452 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



founded by the joint action of the United States and the 

 Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 



EDUCATIONAL PLAN OF THE COLLEGE. 



For the outline of studies and the special work in each de- 

 partment, we refer to the course of study, and the tabulated 

 report of work in each department in the second part of this 

 report. 



It is the aim of the trustees to keep the requirements for 

 entrance such that every boy in the State can find facilities 

 for fitting himself for the college, without leaving his home, 

 or incurring any expense for schooling which the well- 

 ordered schools of the various towns cannot aflbrd. If boys 

 from fifteen to twenty years of age come with a good com- 

 mon-school education and give themselves heartily to the 

 work here presented for them, they will, in four years' time, 

 be well educated to begin any practical business of life. 



The expense of education for four years is a serious matter 

 for most farmers' sons. The other colleges have large funds 

 for aiding indigent students, and a large proportion of those 

 thus aided are as well able to pay their bills as the average 

 farmer's son. It should be the aim of this college, then, to 

 reduce as much as possible the college expenses, and to fos- 

 ter habits of economy among the students themselves. It 

 now furnishes free scholarships, but it has no funds except a 

 single scholarship to make good the loss of tuition. So that 

 while the college diminishes the expense of the student, it 

 diminishes its own power to do for him what ought to be 

 done. Professors can do double work for a time, but there 

 is a limit to their time and strength, and to their ability to 

 properly teach so many subjects as are now required of 

 them. 



From necessity the college makes provision for the board 

 of students, and it secures this at reduced cost by giving 

 rent free the boarding-house and its furniture. The neces- 

 sity for this provision arises from the fa<;t that the college is 

 so far removed from the thickly settled portion of the town 

 that boarding places are difficult to be obtained within rea- 

 sonable distance from the college grounds. 



