No. 4.] AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 319 



1870-71, 1874-75, 1879-80, 1881, 1885, 1889 and 1890 

 will be found to contain much which sheds light upon the 

 institution of to-day. In like manner and for a like reason 

 reference is made to the annual report of the college for 

 statistical facts and figures appertaining to its routine work 

 and history. 



To subserve the purposes for which the members of this 

 committee were designated, they have chosen two periods 

 for observation : first. Commencement week, in June ; and, 

 second, the middle of Octol)er, when the organization for 

 the new collegiate year was fully complete. During both 

 these visits every facility, as far as time would permit, has 

 been afforded for a thorough inspection of college and experi- 

 ment stations in all their departments. It is a pleasure to 

 recognize at the outset the painstaking courtesy of President 

 Goodell and his associates in their efforts to make the duties 

 of the committee at once pleasant and effective. 



After a faithful but far from exhaustive examination, the 

 committee is more than ever impressed with the conviction 

 that the citizens of the Commonwealth possess in this insti- 

 tution a people's college in which they may well feel an 

 an honest pride. As we recall its early history, with its 

 record of distrust, discouragement and struggle, the 'wonder 

 grows that the intelligent citizens of Massachusetts have been 

 so slow in according to it that recognition and patronage 

 which it is so richly qualified to repay. 



It were needless, if possible, to trace in labored detail the 

 various lines of work and investigation which are all con- 

 verging towards practical results. There is so much which 

 appertains to technical processes, mysterious to all but 

 experts, that a general view will be more interesting and 

 perhaps not less instructive. 



A just estimate of the success of an educational institution 

 involves a right apprehension of its purpose and scope. The 

 Massachusetts Agricultural Colleffe is founded and carried 

 on not to make farmers exclusively, but to furnish such in- 

 struction and training as will enable the sons of the people, 

 whether farmers or otherwise, to choose intelligently and 

 exercise successfully an honorable calling without prejudice 

 to any. That its tendency is to elevate and dignify the pur- 



