AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 
53 
somewhat for the accidents of seasons, unusual 
droughts, humidity, or frosts; or perchance, the 
destruction following upon the eccentricities of the 
elements, as a hail-storm, or whirlwind, on an un¬ 
garnered crop, we might look for the highest re¬ 
sults from every well-directed effort, with the same 
confidence that we now look to the attainment of 
any given speed from a steamboat, after providing 
it with a suitable model, engine, and fuel; or the 
weaving a definite number of yards by a power- 
loom, properly constructed, and moved by the re¬ 
quisite force. To accomplish thus much, we have 
but to place our soil, and seed, and culture, in the 
same precise conditions, that have once been so suc¬ 
cessful; and yet how seldom is this achieved, even 
on the same field, and under the same direction as 
may have been before employed. 
If we look beyond the discoveries hitherto ap¬ 
plied, and bring to the science of agriculture such 
analogies as are appropriate to the subject, as 
shown from the progress of human invention in 
other departments of enterprise, we may reasonably 
expect developments in aid of this object, which 
would now be considered as perfectly Utopian. 
What brilliant results may yet crown the research¬ 
es of the devotee of agricultural science, and what 
green and enduring wreaths of glory are destined 
to circle the brow of genius, who may hereafter 
successfully explore this hitherto almost untrodden 
waste. And how the comforts of this world, and 
its means of subsistence will be multiplied, when 
all the aids to its cultivation are rendered, which 
mankind have a right to demand. 
We have then our deficiencies for the present 
and past, and our hopes for the future pointed out. 
Where are the remedies for the former, and the 
proper and reliable foundations for the latter? 
First and mainly, it may be answered, in bringing 
the right minds to the just and full consideration 
of this subject; and secondly, and as a necessary 
sequence to the former, the application of the 
requisite amount of funds, which shall secure 
genius of the highest caste, under all the circum¬ 
stances of advantage, essential to its fullest effect. 
. Briefly, and in a form that all may comprehend, 
we say ; we want an agricultural institution, found¬ 
ed and arranged on the best principles which can 
be dictated by enlightened experience, sound 
judgment, and a shrewd common sense; and so 
guarded, as to be unassailable by the corruptions 
of party, and beyond the reach of any hostile in¬ 
novations of the fickle multitude ; and such an in¬ 
stitution should be endowed with a permanent fund 
of one third , to half a million of dollars. In this 
institution, we would place a chemist and geologist; 
an anatomist and physiologist; a botanist; an en¬ 
tomologist; and a practical agriculturist, who 
should give embodiment and effect to the sugges¬ 
tions of science, and run each out to a clear, dis¬ 
tinct and definite result. These professors should 
be such as the choicest spirits of the age could af¬ 
ford ; surrounded with all necessary assistants, 
books, and apparatus, and a well-conducted, and 
sufficiently-extended farm; and their services 
should be secured by a compensation perfectly ad¬ 
equate to their entire independence for life. Under 
these circumstances, we should have a series of 
experiments following each other in well-arranged 
and appropriate succession; the results of one, con¬ 
stituting the starting-point for another, and each 
department would be aided in its researches, by 
all the light afforded to it by the others. 
With such an institution, how long would it be, 
ere the tyro in agriculture could go to it, with the 
same certainty of receiving the requisite informa¬ 
tion, that the mariner now does in consulting his 
chart and compass ? The slow and dangerous 
coasting, amid shoals and breakers, that now mark 
out his benighted course, would at once give way 
to bolder movements, and more direct and certain 
success. Thus guarded, thus endowed, and thus 
filled, such an institution would revolutionize the 
practice of agriculture within the present age, and 
more than double the products of the earth, with 
the same labor and expense now devoted to them. 
Is this not an object worthy the legislation of 
statesmen, or the munificence of intelligent and 
patriotic individuals? 
But with legislatures constituted as at the present 
day, we can not, probably, look to a single one of 
our 26 state governments, for the object desired; 
and as for Congress, nothing can be hoped from 
that quarter. From $10,000,000 to $12,000,000 
is the amount of our annual peace appropriation for 
war; and this preparation for human butchery, is 
all legitimate and proper; but an appropriation of 
one twentieth of this amount, to feed the hungry, 
and clothe the naked, and carry comfort and con¬ 
solation to the diseased and destitute, the aged 
and infirm, and afford thrift and abundance to all, 
would, in the opinion of our strict constructionists, 
rend our constitution to tatters. Yerily the ex¬ 
tremes of human wisdom and folly, like the con¬ 
tinued extension of the arch of a circle, finally 
meet in the same point. 
Hopeless then, as may be the realization of the 
desired aid from any present legislation, we have 
to expect it, if at all, from individual bounty alone. 
Here indeed, is a glorious field for immortality, 
for one sufficiently enlightened to grasp it, and the 
man who shall have the good sense and liberality, 
to found the first Agricultural College on the en¬ 
larged and munificent plan proposed, will secure 
a fame for all coming time, before whose bright¬ 
ness that of an Alexander or Napoleon would be¬ 
come dim, or distinguishable only by its intensity 
of darkness. 
We must confess our hopes in the beneficial re¬ 
sults of the present efforts in the cause of agricul¬ 
ture—our inquiries and discussions—our treatises 
and periodicals—our agricultural premiums and 
shows—come up to this extent, and scarcely more: 
they are awakening the public mind to a sense of 
its deficiencies ; they are discovering the vacuum 
which yet remains to be filled. They are the cre¬ 
puscular light which heralds the coming morn, 
but they are not the glorious effulgence of the 
king of day. But his approach is indicated beyond 
the possibility of doubt; and ere long the world 
will be in the full enjoyment of his benignant rays. 
They are not the Light so long looked for, and so 
much desired, but they are “ the witnesses of that 
light.” 
We shall soon have, not only one, but a multi- 
