THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 305 



close attention to the examinations, and have also examined in 

 detail the results of the operations on the farm, and all other 

 matters of importance connected with the institution, while 

 Professor Agassiz, owing to sickness, has only visited Amherst 

 incidoitally during the summer. The examinations of the 

 students in classes have been upon agriculture, horticulture, 

 botany, physiology, chemistry, geology, mental and kindred 

 sciences ; and we have witnessed the military drills, and observed 

 with gratification the topographical drawings by the students. 

 Having had a previous knowledge of many of the young 

 men, we arc convinced that the system of instruction is well 

 calculated for the ends in view, and that the students are mak- 

 ing commendable progress in their studies, and that the several 

 professors are not only accomplished in their respective depart- 

 ments, but earnest and thorough in the prosecution of their 

 duties. 



The leading object, of course, in this institution, in compli- 

 ance with the Act of Congress to which it owes part of its 

 endowment, is to teach such branches of learning as are related 

 to agriculture, and to include military tactics ; and it seems to 

 us, that the course of study and instruction laid down is 

 eminently in consonance with that object, and that the sciences 

 taught are with pointed reference to the uses of the farm. 

 The theory of scientific agriculture is thoroughly taught, and 

 the application of such knowledge is made on the farm under the 

 direction of the professor in that department, who is a practical 

 farmer ; and all students are compelled to work at the details of 

 husbandry, so that manual labor becomes a valuable adjunct to 

 mental application. Chemistry, botany, physiology and zoology 

 are, of course, invaluable to the farmer in regard to the analysis 

 of soils, the use of manures, the food of animals, the growth of 

 grains and fruits, the anatomy and physiology of animals, and 

 the conditions and habits of destructive insects; and mathemat- 

 ics and civil engineering, in the use of the chain, compass and 

 level, are almost equally necessary. Specialties, such as logic, 

 mental and moral philosophy, political economy, English litera- 

 ture and modern languages, must also to some extent be 

 embraced within the curriculum of any educational institu- 

 tion of a high order. Without entering at all into the dis- 

 cussion as to the value of classical learning in an ordinary 



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