No. 149.] 107 



sal motive power, and light the world for almost less than nO" 

 thing ! The minds of men seem all at once inspired with cease- 

 less activity, and a scene is presented such as was never before 

 seen. 



Let us hope that some good may come of all this. I am one 

 of the hopeful ones j and in tliis mood I perceive some reason to 

 hope that the present Legislature of New York will pass a bill 

 incorporating an Agricultural College ; but whether such a col- 

 lege as the wants of the country demand, remains to be seen. 

 I confess that I am not so hopeful on this point; but let us have 

 the best we can get. Among the thousands of dollars yearly 

 appropriated for educational purposes, something might well be 

 spared for the interests of agriculture, the study of which, in my 

 humble opinion, is quite as important as tliat of many brandies 

 of knowledge pursued at colleges and schools. Virgil complains 

 that while all the other arts and sciences are made the subjects 

 of regular study, that of agriculture is entirely neglected at 

 schools; and this complaint still remains a reproach to nearly 

 all educational institutions the world over. Of the several stu- 

 dies which now go to make up what is called a finished educa- 

 tion, some are entirely useless in after life, and others of doubt- 

 ful utility. For some one of these, the study of agriculture 

 might well be substituted. I mean agriculture in the widest 

 sense of the word, practically and scientifically, including at least 

 the collateral sciences of botany, geology, and chemistry. 



But simply an Agricultural College will not answer tlie pur- 

 pose; we must also have with it an Experimental Farm. It will 

 by no means answer to study agriculture as we do the dead lan- 

 guages. A mere theory of agriculture will be useless for all prac- 

 tical purposes. To be of the least utility, agriculture must be 

 practiced as well as studied ; its votaries must be workers as well 

 as r(<idcrs. This has its peculiar advantages; advantages which 

 no other study presents; for while it invigorates the physical 

 powers, gives strength to the body, and makes man more manly, 

 it at the same time imparts elasticity, energy, and vivacity to the 

 mind, and thus the physical and intellectual powers are mutual- 

 ly developed, the one strengthened by the other. Tliis is very 



