222 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



other the horticultural buildings with their pleasant adjuncts, 

 and between is an artificial lake set like a gem of beauty in 

 the attractive surroundings. Farther to the eastward is a 

 high ridge of land and the newly acquired addition known 

 as the Clark property, which is a continuation of the high 

 land upon which Amherst village is located. From this 

 portion of the farm the view is a charming panorama to the 

 lover of nature. To the south are Mount Holyoke and 

 Mount Tom, rising like great sentinels out of the Connec- 

 ticut valley to guard the landscape in its beauty and watch 

 over, as it were, the colleges of Amherst, Northampton and 

 South Hadley and the seminary at Easthampton, whose fame 

 and influence are as wide as civilization. To the westward 

 lies the bold range of hills, rising to a yet greater altitude 

 than the mountains referred to : the hills of western Hamp- 

 shire, that the great poet of nature has immortalized in song ; 

 the hills where Bryant, Curtis, Norton, Chadwick, Warner, 

 Hall, Dawes and a host of lesser lights in the literary world 

 delighted and delight to spend the summer season, drink- 

 ing in inspiration to breathe out again in crystallized thought 

 upon a waiting world ; the mountains where Bryant wrote 

 his " Thanatopsis " and sang of the rivulet and the forest, — 



" The mountains that infold in their wide sweep, 

 The colored landscape round, 

 Seem groups of giant kings in purple and gold, 

 That guard the enchanted ground " — 



while to the north rises Mount Tob}', like a great watch 

 tower, sending down its benediction from the northern sky. 

 What more picturesque or charming place could the State, 

 or its trusted officials, have found for the enterprise it 

 commenced in 1863? That this place, with all its invit- 

 ing features of art and nature, its educational advantages 

 and opportunities, its v^aluable scientific and experimental 

 work, bringing new light and knowledge upon agricultural 

 subjects, is not fully appreciated and appropriated by 

 the people of the Commonwealth, is the opinion of your 

 committee. 



