324 BOAED OF AGEICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



object-lesson be brought within the vision of those who most 

 need its instruction ? " 



To tliese and similar questions come two responses which 

 offer a partial if not complete solution of the problem. The 

 first relates to the wants of the college itself, and the second 

 to the wants of the people whose it is, and who should profit 

 by its beneficent influence. 



It is a fact, patent to any one competent to judge, that in 

 some directions the college is rapidly outgrowing its accom- 

 modations. The buildings, with all possible shifts in the 

 interest of economy of space, are barely adequate to present 

 needs, and the inconvenience of crowding must soon be pain- 

 fully felt. INIany of those now on the ground were con- 

 structed for the infancy of the enterprise, and should be 

 superseded. In these days of improved educational methods, 

 especially in the natural sciences, something more is neces- 

 sary for illustration and instruction than space and shelter : 

 museums and cabinets, in order to become available auxil- 

 iaries for educational work, must include an-angement and 

 classification ; laboratories and lecture rooms must regard 

 facility and despatch, as well as breadth and thoroughness ; 

 close proximity in related departments makes for economy 

 and efiiciency, as well as for ease and convenience ; hence 

 we are impressed with the conviction that the time has come 

 for these structural reminders of the day of small things to 

 give way to a new and nobler type of architecture, adequate 

 to the exigencies of a vigorous and growing institution, com- 

 mensurate with the functions and ideals of a grand, popular 

 mission, and worthy of the great Commonwealth which 

 founds and fosters them. 



If our academical neighbor can honor science by a temple 

 whose ample proportions and generous appointments mark a 

 distinct advance in this rising department, may not the State 

 afiix its seal of approval by imitating such enterprise, and so 

 recognize by substantial homage the future handmaid of all 

 successful a<2:riculture ? What better investment for the 

 future of the State than a hundred thousand dollars to 

 inaugurate a new era in the history of the Agricultural Col- 

 lege ; to focus under one roof those agencies of modern 

 science which are making themselves felt on every farm in 



