56 



them justice. I have too much faith in the progress of the age, to 

 suppose for a moment that an} 7 effort to develop an accurate science 

 and knowledge of gathering succor from our mother earth will be a 

 failure. Why, in 1805, I read that Mr. Mori-ill's own University of 

 Vermont had thirty students, and one professor, and he was the 

 president. I had just entered Harvard in 1836, when she celebrated 

 her second centennial, and heard Oliver Wendell Holmes recite his 

 verse : 



" Who was on the catalogue 



When college was begun ? 



Two nephews of the president, . 



And the professor's son. 



They turned a little Indian b'y 



As brown as any bun. 



Lord ! how the Seniors knocked about 



The freshman class of one."* 



Neither am I discouraged by any want of success of the college 

 either in its instruction, or in its experimental work. Under the cir- 

 cumstances it has far exceeded any reasonable expectations. It is 

 remarked by friends who have most closely watched its graduates, 

 that they were better prepared for the actual work of life than those 

 of the classical colleges. I purposely avoid any discussion of the 

 philosophy of an agricultural education, and of the scope and sphere 

 of this college. My province is confined to a relation of facts of the 

 past. But it is proper that I should remind you that Agassiz declared 

 that the experiments on the circulation of sap in plants, and their 

 expansive power during growth are worth all the college had cost the 

 Commonwealth. I append a summary, which it would be irksome 

 now to read, of the experimental and other scientific work conducted 

 at the college. 



On the use and effect of common salt on grain and root crops. 

 1869. Goessmann. 



The construction and repair of highways. 1869. Miller. 



The establishment of true meridian lines as the basis of all sur- 

 veys. 1870. Miller. 



Report on the management of stock. 1871. Dillon. 



Stassfurt-salines as a potash resource in agriculture. 1871-72. 

 Goessmann. 



*Turn to the Harvard catalogue and you will find: In 1643 4 graduates, in 1640 and 1(541 

 none, in 1644 7, in 1645 7, in 16464, in 1647 7, in 1648 5, in 1652 1, in 1654 1, in 1655 2, in 16.56 4, 

 in 1672 none, in 1673 4, in 1674 3, and so on, whilst the class of 1685, consisting of 14, was the 

 largest class which had graduated during the fifty years since " the college was begun," 

 and twenty-two was the largest number of any class prior to 171!. 



