very ill-prepared for a special 

 course, and there is required to be laid the fitting foundation. 

 A special course is most suitably engrafted upon a general 

 culture, of liberal outline, for by and in this the special must 

 find completeness. Hence, much less of the four years' 



