No. 129.J 277 



and the acco'iint of the Date, are valuable contributions to the 

 fund of horticultiir-^1, pomological, and botanical information. 



Witii assurance of most sincere respect 



and esteem, jour most obedient serv't, 



H. A. S. DEARBORN, 



To Henry Meigs, Esq., Secret<iry Farmers' Club, American In- 

 stitute. 



P. S, — If Congress would establish an experimental farm and 

 garden, or schools of instruction in each of these branches of 

 tillage, in Washington, including at least a thousand acres, and 

 plac« Prof. Mapes, our distinguished Dr, Chas. T. Jaclison, and 

 lik-e able men, in the chairs of Chemistry, Geology, kc, kc, as 

 connected with the cultivation of the earth, and well-educated 

 Botanists, Farmers and Gardeners, as conductors of the experi- 

 ments, more could be done to promote all the branches of rural 

 industry than it is possible to effect in all other ways, and this, 

 too, within a very few years. We annually expend immense 

 sums f )r purposes which are absolutely insignificant in con)pari- 

 son with the benefit which such a national institution, would 

 confer. Each state would then have such an institution, and we 

 should not, as for th^e past two hundred years, be going on from 

 bad to w'orse in our agricultural laboi*s — or rather remain sta- 

 tionary, which is as fatal as falling in the rear of the age; for 

 to halt is as impcditic as to retrograde, as both are tiie results of 

 imbecility and are equally disastrous in their consequences. 



I wrote a letter to the Hon. J. R. Poinsett, which was publish- 

 ed in the jyational Intelligencer of January 21, 1843, on the ex- 

 pediency of establishing an experimental farm and garden on 

 the public grounds attached to the Ca[iito! and President's house j 

 but as the Washington estate at Ivlount Vernon caii now be pur- 

 chased, I think that is the very site for such an establishment, 

 and I trust that the next Congress w"ill not fail of procuring that 

 consecrated home of the Father of his Country for such an im- 

 portant and most appropriate purpose. 



