Ill 



for the work they are to assume. Hitherto the existing 

 -means for acquiring that education were inadequate to 

 •the exigencies of the case, and all plans proposed to 

 'meet the deficiency failed to receive the hearty appro- 

 val of those who were to be benefited thereby. Teach- 

 ing the agricultural sciences in the public schools would 

 -only give a smattering of the rudiments, and judging 

 from the past, little direct, practical aid could be expect- 

 -ed from the classical colleges. The canker worm and 

 caterpillar may devastate the very trees that shade their 

 .g-rounds, the curculio and mildew destroy their fruit, 

 rust, blight or rot their potatoes and other vegetables, 

 yet they pause not, swerve not from their routine to dis- 

 jcover, if possible, practical and effectual remedies against 

 •these and kindred pests that continually harass the far- 

 mer. Digging out Greek roots, discussing knotty points 

 in metaphysics or ancient history, or discoursing upon 

 heathen mythology, are more congenial occupations. 

 The effect of the training of our classical schools seems 

 jto be adverse to fitting a young man for following the 

 -quiet, laborious life of the farmer. Were it not so, why 

 mIo so few graduates immediately choose this as their fu- 

 'ture and only avocation ? Were an attempt to be made 

 to teach agriculture in our scientific schools, the other 

 industrial pursuits having a stronger hold upon the sym- 

 pathies of our citizens, it would be crowded into the 

 back ground and would not receive the attention its im- 

 ^lortance demands. 



Therefore all honor to the men who decided to estab- 

 lish a distinct, separate and independent college for far- 

 mers, and who located it in a purely farming district ; 

 there it can stand upon its own merits, and work out in 

 its own way the agricultural problems of the day. It 



