No. 108.J 9 



^' State bounties have no doubt done good by their general influences; 

 but premiums point more directly to individual merit; they rouse 

 pride ana ambition — passions which often operate with more power 

 than even interest." The Trustees would respectfully suggest to the 

 Legislature, the policy of enlarging the fund for agricultural premi- 

 ums, where they are satisfied of their fair and faithful application — 

 especially to the American Institute, whose sphere of operations is 

 not limited to a single county or State, but embraces every State in 

 the Union, and is, by its charter, constituted a National Institute, and 

 expected to distribute premiums for meritorious productions over the 

 whole country. The amount bestowed on agriculture at the Fifteenth 

 Fair, though the Managers, in their endeavors to do justice, encroached 

 on the other departments, still falls greatly short of what the magni- 

 tude of that great interest required from an institution under the pa- 

 tronage of the Empire State, and professedly intended to afford en- 

 couragement to the whole agriculture of the country. 



The Legislature have not been sparing in their bounties to our 

 scientific institutions, our Universities and Colleges, for the promo- 

 tion of science, all of which are useful; much of which is abstract, 

 and has only an indirect influence, often very remote, on the comforts 

 of a large portion of society; while comparatively little is done for 

 an institution whose operations are continually increasing and per- 

 fecting those necessaries afid comforts in which the whole mass of 

 our fellow citizens are daily and hourly directly interested. The 

 complaint is not that too much is expended for theoretical know- 

 ledge, but that too little in proportion is done for practical science, 

 for agriculture and the arts, which continually come home to every 

 family and individual, and are requisite to their enjoyments and even 

 existence. 



A new regulation was introduced into the horticultural department 

 the last season. Instead of naming a particular day for bringing 

 flowers for competition, and dispensing the premiums accordingly, 

 inducements were held out for daily supplies, which prevented the 

 falling off experienced before, when the day for deciding on the pre- 

 miums was past; by this new regulation, every day brought a boun- 

 tiful supply of fresh flowers, and a continued interest was kept alive 

 during the whole of the exhibition ; which, with the agricultural 

 productions, garden vegetables, fruit, &c. made the Horticultural 



[Senate No. 108.] 2 



