Address. 1 1 



and culture of the country public schools, they can never occupy their 

 proper position in society, nor retain upon the farm their more talented and 

 ambitious sons and daughters; and finally, that the stream will not rise 

 higher than its source. The supposition that the mass of farmers will ever 

 educate themselves, or even appreciate the advantages of high culture, 

 before means are provided for giving it, and the benefits of it demonstrated, 

 is without foundation. Most of the leaders, in all the improvements that 

 have been made, have been not ordinary, uneducated farmers, but men of 

 other professions and liberal education. Our state system of public 

 schools, maintained by voluntary taxation, has been referred to as a proof 

 that the farmers would see their need of education and then spontaneously 

 provide for it. But Harvard College was established before the system of 

 public schools, and the high culture of her professional men has ever been 

 the glory and the power of Massachusetts. The history of the schools 

 throughout the State shows that they have been brought to their present 

 state of efficiency by the persistent and laborious efforts of liberally educa- 

 ted men, and, in many towns, it has required years of warfare to bring the 

 people up to the standard of the laws, which have been devised by learned, 

 and not by ignorant legislators. 



The third plan was proposed by the joint special committee of the Leg- 

 islature of 1863, the chairman of which was the Rev. E. 0. Haven, who 

 has since gained the reputation, in connection with the University of Michi- 

 gan, of being one of the most successful educators in the country. He is 

 now president of the North-Western University near Chicago. 



The fundamental idea of this plan was the establishment of a strictly pro- 

 fessional school for fanners, as an independent institution. It was regard- 

 ed as important that it should be in an agricultural region, away from city 

 influences, and that it should equal, in its educational faculties, the other 

 colleges of the State. Its object was to teach the theory and practice of 

 agriculture, and to give its pupils a literary and scientific training of a high 

 order. It was to be well equipped with apparatus and books, a farm with 

 stock and tools, and the necessary professors, not only to systematize and 

 teach all useful agricultural knowledge, but also to make original investiga- 

 tions aud experiments for the advancement of the art. 



The Board of Agriculture heartily approving this plan, it was adopted by 

 the Legislature, and the Massachusetts Agricultural College was incorpo- 

 rated. It is somewhat remarkable that it is the only institution in the 

 United States designed exclusively for the education of farmers. The mem- 

 bers of the corporation were elected by the Legislature for life and were 



