308 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



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In other States, listening to the demand of a sickly sen- 



timentalism, the agricultural school has been submerged in 

 another institution or crowned by another name and its 

 identity lost. Even here in Massachusetts there goes up 

 the annual cry, Drop the word agricultural, and give the 

 college a more pleasing name ! 



So much has been said within the past few weeks, both 

 at the annual winter meeting of this Board and in the public 

 press, that we leave from our report much that had been 

 previously written along this line, and give instead a brief 

 summary. 



God's first gift to created man was the earth, saying : 

 "Be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth, dress and 

 keep it." How well man has obeyed the divine precept is 

 shown by the land being cursed by thorns and briers, blight 

 and mildew and innumerable insect pests. 



Man also built a city, and a few got rich ; thousands of 

 others saw the glitter, left the land and followed, only to 

 reap poverty and want. 



It is largely from the city and large village that the cry 

 comes up, Drop the name agriculture, — this one name, 

 that is at the base of all living and all industry, and, may 

 we not add, requiring an education, when it is thoroughly 

 understood, beyond that of any other known profession. 



In the last twenty-eight years fifty-six Grinnell prizes 

 in agriculture have been awarded to students, forty-five of 

 which were awarded to students residing in towns and only 

 eleven to students residing in cities. 



One may study books, but to make it effective he must 

 work with his hands. The chemist, the architect, the 

 painter, the mechanic and all laborers, either of head or 

 hands, must make a practical application of their studies, 

 or they come to naught. More than all these, the success- 

 ful farmer of the future must have the knowledge that 



O 



comes of applied chemistry. An educated man is needed 

 quite as much on the farm as in the laboratory, the count- 

 ing room or in the professor's chair. What good is a 

 theoretic sculptor who never used a chisel, or a well-read 

 painter who never used a brush? One cannot be separated 



