6 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



The encoura^ug results of this experiment 

 stimulated him finally to establish a school, of 

 which, as he declared, his principal object •was 

 to ■• qualify teachers for instructing the sons and 

 daughters of Mechanics, iu the application of 

 Experimental Chemistry, Philosophy and Na- 

 txiral History, to Agi-iculture, Domestic Econo- 

 my, and the Arts and Manufactures." 



This school, established at Troy, was incor- 

 porated in 15-26, under the name of the " Rens- 

 selaer Institute." "It may be described," 

 says Mr. Barnard, " as a school for thorough and 

 complete instruction, in the circle of the natural 

 sciences, applicable, in any way, to the econo- 

 my or business of life iu all its civil depart- 

 ments — not however including those usually de- 

 nominated professional. The peculiaritj- in the 

 mode of instruction, originally introduced, has 

 been adhered to : and the distinguishing and 

 eminent advantage gained by this peculiarity of 

 method has been, not onh' that the students 

 them-selves have been thoroughly taught, and 

 are ready, at all times, professionally or other- 

 wise, to make a practical and highly useful ap- 

 plication of their knowledge, for their own 

 benefit or the benefit of others, but that, whether 

 such is their occupation and bu.siness, or not, 

 they go out to the world as an army of Teach- 

 ers, so familiar with the various subjects of their 

 knowledge, and so fitted and accustomed, from 

 long habit, to impart it, that thej- become invol- 

 untarily the school-masters and instructors of 

 every circle into which they enter. They are 

 lights and luminaries to the prevalent darkness 

 tliat may surround them, gentle and mild, but 

 radiant and steady, in whatever orbit tliey may 

 chance to move. 



" It is impossible to compute, or perhaps to 

 give any rational conjecture, about the amount 

 of good which has already been effected through 

 this munificent and skilfnlly-devi.scd charity — 

 much more impossible is it to compass, in 

 thought, the benefits \vhich coming generations 

 must reap from that system and plan of Educa- 

 tion, of which the example was first set, and 

 tlie eminent utility satisfactorily tested, in the 

 Rensselaer Institute. Schools have been set up 

 on the Rensselaer method, in various and distant 

 parts of our country ; and it has been .stated to 

 me as a fact, from calculations actually made, 

 that the Institute has itself furnished to the com- 

 munity, more experimental Teachers and Pro- 

 fessors, State Geologists, Principal and Assis- 

 tant Engineers on Public AVork.'*, and practical 

 Chemists and Naturalists, than have been fur- 

 nished, in the same time, by all the Colleges iu 

 the Union. If the half of this statement be 

 true, the result, in thi.'s single particular, is a 

 proud one for the memory of the Patron through, 

 whose almost unknown munificence it has been 

 effected." 



^he friendship with which we w^ere honored 

 by the venerated subject of these details, ena- 

 bles us to state, with distinctness of recollection 

 founded on personal agency in the tran.saction, 

 an instance of liberality and public spirit, that 

 ought not to be omitted in a memoir which 

 seeks not to dvv'cll on his numerous public, and 

 yet more numerous private charities, but to refer 

 only to his munificence in the cauae of Ameri- 

 can hufhondry, and of education which con- 



tributes to the prosperity of every interest and 

 the growth of every virtue. 



As far back as 1822 — vigilant iu all things 

 transpiring for the rural promotion of economy — 

 he had noted the meliorations which had been 

 effected in the points and properties of cattle, 

 in England, by the efforts o the Collingses and 

 others in establishing the breed of " Improved 

 Shorthorns," distinguished, as it was said, for 

 mello^^•ness of handling, propensity to feed at 

 an early age, and great aptitude to take on fat. 

 He called on the writer of these remarks (then 

 conducting the old "American Farmer,") as 

 was his v^'ont in passing through Baltimore, to 

 and fro, betw'een Albany and Washington, 

 to converse on his favorite topic ; and, giving 

 him a carte blanche, requested him, by whom 

 Champion, Shepherdess and White Rose had 

 been then recently imported for his friend, and 

 kindred spirit in munificence, Robert OHver, of 

 Baltimore, to order for him a Bull and two Heif- 

 ers, from the same highly respectable breeder, 

 the late Charles Champion, of Blythe. In 

 making this importation, it -was not from any 

 personal conviction of the superiority of this 

 race over our native breeds, for which he had 

 enjoyed no adequate opportunities, much less 

 was it with any view to personal gain, being 

 willing, he said, to risk whatever they might 

 cost for the public good that might result from 

 disseminating, such excellent qualities as they 

 laight be found to possess. A Bull and tw-o 

 Heifers, Wa.shington, Conquest and Pan.sy were 

 accordingly imported, at a cost, in England, of 

 SlOoO. Of the first, Mr. Champion obsei-ved in 

 his letter to Mr. Skinner, '• I do not hesitate to 

 say that "V\"ashington possesses more valuable 

 points, substance, and desirable qualities of flesh, 

 with as light bone and off'al, as any bull I ever 

 saw, and I feel great plea.sure that I have such 

 an animal to send to a gentleman you estimate 

 so highly, as General Van Rensselaer." 



Again we pray the reader not to blame us for 

 the length of this Memoir. Let that rather be 

 ascribed to the long catalogue of good deeds 

 which illustrated and adorned the life of him 

 whom we have attempted to hold up as the un- 

 tiring patron of the concern which it is the great 

 purpose of the "Farjiers' Library" to pro- 

 mote. An unvarnished chronicle of all his acts 

 of public and private munificence, as far as, with- 

 out any wish of his, they came to tlie knowledge 

 of the world, would fill a volume. 



True it may be said, in view of the Patroon's 

 immense pos.session.s, "of those to -whom much 

 is given, much will be expected," — but no ca- 

 viling can rob him of the merit of having met 

 this fair requirement. Let us only hope that 

 his example may be followed by those whom 

 chance or industry may have blessed with su- 

 perfluous fortime ; for as none can take that 



