No. 216.] 19 



Reasons for the Establishment of an Agricultural School and Ei' 

 perimental Farm, near the city of JVew-York. 



First — Because agriculture is the most important and extensive 

 enaployment of the people of this country, employing as it does four- 

 fifths of the whole population, sustaining all other occupations, and 

 forming the basis of public and private wealth and prosperity. 



Second — Because it is for the greatest interest of the country to 

 bring agriculture to the highest possible state of perfection. 



Third — Because the cultivation of the earth, and all the processes 

 of agriculture, involve the use of natural laws, and, therefore, to 

 render it most successful, requires a knowledge of natural science in 

 all its departments. 



Fourth — Because attempts to cultivate the soil, without the aid 

 of such knowledge, lead to a waste and loss of much time and labor, 

 by counteracting natural laws instead of co-operating with them. 



Fifth — Because improvements in the art of agriculture, have, 

 heretofore, been much neglected, and have not received that public 

 and private attention which its importance demands, and which has 

 been bestowed upon other arts and branches of industry. 



Sixth — Because improvements in agriculture require, not only a 

 knowledge of the sciences, but also a practical application of their 

 principles, to all the various modes of working and treating soils; 

 and because, in consequence of the constant advance and disclosures 

 of science, numerous, difficult, and time-consuming experiments 

 therein, have become necessary, and which can be satisfactorily 

 tried, only when ample preparation is made for them. 



Seventh — Because farmers, generally, have neither time, means, 

 nor qualification sufficient to conduct such experiments, and that the 

 same, if made at all, must be by a combined effort, and can be more 

 successfully carried out by the institution proposed than in any other 

 way. 



Eighth — Because in an institution, like the one proposed, might 

 be taught, to the best advantage, everything calculated to render the 

 business of farming more flourishing, prosperous ' and productive; 

 such as enriching and draining soils, preserving and restoring their 

 fertility, what manures are best adapted to the different kinds of soil. 



