11 



as your horses and oxen, and the one wants training as much 

 as the other. Let your colts and steers grow up without break- 

 ing into work, and they will not be worth much when they at- 

 tain their full growth, either for field or road labor ; but put 

 them to the yoke and harness young, you will find their 

 strength increasing with age and practice, and their power 

 made productive in useful work. So it is with the mind, if left 

 undisciplined ; its natural strength will be comparatively use- 

 less for systematic labor ; but if properly trained for the work 

 to which it is to be devoted for life, its labor will be found fully 

 equal in productiveness to the physical labor which it will 

 direct. 



What is wanted by our farmers is an education that shall 

 not only accumulate facts, but which shall enlarge the mind, 

 develop the powers of the brain, widen and deepen the chan- 

 nels of information, and bring into operation those latent ele- 

 ments of mental perception and concentration. And when these 

 powers, which every one possesses in a greater or less degree", 

 are fully set to work in agricultural pursuits, then shall be 

 seen our farms, gardens in productiveness, and sought by 

 business men not only for pleasure but for profit. Then 

 our farmers, instead of thinking their brightest and most in- 

 telligent boys are fit only for lawyers, doctors, or ministers, 

 will give them an agricultural profession, in which they may 

 contribute in the highest sphere of human labors towards hu-' 

 man happiness ; and in which they may acquire both honor and 

 wealth. But you ask, how shall this education be acquired? I 

 answer, in the same way and manner that knowledge is acquired 

 in other professions, arts, and sciences, by schools and colleges 

 where a thorough and scientific education may be obtained 

 in all those matters which pertain to agriculture in its broadest 

 sense, to agiiculture as a science and as an art. Happily 

 our State and National Legislatures have turned their attention 

 to the importance of this subject, feeling that for its advance- 

 ment a thorough and mental culture, is as necessary as physical 

 training. Congress has already made conditional endowments 



