No. 4.] FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 35 



session of that convention, held at the State House, March 

 20, 1851, the president, Marshall P. Wilder, announcing the 

 subjects for discussion, spoke as follows : "It is also to be 

 hoped that the cause of agricultural education, now about to 

 receive the consideration of the Legislature, will not be over- 

 looked in the deliberations of this body ; and, if it be the 

 opinion of this convention that agriculture may be promoted 

 by the application of science, that such a sentiment may be 

 expressed in terms so explicit as not to be misunderstood, and 

 that the aid of government may be solicited for this pur- 

 pose." In the afternoon session Mr. Sewall of Medfield, 

 from the business committee, presented a preamble and 

 resolutions, the fourth, fifth and eighth of which bear 

 directly upon the subject now under consideration : — 



Resolved (4), That agricultural schools having been found, by 

 the experience of other nations, efficient means in promoting the 

 cause of agricultural education, which is so essential to the pros- 

 perity of farmers and to the welfare of communities, it becomes at 

 once the duty and policy of the Commonwealth to establish and 

 maintain such institutions for the benefit of all its inhabitants. 



Resolved (5), That the several plans for an agricultural school, 

 recently reported by the Board of Commissioners appointed for 

 that purpose, are worthy the profound consideration of the people 

 of Massachusetts and their representatives in the General Court, 

 as indicating the. feasibility and practicability of an establishment 

 worthy that exalted character which the State has secured by the 

 endowment of kindred institutions, designed, like these, for the 

 diffusion of useful knowledge among the people. 



Resolved (8) , That the convention respectfully suggests to the 

 Legislature the propriety and expediency of reserving the entire 

 proceeds of the sales of the public lands of the Commonwealth — 

 from and after the period when the common school fund shall 

 have reached the maximum fixed by the act of 1834 — for purposes 

 of education and charity, with a view to extending that aid and 

 encouragement to a system of agricultural education, which the 

 importance of the subject so imperiously demands. 



The discussion over the diflerent resolutions was, as the 

 faithful chronicler puts it, continued, protracted, and at 

 times vigorous. It was carried over into the evening ses- 

 sion, and among those taking part we find the names of 



