EDUCATION IN AGRICULTURE. 31 



mathematics and ])l)ysics, v/liich they might get at our high 

 schools and academics, but an institution which shall ])osi lively 

 advance the knowledge of farming, of draining and irrigating, 

 of ploughing and cultivating, of i)lanting and harvesting, of 

 manuring and rotation, of breeding and raising, of feeding 

 and managing, of field culture and forest culture, by leading 

 a few young men to ])ursuc ])hysics and natural history to 

 their highest attainalilc limits, with special reference to their 

 application to agriculture. If twenty-five years ago Dr. Harris 

 had been taken from the library of the college, and a salary 

 given him that he might devote himself especially and exclu- 

 sively to the study of insects injurious to the farmer, and of 

 means to prevent their ravages, no man can calculate the 

 benefit that might have resulted from the labors of that thor- 

 oughly learned entomologist in such a pursuit. Who can 

 estimate the results that might flow from a thorougli chemist 

 giving his whole heart to the question of manures and rota- 

 tion of crops ; or from a man intimately acquainted with botany 

 taking his whole time and strength for the investigation of tho 

 diseases of plants (such as the sycamore, tho potato and the 

 peach ;) or a zoologist giving his mind wholly to the breeding 

 of oysters, or fish, or domesticated animals ? Whole villages 

 have been built in France upon the artificial propagation of 

 oysters, and extensive fisheries established in other countries 

 of Europe by the breeding of salmon. ]>ut our own oysters, 

 superior to those of France, would better rei)ay the propngator ; 

 our salmon, our shad, the smaller and more delicate species of 

 smelt, and other fish, ought to be protected by legislation and 

 multiplied by cultivation ; the terrapin of Chesapeake IJay should 

 receive more attention ; many of our aquatic birds might prove 

 as valuable as the turkey ; the native apple of tho West, tlio 

 hickory nut, the pecan nut, the black walnut and butternut, 

 the wild plum, the papaw, and other fruits, arc as capable of 

 improvement by cultivation as the grape and the cranberry. 

 But it must not bo expected that private individuals, like Mr. 

 Bull, of our own county, should do all this work. Tho trial 

 of such experiments would proceed faster and more satisfac- 

 torily under proper management of a well-endowed agricultural 

 college. Consider also a moment the problems involved in tho 

 cultivation of our sea and inland marshes, tho preservation of 



