322 



NEW ENGLAND FAKMEIt, 



APRIL. Hi, 1S33. 



sura, if equalized among tlie ijopulation of the 

 State, would operate as a tax of aljoutyji'e cents to 

 eacli inhabitant. 



Your committee have thus complied with the 

 requisitious of the society, in submitting the plan 

 of an Agricultural School, and an estimate of the 

 expense^uecessary to establish and put the same 

 into successful and permanent operation. It only 

 remains for them to state their opinion of its 



utility. 



The agriculture of a country affords the best 

 criterion of its prosperity. Whether we compare 

 kinsdoras, states, counties, districts or forms, the 

 condition of this branch of labor, which they sev- 

 erally exhibit, is a sure index, not only of the pe- 

 cuniary, but of its moral condition. It is no less 

 an axiom founded in truth, that agriculture pros- 

 pers or languishes in proportion to the science and 

 skill of the men who manage its labors. It is not 

 the natural fertility of the soil, so much as the in- 

 telligence and industry of those who till it, which 

 "ivcs to husbandry its interests and its rewards. 

 The man who devotes the energies of a highly 

 cultivated mind, to the improvement of this prim- 

 itive aud all-important branch of labor, is a public 

 benefactor. Cincinnatus did more to immortalize 

 his name, aud to command our applause, by his 

 love of rural labors, than by his military exploits. 

 Washington, amid all the honors that irradiated 

 his brow, sought his highest pleasures in the bus- 

 iness aud retirement of the farm. And it was 

 the first remark of our present chief magistrate, 

 to the writer, after introduction, that he would not 

 forego the pleasures of the farm for all the honors 

 and emoluments that this nation could confer upon 

 him. Education enables man to appreciate the 

 wonderful provisions which God has made for his 

 happiness in rural life, and impiirts to him the 

 ability of diflusing instruction and happiness to 

 multitudes around him. 



It should be the policy of government, therefore, 

 which watches over the interest of all, to infuse 

 into the labors of husbandry, all the lights of 

 science and knowledge — to take care to expand 

 and elevate the minds of those who are to give it 

 efficiency and character, and to call forth skill 

 and industry by proffered i-ewards. With us these 

 considerations possess peculiar force. Our popu- 

 lation and business are emphatically agricultural, 

 and every aid which is extended to this class, 

 benefits, indirectly, every portion of the commu- 

 nity. Agriculture constitutes the fountains of the 

 thousand rills, which, swelling and traversing 

 every part of the State, propel the spindle and the 

 hammer of the artizan and the maimfacturer, and 

 finally by their union, make up the mighty stream 

 of commerce which unceasingly flows into the 

 Atlantic. 



That our agriculture is susceptible of improve- 

 ment — that the products of its labors may be 

 doubled, nay quadrupled, nmst be apparent to 

 those who have compared our husbandry with 

 that of some European countries, or who have 

 contrasted, at home, the well cultivated district, 

 or farm, with those which are badly managed. 

 How is the desired amelioration to be effected ? 

 How can a better husbandry be so well promoted 

 j'S by leaching it to our youth ? — by sowing our 

 seed in the spring-time of life ? Prejudice no 

 where retains a stronger hold than among farmers 

 who have approached or passed the meridian of 

 life. While some retain old practices, for want 

 of confidence in their knowledge to guide them in 



better ones, others lack the first requisite to im- 

 provement — a consciousness that their system is 

 not the most useful ; while not a few are influenc- 

 ed, in their hostility to public means of improve- 

 ment, by the desire to keep things to their own 

 level, if we would efficiently improve this great 

 branch of business, and elevate its character, as 

 well as the character of those who are engaged in 

 its operations, we must do what tmiversal expe- 

 rience has shown to be the only sure method: — 

 we must lay our foundation in the rising genera- 

 tion — we must teach the young idea how to shoot 

 — we must instruct the head to help the hands. 

 Our i)hysical and mental powers are twin sisters. 

 They lighten each other's labor, and mutually im- 

 part a zest to each other's enjoyments. And as it 

 is becoming common to introduce manual labor 

 into literary schools, it is courteous that literature 

 and science should requite the civility, by asso- 

 ciating with the inmates of schools of labor. 



Agricultural schools, although of modern date, 

 have nevertheless been established in most of the 

 States of Europe, and their utility has been fully 

 demonstrated. Who has not heard of the school 

 of Fellenburg, at Hoftwyl, or of Von Thayer, at 

 Moegelin — to which young men are sent from 

 every part of Europe, and even from Americn.' 

