No. 4.] AGRICULTUKAL EDUCATION. 147 



with literature on this and kindred subjects. This feature of the 

 college is an especially valuable one. Here he finds books on all 

 the grades as well as on the thoi'oughbred varieties of cattle, by 

 Johnston, Sturtevant and Curtis. Hundreds of books upon the 

 sheep, the horse, and the other domestic animals, not to speak of 

 the rare and beautiful volumes upon the moths and butterflies; are 

 added every year. Then he finds the results of the various opera- 

 tions and experiments explained in condensed form in the monthly 

 bulletins issued by the several departments and the yearly report 

 of the trustees of the college, the whole forming a comulete and 

 exhaustive course in the main brauch of the college. 



There is the testimony of one of the students of the 

 institution who is already beginning to have his eyes upon 

 the advantages of the institution. He is one of those young 

 men who have been led to get upon the lieights somewhat. 

 He has been led to have his vision extended beyond the nar- 

 row horizon of the little valley in which he has lived. I do 

 not think that anybody knows the beauty of this Housatonic 

 Valley unless he has climbed a mountain or some other hill- 

 top from which he can survey the landscape o'er. 



But, my Berkshire friend, as you think the matter over 

 perhaps you conclude that your son is not far enough ad- 

 vanced in his studies to enter the four-years course at the 

 college. Possibly, too, you do not forget that the expense 

 for two years is one-half of that for four years, and you are 

 quite sure that you cannot get on without the help of your 

 boy for more than two years. Well, then, let him take the 

 two-years course. It is designed for just such cases as this. 

 The requirements for admission to it are less exacting than 

 those of the four-years course. The instruction is more 

 practical, less scientific ; yet enough instruction in agri- 

 culture, botany, chemistry, horticulture, physiology and 

 veterinary science is given to enable one to understand the 

 bulletins that are being constantly issued from the experi- 

 ment stations and to make practical application of the results 

 of experiments. 



I have met intelligent farmers, progressive farmers, men 

 who want to keep up with the times, and they say they value 

 these bulletins that come to them from time to time, but that 

 there is a great deal in the bulletins which they do not under- 



