HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 83 



parts of the State. In 1890 it was permanently lo- 

 cated at Syracuse by the State Agricultural Society 

 and one hundred acres of land on the present site were 

 donated by that city. This area has been increased 

 •to I45I/2 acres. At that time the development of the 

 present commodious grounds and buildings was be- 

 gun. In 1900 the enterprise was taken over by the 

 State and was placed under a commission of eleven 

 men. In 1909 this number was reduced to seven, 

 with the Lieutenant-Governor and Commissioner of 

 Agriculture ex-officio. 



From the time of the notable addresses to the legis- 

 lature of Governor De Witt Clinton in 1818, in favor 

 of agriculture, and the writings of his cousin Simeon 

 De Witt, the founder of Ithaca, both nephews of the 

 first governor of the State, Eobert Clinton, who 

 was also a strong advocate of the promotion of agri- 

 culture, various movements were started for the or- 

 ganization of a school or college of agriculture. 

 Eensselaer Polytechnic Institute, established at Troy 

 in 1824, included agriculture among its interests. 

 After long and persistent agitation in the Xew York 

 State Agricultural Society, a charter for an agricul- 

 tural college at Fayette, Seneca County, was granted 

 in 1853, largely through the efforts of John Delafield. 

 As a result of his death in the same year, the move- 

 ment failed and was supplanted in 1850-1857 by the 

 organization of an agricultural college at Ovid, in the 

 same county, in connection with Ovid Academy, where 

 buildings were erected and the doors opened to stu- 

 dents in agriculture in 18G0. But this was not a 



