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before seeding — ihe best way of selecting and 

 preparing the seeds before planting or sowing — 

 and preventing certain diseases the crops are 

 subject to. The effects of turning in different 

 kinds of green crops as fertilizers in improving 

 worn-out. fields — the effects of different manures 

 upon different crops, whether the products of 

 the farm, or such as lime, ashes, poudrette, 

 guano, and whether applied in the common form 

 and way, or in a liquid state — to be ploughed 

 in or as top dressings. So also with regard to 

 a constant rotation of crops, or naked summer 

 fallowing 1 . It would be desirable also to attempt 

 the introduction of new staple productions, such 

 as the producing of madder and silk, for which 

 we now pay annually some millions to foreign 

 countries, and which amounts must increase as 

 our population and cotton and woollen manufac- 

 tories increase. There can be no doubt that 

 both these articles can be made very productive 

 and profitable staples in Virginia. There are 

 gentlemen now ready to establish a filature at 

 Richmond for the reeling of silk as soon as en- 

 couragement is given, that the planters will fur- 

 nish cocoons. I have this spring also met with 

 a gentleman who has come from France and 

 another from Italy with a view of establishing 

 manufactories for making silk fabrics ; with an- 

 other gentleman from North Holland, who has 

 long been engaged in raising madder there, and 

 who means to commence the raising of it now 

 in this country, wherever he may find it most 

 favorable and advantageous to himself. 



On the farm ought also to be a choice selec- 

 tion of all kinds of domestic animals, and the 

 students ought to be taught what are the cha- 

 racteristic points of a good animal— the most 

 economical and best way of keeping them in 

 good condition for the ordinary uses to which 

 they are applied, or in preparing them for mar- 

 ket ; how to improve the stock by skilful breed- 

 ing — the diseases they are subject to, and the 

 best common remedies for the prevention or cure 

 of the same. With this department will be 

 connected the important article of manures; the 

 best means of making and saving the same; 

 the way to increase and multiply it, and the 

 manufacturing of mineral or artificial manures. 



There ought also to be connected with the 

 Institute a machine shop for making all kinds 

 of agricultural implements and machines of ap- 

 proved utility, from which the farmers in that 

 region might supply themselves. These ought 

 all to be used on the farm to show the advantage 

 the arts are to agriculture. Here the students 

 would learn much that is useful in the nature 

 and application of mechanics, and in fixing or 

 repairing their machines when out of gear or 

 repair, and in the exercise of their mechanical 

 ingenuity. 



Every department of the Institute ought to 

 be carried on in the most economical manner, 



and an exact account should be kept of the 

 mode and manner of cultivation — the outlay of 

 labor and money expended on every field and 

 crop, and the product of the same; for if our 

 farming costs more than it comes to, it is a bad 

 business ; and some more economical and bene- 

 ficial change ought to be adopted. 



Although it was never designed by me to 

 make the Institute a mere manual labor school, 

 for as such I believe it would fail, as all such 

 schools have failed, especially on a large scale, 

 yet if the above plan could be carried out, it 

 would excite so much interest in the students 

 that as a matter of choice they would take hold 

 with their own hands and do, what must be 

 done by some one, in order to teach ihem how 

 it should be done ; that, they might know how 

 to have the same things done themselves pro- 

 perly hereafter It would indeed be desirable 

 that all should be required to take hold them- 

 selves to learn how things ought to be done ; 

 but for fear our young gentlemen would not be 

 prepared for this step, it was intended to carry 

 on the operations of the farm principally by a 

 set of young men who desired to qualify them- 

 selves as overseers of estates, who were not able 

 to pay for their education except by the labor of 

 their own hands. They, as a matter of neces- 

 sity, would receive 1 heir instruction in a class 

 by themselves. These different classes might 

 create some difficulty ; but a prudent and dis- 

 creet course of management might overcome 

 every difficulty of this kind. 



The price 1 intended to charge to cover all 

 expenses of every kind, such as board, tuition, 

 fuel, washing, mending, and use of classical 

 books, was one hundred dollars per term of five 

 months- from the 15th of May to the 16th of 

 October, and from the 15th of November to the 

 15th of April. 



I have now given you the general outline of 

 the plan for the organization and course of in- 

 struction I contemplated for the Institute. The 

 attention which my private affairs require, will 

 necessarily lead me to be absent from home for 

 some time to come, and which I have deemed, 

 therefore, incompatible with taking the charge 

 and responsibility of such an Institute, and, 

 therefore, I have been constrained to abandon 

 the enterprise. I regret it is so, for my heart 

 was in this enterprise, and I fondly hoped there 

 to have spent the remainder of my days in en- 

 deavoring to make myself useful to my country 

 and the rising generation. Such an Institute 

 ought not to belong to any private individual — 

 it is an object of great importance to the agri- 

 cultural interests of the country, which lays at 

 the foundation of all other interests, and, there- 

 fore, it is a great public object, in which all 

 classes of society have an interest, and it ought 

 to be a public institution, owned, sustained and 

 nourished by the State Agricultural Board, ur> 



