SECRETARY'S REPORT. 247 



inclustrial college, which shall be an honor alike to the 

 Commonwealth and the country at large. 



It is designed to establish an independent institution, without 

 any direct connection with Amherst, or any other college, in 

 accordance with what appeared to be the direction of public 

 sentiment. Arrangements will soon be made to proceed with 

 the erection of suitable buildings, but it must, in the nature of 

 things, be some time before the college can be put into a condi- 

 tion to receive students. Of the aggregate fund, consisting of 

 scrip for three hundred and sixty thousand acres of the public 

 lands, one-tenth of which, or thirty-six thousand acres only 

 could be appropriated to the purchase of lands, three-tenths 

 were placed under the control of the Massachusetts Institute 

 of Technology, leaving but two hundred and sixteen thousand 

 acres to be sold to constitute a permanent working fund. 

 Only a part of this has been sold as yet, and that at an 

 average price of only about eighty cents an acre. Some time 

 will be required to realize the whole amount. 



In the meantime the lands at Amherst, purchased by the 

 trustees, have been leased to the former owners at an average 

 of about five per cent, a year on the purchase money, or about 

 five dollars an acre rent, including woodlands, waste and tillage, 

 and under reasonable restrictions as to crops, manure, stock, 

 <fec. This temporary arrangement appeared to be for the 

 interest of all concerned, and it would seem to indicate, at 

 least, that, the purchase was a judicious one on the part of the 

 college, so far as the rent may be taken as a criterion of the 

 value of the land. 



The trustees have elected the Hon. Henry F. French, a gen- 

 tleman well known to the farming community, as the president 

 of the College, and under his energetic supervision, aided by a 

 competent executive committee of the board of trustees, the 

 work will be forwarded as fast as practicable. 



During the year, also, the New England Agricultural Society, 

 which originated in the action of the State Board of Agriculture, 

 at its annual meeting in 1864, has been formed, and has held its 

 first great exhibition in the city of Springfield. This exhibition 

 was a grand success so far as it illustrated the agricultural 

 enterprise of this and sister States, and formed a marked 



