SECRETARY'S REPORT. 35 



must be done on a farm itself — not an experimental farm, so 

 called, but on a practical farm, conducted as a farm should be, 

 with due regard to the income to be derived from the various 

 branches of husbandry. 



It might be difficult in the outset to find teachers of these 

 practical matters. But as the college advanced such teachers 

 would be educated, both by labor on the land and among the 

 farm animals, a kind of labor to which some hours of each day 

 should be devoted, in such an institution. 



I can conceive of a college, gentlemen, organized in the man- 

 ner I have suggested in this brief and imperfect form, which 

 would form a valuable part of the general educational system 

 of Massachusetts, and would furnish the means of obtaining the 

 best agricultural education. I am aware that the best mode of 

 conducting a college is still discussed in Europe, where for 

 many years such institutions have been in actual operation. 

 How these various schools are conducted there, your Secretary 

 will lay before you in a careful and elaborate manner, from 

 observations made on the spot, during the last summer. In 

 considering these European schools, we should remember that 

 many of them are amply endowed, and are under the special 

 patronage of wealth and power. Their professors in some of 

 the larger schools established for the advancement of practical 

 science, outnumber the force employed in most of our colleges. 

 Governor Andrew in his address to tlie legislature of last year, 

 informs us that " The Central School of Arts and Manufac- 

 tures" in France, counts forty professors and teachers; " The 

 Conservatory of Arts and Trade," has a number not inferior, 

 and has also three subordinate or auxiliary colleges in the 

 provinces. The " Polytechnic School of Vienna " has fifty- 

 eight instructors. Twenty professors are recommended, and 

 Dr. Hitchcock says that " even at its commencement," every 

 institution of the sort should have at least six. 



In the division of educational labor which I have suggested, 

 may be found the means of organizing a school here, not with 

 the smallest number of professors practicable, but with a corps 

 of teachers including the best talent in the land, and perhaps 

 in the world. 



For the diffusion of the knowledge obtained at this central 

 fountain, many plans might be adopted. I have no doubt that 



