CHAPTER VI 



CONNECTICUT STATE BOARD OF AGRICUL- 

 TURE 



The first faculty of the Sheffield Scientific School 

 was regarded in academic circles as a band of radical 

 enthusiasts; the action of the governing board of the 

 school in permitting its members to give a part of 

 their time to public service was an innovation not ap- 

 proved by conservatives who held that extra-curricu- 

 lum activity was rather unprofessional; but in spite 

 of the disapprobation of those who felt that a college 

 professor should confine himself strictly to pedagogi- 

 cal duties, Professor Johnson and his colleagues had 

 always carried on along with their classroom work a 

 larger work in the education of the public. This they 

 did on the lecture platform, in the public press, and by 

 means of personal influence exerted through a wide 

 acquaintance with many kinds of men; and the gov- 

 erning board of the school, sanctioning their activity, 

 enabled them thus to set forth ''a forceful illustration 

 of the power which a scientific man can wield for the 

 good of the community." 



The Connecticut State Board of Agriculture, formed 

 in August 1866, continued and extended the work of 

 the old Agricultural Society; the Sheffield Scientific 

 School, in its annual report for 1866-67, which says 

 ' ' The officers of the school refer with pleasure to their 

 relations with the State Board of Agriculture," main- 

 tained the cordial attitude of the old '' School of 



