THE COLLEGE FARM. 25 



which will redound to the credit of the State, and to the credit 

 of this Board, as connected with the college. 



But what of the model farm and model farming ? We have 

 heard some criticisms about the farming here. One man, a 

 reporter for the " New York Tribune," came here, and he 

 reported that he asked us what we were doing, and we said we 

 were doing nothing ; and he thought we acted very wisely in 

 saying so, because if we had said we were doing anything, 

 nobody would have believed it. He said the appearance of 

 things around the college was very much like a brickyard ; and 

 he said (what was an entirely new discovery,) that it was very 

 gravelly soil from here to Northampton, over which he travelled ! 

 and that the Connecticut River makes a magnificent bend to the 

 college. All I wish to say is, that in these eighteen months we 

 have done something. I grant you, not much has been done 

 that could be called model farming, but I want you to know we 

 have not been unmindful of the farm. We have lived here, 

 and we have done something. This farm was made up of six 

 different estates, was covered with old Virginia fences and 

 hedge-rows, old orchards, and fields that had not been planted 

 for a generation. There was a swamp south of where the plant- 

 house now stands, that had never been ploughed in the world. 

 I want to name one or two things that have been done. In the 

 first place, ten acres of that swamp have been thoroughly under- 

 drained, and are now in admirable condition for a botanic 

 garden. They have produced one good crop of corn, and are 

 now laid down to grass. We have torn down the old houses 

 and moved away the old barns, except one lot, which we hope 

 will be removed next summer. We have put a good cellar 

 under the largest and best barn, and there it stands ready for 

 ,use whenever we have anything to put into it. We have cleared 

 up miles of old fences and hedge-rows ; we have prepared 

 twenty acres of ground for planting orchards, and vineyards and 

 nurseries ; have raised 200 tons of hay, and 2,400 bushels of 

 corn in the ear, and these boys have dug up by the roots 75 old 

 apple-trees. So that we have not been unmindful of the farm. 

 That is all I claim. I do not claim that we have done much, 

 but I say we have no reason to be ashamed of the progress 

 made when the means we had to do it with are considered, and. 

 the fact that the president and farm superintendent have had as 

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