126 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



1. To carry out the foregoing views, the com- 

 missioners recommend the appropriation by the 

 Legislature of twenty thousand dollars, for the pur- 

 pose of establishing a Central Agricultural College, 

 with a Model and Experimental Farm; said insti- 

 tution to be open to all classes of the common- 

 v/ealth, and in the government of which the State 

 shall be interested so far as may be deemed expe- 

 dient; provided, however, that this sum shall not 

 be drawn for until an equal amount shall have been 

 raised by private donation or legacy, and deposited 

 in the treasury of the commonwealth, to constitute 

 a common fund for this object. 



2. Whenever any incorporated Academy, not ex- 

 ceeding one such institution in each county, shall 

 raise a fund of two thousand dollars or moie, to- 

 wards establishing and supporting a department of 

 agricultural instruction, with lands suitable for ex- 

 periments, it shall be entitled to draw from the 

 treasury of commonwealth the sum of two hund- 

 red dollars annually, provided, however, that when- 

 the number of scholars receiving instruction in ag- 

 riculture shall be less than ten, the aid of the State 

 shall be withheld. 



3. The undersigned recommend the establish- 

 ment of a State Department of Agriculture, to con- 

 sist of a board of commissioners and a secretary, 

 whom they shall annually appoint, which board 

 shall sustain a similar relation to agriculture and 

 the schools connected with it, as the board and sec- 

 retary of education do to primary schools. This 

 board shall consist of one member from, and to be 

 elected by, each of the incorporated agricultural 

 societies now receiving the bounty of the State, 

 vt'hich board shall have power to locate, organize 

 and put in operation the college contemplated by 

 the foregoing recommendations. The duties of the 

 secretary shall be, under the direction of the board, 

 to give lectures in the various parts of the common- 

 wealth, whenever it may be deemed expedient, on 

 tlie science and practice of agriculture; to receive 

 the returns of the incorpoiated agricultural socie- 

 ties, and make a digest of the same in the form of 

 an annual report to the Legislature; to collect ag- 

 ricultural statistics and information in the various 

 departments of this science; to correspond with lo- 

 cal societies in this and other lands; to visit indi- 

 vidually, in connection with the board, the exhibi- 

 tions of the various county societies; and to pro- 

 mote, by such other measures as the board may de- 

 vise, this most important branch of human indus- 

 try. 



4. The commissioners further recommend, that 

 inasmuch as the aid now rendered by the common- 

 wealth to agricultural societies was granted with 

 reference to a very different state of things, when 

 the population was smaller, agricultural products 

 fewer, and all industrial pursuits were sources of 

 much less revenue to the Slate; and in view of the 

 increase of population, productions and revenue, an 

 additional grant of one hundred dollars annually be 

 made on every thousand dollars of the permanent 

 fund of the several agricultural societies, which are 

 or may be entitled by the present laws to the boun- 

 ty of the State. Provided, however, that this sum 

 shall not exceed nine hundred dollars to any society 

 per annum. 



5. That a premium, of such an amount as the 

 Legislature may deem judicious, be otfered for the 

 best Elementary Treatise on Agriculture, suitable 

 for common schools; said premium to be awarded 



by the Board of Agriculture, if such be created, or, 

 if not, by a committee to be appointed by the Gov- 

 ernor and council. 



6. That after the common school fund shall have 

 reached the sum of one million of dollars, and the 

 Western Railroad sinking fund shall have been ad- 

 equately secured, all proceeds of lands belonging to 

 the commonwealth in the State of Maine, and of 

 the claims of Massachusetts on the federal govern- 

 ment, shall be reserved to form a fund, the income 

 of which shall be appropriated, at the discretion of 

 the Legislature, for the encouragement or support 

 of institutions for instruction in agriculture, for 

 charitable purposes, and for education. 



In conclusion, the commissioners have not deemed 

 it expedient to report in favor of aid, at this time, 

 to the other subjects committed to them for consid- 

 eration, or to submit any more specific plans than 

 those embraced in these general recommendations, 

 or such as may be drawn from the substance of this 

 report, leaving for the wisdom of the Legislature, 

 or any Board of Commissioners which may here- 

 after be appointed, more perfectly to develop plans 

 and modes of action. 



Signed, Marshall P. Wilder, 



Edward Hitchcock, 

 Samuel A. Eliot, 

 Thomas E. Payson, 

 Eli Warren, 



Commissioners. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 COLOR OF HOUSES. 



Mr. Cole: — In the Farmer of March 15th, an 

 article appeared over the signature of J. W., upon 

 the color of houses, in which the writer says, it is 

 his opinion, and no doubt that of a large portion of 

 your readers, that the use of neutral tints for such 

 purposes displays "a lamentable want of good taste 

 in the owners of many of our cottages, country 

 seats, &c., which would otherwise beautify our 

 hill-sides, plains and valleys." Now this may be 

 true; still, I am slow to believe that any consider- 

 able portion of the readers of the New England 

 Farmer are so utterly devoid of taste as to hold to 

 such absurd notions as this. And if I may be al- 

 lowed to express an opinion, your readers who have 

 any pretensions to taste would say, that the soft- 

 ened shades of color now used are generally in good 

 taste, and, contrary to the opinion of J. W., white 

 lead is decidedly bad taste. 



Lest this should seem to rest upon my simple as- 

 sertion, I will give the reasons that lead me to such 

 conclusions. Firstly — Pure ivhite will not har- 

 monize with nature at all, except in infinitesimal 

 portions. Secondly — When approaching a situ- 

 ation, of which a great white house forms the 

 foreground, the beauties of surrounding field and 

 meadow can never be properly appreciated in con- 

 sequence of the "horrid glare," particularly on a 

 bright summer's day. Thirdly — When viewing 

 the same from a distance, the eye is irresisti- 

 bly drawn to the house, and the mind cannot h& 

 divested of the idea, that it is a great blot on the 

 fair face of nature; consequently it does not give us 

 that satisfaction that it otherwise would, were this 

 huge glaring object softened down to some quiet 

 shade of color. 



Again, if white is so beautiful, would not nature, 

 (where we are to look for perfection) have used it 

 with a more lavish hand ? Certainly. But in 



