348 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



comes too late to catch the Aggies. The place is too near 

 the setting suu. The apron-strings of alma mater are not 

 long cnongh or strong enough to hold her darlings from the 

 exhilarating alhirements of such a watering-place. The ben- 

 efits are not to be compared with the dangers. Brain suffers 

 more than muscle gains. 



The Agricultural College, with a farm of four hundred 

 acres, which needs all the muscle that can be spared to 

 beautify and adorn its diversified area, need not make a pil- 

 grimage to New York for the sake of performing genuflexions 

 before the golden calf set up upon the plain of Saratoga. 



The trustees, the faculty and the students have acted 

 wisely in adhering to their legitimate business, and leaving 

 boating to those who have a larger supply of muscle-force to 

 waste than have the boys of an agricultural college. No 

 doubt prestige was given to the college by its success in the 

 race two years ago ; but it was a victory too dearly bought. 

 She has succeeded and she has fiiiled. She may now rest on 

 her laurels. The credit gained by the college among its 

 friends was more than counterbalanced by the discredit it 

 suffered among a class who ought to be its friends, — its warm 

 friends, — but who were made lukewarm or enemies by this 

 engagement in an enterprise which appeared to them improper 

 and unprofitable. It is too expensive a luxury to be indulged 

 in by a young and poor institution, and a too hazardous and 

 exhausting amusement to be tolerated by au agricultural 

 college. 



The college affords an opportunity for young men to obtain 

 a good, substantial knowledge of the science of farming, and 

 also a fair knowledge of the practical part thereof, and every 

 farmer's son in the Commonwealth stands a better chance to 

 obtain an education, and prepare himself to meet and grapple 

 successfully with opposing forces, and with honor compete 

 with other young men struggling for honorable distinction in 

 the various pursuits of business, especially every farmer's son 

 who belongs to the poorer class or the class of moderate 

 means, from the fact that this institution has been established. 

 It is a shame that it is not differently fostered and cherished 

 by many of the class whose interest was specially designed to 

 be promoted by its establishment. 



I 



