SECRETARY'S REPORT. 49 



examination, that the land which was offered to them in Lexing- 

 ton was mainly adapted to a grass farm, the gentleman owning 

 it having spent more than a thousand dollars an acre on much 

 of the land in clearing it of rocks, and in otlier general improve- 

 ments. , It was not, therefore, so well adapted to the general 

 purposes of experiment and cultivation as the trustees thought 

 the farm connected with an agricultural college ought to be. 

 The places offered them in Springfield were not what the trus- 

 tees thought desirable ; the farms offered in Northampton were 

 not fully satisfactory ; and they came to the conclusion, after 

 considerable examination and deliberation, that so far as the 

 farm was concerned, that in Amherst was on the whole better 

 adapted for the purposes of such an institution than the farms 

 offered in either of the other towns, so that they felt bound, on 

 the whole, to locate the institution, so far as their power 

 and choice should go, in the town of Amherst. The town of 

 Amherst assured the trustees that the $75,000 would be raised, 

 and it has been raised. 



I make this general statement in regard to the subject in order 

 that those present who may not be familiar with the course 

 which the matter has taken may understand the pi)sition in 

 which the trustees of the Agricultural CjoUege were placed. 

 They were actually limited to these four locations, and they 

 were obliged to select the one which, in their judgment, appeared 

 to be the best of the four. It is not necessary to say, that if 

 there had been a wider range of choice, the result might have 

 been very different. 



I will state in addition, — although I suppose the matter to be 

 now so far closed that it cannot lead to any practical result — the 

 plan which it was thought by some would, on the whole, be for 

 the best interests of the State. It is well known to those present 

 that there was a large farm, known as the Bussey estate, in West 

 Roxbury, left to Harvard College, half of the fund left with it 

 tt) be devoted to the establishment of an agricultural college on 

 the farm, one quarter to the Law School, and the remaining 

 quarter to the Divinity School. This farm comprises 300 acres, 

 is beautifully situated, well walled, and furnished with all the 

 desirable improvements for a large and elegant farm. The 

 income from that fund, at the present moment, is from twelve to 

 fifteen thousand dollars a year. The estate is subject only to a 



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