10 Address. 



His Excellency, Governor Andrew, the Legislature of 1863, the Board of 

 Agriculture, and all who were for any reason interested in the subject, be- 

 gan an earnest and thorough discussion of the question, how the fund ac- 

 cruing from the sale of this land could be best applied to promote educa- 

 tion in agriculture, and thus to elevate the profession and perfect the art. 



Three distinct plans for the accomplishment of the desired object were 

 brought forward and ably advocated by their friends. The first was elo- 

 quently presented by the governor in his annual message, in which he ad- 

 vised the establishment of an agricultural school in connection with Har- 

 vard College, and the bestowment of at least two millions of dollars, in 

 addition to the fund derived from the sale of the land, upon that institu- 

 tion, so as to render it a grand university worthy the name and fame of 

 Massachusetts. The prime object of an agricultural school of this kind, 

 is not to educate farmers, so much as to advance scientific agriculture, by 

 affording at the university the most favorable opportunities for experiments 

 and original investigations in the various departments of science, which 

 are specially applied to agriculture. Such an institution would undoubt- 

 edly, under good management, accomplish much for the advancement of 

 useful knowledge— and is now organizing as a department of the university 

 at Cambridge, which has a fund of $250,000 bequeathed to it for this very 

 purpose by Benjamin Bussey of Boxbury. 



A second plan for promoting agricultural education, which has been 

 urged by some intelligent men, the most prominent of whom is the Hon. 

 George S. Boutwell, is diametrically opposed to the first, and has for its 

 main object the diffusion of knowledge upon agricultural topics among the 

 farmers themselves. The means to be employed for this purpose are not 

 colleges or professional schools, but agricultural societies, farmers clubs, 

 and lecturers going from town to town, and imparting such practical knowl- 

 edge as the farmers are competent or willing to receive. Some would also 

 introduce an elementary text-book on agriculture into the common schools, 

 with the same end in view. The attempt to teach agriculture in the public 

 schools, even with an excellent text-book, has been tried and proved a fail- 

 ure from lack of knowledge and interest on the part of teachers. With com- 

 petent instructors, it might be very profitably taught in the higher schools. 

 The objections to this second plan are that it is hard to teach old men new 

 ways, and hence education must begin in youth; that to secure I he ready 

 adoption of improvements there must be not only a knowledge of the im- 

 provements, themselves, but also of the scientific principles upon which 

 they arc founded; that, if practical farmers are to remain ignorant of all 

 the higher branches of learning, and to have only the mental discipline 



