No. 4.] AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 363 



We, therefore, respectfully petition your Honorable Body to 

 encourage the enterprise, by donating from the funds of the 

 Commonwealth, a sum equal in amount to that named above, 

 on such terms and conditions as may seem to your Honorable 

 Body to be proper. 



Petitions were presented signed by twenty-eight citizens 

 of Russell, sixty-two of Holyoke, twenty of Westfield, forty 

 of Enfield, fifty-three of Brinifield, twenty of Huntington, 

 twenty-four of West Tisbury, thirty-five of Becket, one hun- 

 dred and forty-five of Amherst, fifty-one of Princeton, twenty- 

 eight of West Springfield, seventeen of Palmer, twelve of 

 Templeton, ninety-two of Pittsfield, twenty -two of South 

 Deerfield, thirty-two of Greenfield, twenty-nine of Hinsdale, 

 twenty of Chester, eleven of Brookfield, Ralph Clark and 

 forty others, Chas. R. Tracy and forty-two others, Nathan 

 M. Chaffee and thirty-four others, by Pres. George Marston 

 on behalf of the Barnstable County Agricultural Society, and 

 by eleven members of the Franklin Harvest Club. 



There was presented, also, a petition signed by eighty-six 

 citizens of Northampton, in which reference was made to the 

 will of Oliver Smith, and closing with the following words : — 



We therefore petition your Honorable bodies to consider the 

 provisions whereby the said sum is to be made available for 

 such a purpose, and if it is deemed that the interests of the 

 Commonwealth require the incorporation of an Agricultural 

 School or College, to consider, if the best interests of the State 

 will not be promoted, by its location in this town, where it 

 may ultimately have the full benefit of this rapidly accumulat- 

 ing fund. 



A petition was also presented, signed by Henry W. Cusli- 

 man and twelve others, calling attention to the establish- 

 ment of Powers Institute in Bernardston, Franklin County, 

 in 1857, and stating that Mr. L. F. Ward, who became 

 principal in the spring of 1858, had, " with the sanction of 

 the Board of Trustees, established an Agricultural Depart- 

 ment in said school." After referring to the work of the 

 new department somewhat in detail, and the obstacles en- 