 In France and Prussia, agricultural schools haw 

 been founded and maintained by the government^ 

 If they are found to be beneficial, aud worthy o 

 governmental sujiport, in countries where power i 

 vested in the few, how much more salutary must 



ing science subservient to the arts, and in diffusing 

 the higher branches among the laboring classes, 

 the public benefits from the appropriation would 

 have been far greater than they are at the ju-esent 

 day. How many htmdreds may now be jiointed 

 out, of liberal education, who are mere cyphers in 

 society, for want of the early habits of application 

 and labor, which it is the object of the proposed 

 school to form and infix ! And how many, for 

 want of these habits, have been prematurely lost 

 to their friends, and to a purpose of usefulness for 

 which man seems wisely to have been created — 

 that of doing good to his fellows. 



r^rom a full conviction that the interests of the 

 State not only warrant, but require, an appropria- 

 tion of public moneys to this object, your commit- 

 tee beg leave to recommend to the consideration of 

 the Society the following resolution: 



Resolved, That a respectful iriemorial be [iresent- 

 ed to the Legislature, in behalf of this Society, and 

 of the great interest which it represepts, praying 

 that suitable provision may be made by law, for 

 establishing a school of agriculture, on the plan 

 recommended in the preceding report; aiul that 

 the co-operation, in this application, of societies 

 and individuals, friendly to the object of the peti- 

 tion, be respectfully solicited. 



AN ACT 



To INCORPORATE THE NeW YoRK AgRICULTU- 



RAL School. 



7Vie People of the State ofA''ew York, represent- 



they prove here — where our institutions receive'' ed in Senate and ^Issembly, do enact as follows : 

 the imju-ess of their character from the many, and Section 1. That it shall be the duty of the 

 where the perpetuity of these institutions depends rom|)troller, after the passing of this act, to issue 

 emphatically upon the intelligence and virtue of certificates of stock to the amount of .$100,000, 

 the ugricultmal ])0[)ulation. Despotism will nev- Iwaring an interest of 5 per cent, and redeemable 



er flourish in American soil, but through the igno- 

 rance, and we may say consequent depravity, of 

 its cultivators. 



Your committee recal to recollection, with feel- 

 ings of pride, the iiuinificent benefactions of thi' 

 Legislature, to advance the literary character of 

 our State ; and the fact, that comparatively noth- 

 ing has been done, legislatively, to improve our 

 agriculture, which employs five-sixths of our po])- 

 ulation, can only be ascribed to the fact, thatuotli- 

 ing has been asked for — nothing thought of. Our 

 public colleges and academies, for literary instruc- 

 tiou, are numerous and respectable. They meet 

 our eye in almost every village. But where arc 

 our public schools of labor.' Where is the head 

 taught to help the hands, in the business which 

 creates wealth, and which is the grand source of 

 ndividual and national prosperity and happiness.' 

 Our literary and professional schools have been 

 reared up and sustained by the exjjenditure of 

 more than two million of dollars from the public 

 treasury, and they continue to share liberally of 

 the public bounty. It will not, however, be deni- 

 ed, that the benefits which they dispense are alto- 

 gether partial, — that the rank and file of society, 

 destined by heaven to become the conservators of 

 civil liberty, are virtually denied a participation 

 in the science and knowledge, — in the means of 

 improvement and of happiness which they are 

 calculated to dispense. Is it not a mandate of du- 

 ty, then, as well as of expediency, that the bene- 

 fits of public instruction should be more gj^nerally 

 dispensed ? We hazard not the fear of contradic- 

 tion in assuming, that if a moiety of public mon- 

 eys, which have been a]ipropriated to literary 

 schools, had been judiciously applied, in rendsr- 



twcnty years from and after their date ; which 

 stock shall be sold at public auction in the city of 

 New York, to the highest bidder, and on which 

 the interest shall be paid quarterly, in the manner 

 now provided by law relative to the other stocks 

 of this State. 



§ 2. That three Commissioners shall be ap- 

 pointed by the Governor, to purchase a farm, to 

 contract for the erection of suitable buildings for a 

 school adapted for the accommodation of two 

 hundred pupils, officers, and servants, and for the 

 farm. That they shall give bonds with competent 

 sureties, to the satisfaction of the Comptroller, for 

 tbe faithful expenditure of the money, receive a 

 tompensation for their daily services, and account 

 to the Comptroller for such expenditures ; and to 

 vhose order it shall be the duty of the Comptrol- 

 hr to pay, at the most, thousand 



dollars, to be expended in the work. 



^ 3. There shall be seven trustees, who shall bo 

 deagnated as " The Trustees of the New York 

 Agiicultural School," to be appointed by the Gov- 

 erntr, by and with the advice of the Senate ; wha 

 shal be removable by the appointing body. They 

 shal manage the concerns of the institution : one 

 of tie trustees shall be the treasurer of the board ; 

 and he shall give bonds for the faithful disburse- 

 ment and payment of all moneys in his hands ; 

 and he shall receive such compensation as a ma- 

 joritiT of the trustees may direct, not exceeding 

 dollars. The trustees shall have 

 pow!r to employ a principal and teachers, over- 

 seers, laborers, and assistants; to receive tuition 

 and dl other moneys, belonging to the institution, 

 and o pay the persons by them employed, and to 

 makt all necessary expenditures; to prescribe. 



