No. 216.] 21 



Therefore, considering the aid vshich the American Institute can 

 afford, both in money and knowledge, the large number of farmers 

 belonging to it, and the deep interest it takes in agriculture, we do 

 not hesitate to give our opinion, that the location prayed for pre- 

 sents advantages paramount to all others." 



The advantages of proximity to New-York for learning which are 

 the best machines and implements applicable to various purposes on 

 the farm, are evident. No inconsiderable portion of its profits de- 

 pends upon the use of the best kind. The farmer is continually ex- 

 posed to deception and loss from highly recommended machines, 

 which on trial prove defective and are abandoned. 



At the Great Fair the collection of machines, tools and imple- 

 ments is immense, with all the conveniences for testing, in high per- 

 fection, provided. The expense incurred the last year for steam 

 power alone, the accounts state to have been $654.61. Our intelli- 

 gent committee say that there were exhibited more than 140 new 

 inventions or improvements on old ones: more than was ever brought 

 together in this country before. What an opportunity for the student 

 to learn with his professors and the ingenious originators to explain 

 their exact uses and merits, and to discriminate between the different 

 constructions for the same purpose. The best is what he seeks for. 

 These again may be tested on the farm without risking purchase 

 until their defects or merits are ascertained. The daily exhibition 

 room of the Institute, when sufficient space shall be furnished, may 

 be resorted to every day, and every new invention taken to the ex- 

 perimental farm and tested at once. 



The paramount difficulty is in obtaining the means for commencing 

 the establishment. The failure of individual efforts confirms this.^ 

 The establishment of such an institution by this state was thirty years 

 ago recommended by some of our wisest statesmen, and repeated ap- 

 plications to the legislature have since been made. The state has 

 an immense educational fund, a small portion of which, a mere 

 fraction, with the contributions of public spirited individuals — and 

 there are many such, impressed with the value of the proposed insti- 

 tution — we could add to these contributions a portion of the accu- 

 mulations of the Institute already made, amounting to $12,^000, that 

 could be spared, which would in our opinion insure the undertaking. 

 Once under way, it could hardly fail for want cf income. The farm 

 might be made a source of continued profit, if 30 acres for one year 

 from the Bloomingdale Asylum, and also the farm of R. & J. Cooper, 



