190 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pul). Doc. 



there were no places where the relations of science to agri- 

 culture could be studied. It was indeed scarcely recognized 

 by the general public, at the time our Agricultural College 

 was established, that the sciences had an}^ particular relation- 

 to farming ; and he who should have maintained that the 

 farmer might profit from a liberal education, and that farm- 

 ing was one of the " learned professions," would have been 

 accounted a visionary. It was scarcely suspected, even by 

 the foremost men in the American ao;ricultural world, that 

 there was much pertaining to agriculture which could lie 

 theoretically taught. I have heard that one of our most 

 prominent agriculturists remarked, when Professor Stock- 

 bridge, in planning the course of study, suggested a certain 

 number of hours as desirable for class-room work in airri- 

 culture, " What are you going to do Avith so much time? I 

 could tell all I know about farming in a very few lectures ; " 

 and it was implied, though not stated, that he knew about 

 all there was worth knowing. 



The college, then, has served agriculture most effectually 

 in the higher field of creating an enlightened public senti- 

 ment, in awakening a spirit of investigation and inquiry, in 

 creating a respect for the business of larming which had no 

 previous existence ; and, through the self-sacrificing efibrts 

 of its professors, in promoting desirable improvements in 

 agricultural practice. A mere enumeration of the sulijects 

 of the investigations which have engaged the attention of 

 the professors of the college would occupy a large share of 

 the time I am allowed, and I shall not attempt it ; I can but 

 allude to a few which seem to me among the more impor- 

 tant. Dr. Goessmann's work upon fertilizers has brought 

 order out of chaos, as our fertilizer laws owe their origin 

 in larjTcst measure to his work and influence. His invest!- 

 cations in reijard to the sugar-beet and sorghum as suijar 

 plants are of permanent value, although economic considera- 

 tions have rendered the profitable estal)lishment of these 

 industries here an impossibility under present conditions. 

 Besides these leading lines of in(]uiry, he accomplished, 

 Avhile giving his entire time to the college, an enormous 

 amount of useful work in determining the value of innumer- 

 able manurial and food substances, in pointing out the in- 



