48 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



science to all the mechanical arts ; and it will teach this in the 

 most thorough and efficient manner, with large means, ample 

 resources, and the highest scientific talent in the country. The 

 legislature took the view, that as instruction in the mechanic 

 arts was the special province of the institute, that part of the 

 Act which contemplated instruction in the mechanic arts, (for 

 that was contemplated as well as agriculture,) could be better 

 carried out by that institute than by an agricultural college, 

 and therefore provided that three-tenths of the land scrip should 

 be applied under the direction and supervision of that institute. 

 That left 216,000 acres to be sold, and the proceeds invested as 

 a permanent fund, the income alone of which is to be iised for 

 the support of an agricultural college. The legislature at the 

 same time appointed a board of trustees for this Agricultural 

 College, merely as agents to carry out the general policy which 

 had been adopted by the Commonwealth. 



Another condition was, that in the selection of a site for 

 this Agricultural College, the trustees should either raise them- 

 selves the sum of $75,000, or the town where the location should 

 be fixed should raise that amount,*to be applied to the erection 

 of suitable buildings ; so that, in the selection of a location, the 

 trustees were limited to those towns which complied with this 

 condition, otherwise, they would have had to go forward and 

 raise the $75,000 themselves. It will be seen, therefore, that 

 the trustees were not at liberty to go into any part of the Com- 

 monwealth and locate this institution where in their best judg- 

 ment it would seem to be for the best interests of the institution 

 and of the Commonwealth that it should be located, but they were 

 practically limited to those locations which should offer to raise 

 $75,000 — a sum not easy to be raised in many sections of the 

 State. One individual in the town of Lexington offered, with 

 great liberality, $50,000, in cash, on condition that the town 

 should raise the other $25,000, and the trustees were assured 

 that that amount would be raised. Then the town of Spring- 

 field assured the trustees, by their representatives, that if they 

 saw fit to locate tlie College there, tlie money would be raised ; 

 and the same pledge was made for Northampton and Amherst. 

 There were, then, four competitors for that location. The trus- 

 tees had fixed in their minds, in the main, what they desired in 

 connection with the location of the College. They found, on 



