1850. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
37 
place and every clime, alike honored and respected 
with the diploma of any other college or institution. 
And now, farmers, a few words as to the prompt 
use of the institution, which I feci must be accorded 
to your wishes. It is probable that many a parent 
will in humble modesty, shrink from thrusting his 
son into competition, or fear the results of a posi¬ 
tion so prominent among his fellow beings. Let 
us, for a moment, look back upon time, and the re¬ 
sults of science as placed within the grasp of men 
like many or all of us. We find 
1. Opie, the celebrated painter, and who lectured 
upon his art in London. He was a lumberman and 
carpenter. 
2*. John Prideaux—who became Bishop of Wor¬ 
cester, entered as assistant in the kitchen of the 
college (Exeter) in Oxford, and there obtained a 
fellowship. 
3. Linnaeus—The famed founder of the science 
of botany, closely allied to our profession, was a 
shoemaker’s apprentice. 
4. Ben. Johnson'—the celebrated dramatist, 
worked as a brick-layer. 
5. Jas. Milner—the author of the history of the 
church, was a weaver. 
6. Cook—the great navigator, was, in earl}" life, 
the apprentice to a shopkeeper. 
But let us come to our own day and times, and 
we find: 
1. Benj. Franklin—his early days were devoted 
to soap boiling and candle making. I need not re¬ 
mind you of the conspicuous and important influence 
he had in securing to us our present liberty and 
happiness. 
2. Humphrey Davy—to whom we farmers are 
indebted for science applied to our profession ■ ho 
was the son of a carver in wood, and was himself 
an apothecary’s apprentice, 
3. General Greene of N. E. He was a black¬ 
smith—member of state legislature—the friend of 
Washington—the true soldier. 
4. Roger Sherman—one of the noble souls whose 
names were affixed to the Declaration of Inde¬ 
pendence. His father was a farmer, but himself a 
shoemaker—the man of whom Jefferson remarked, 
4< lie never said a foolish thing in his life.” 
I could go on and particularise hosts of talented 
men who have risen in this country from obscurity 
to the highest estimation of their fellow beings. At 
this hour we have, living in this state, men who 
struggled with poverty from their ycuth, holding 
the highest offices of our state and general govern¬ 
ment—bright lights of this nation—poor through 
life as to property, but rich and wealthy to excess 
in all that makes the man, that gives character, 
and elevates the human species. 
Behold, then, farmers, the beacons for us to fol¬ 
low. Every one of the men I have named were 
urged forward to schools , or seized eagerly every 
means for education —zeal and determination ac¬ 
complished the rest, at a time when our best ap¬ 
pliances for education were young and weak, and be¬ 
fore the great store-house of science was opened as it 
now is for the use of man. Then the competition was 
among comparatively few—now each man is but one of 
many millions running the same race. So large is our 
community that we are necessarily divided into classes, 
and each year every class takes its more distinctive 
form. In accordance with this natural division, we find 
every class, except the great farming body, establishing 
schools, academies and colleges, for their own advance¬ 
ment. We see their educated men filling or claiming to 
fill every post of honor or distinction. 
Gentlemen, I call upon you to remember that, as a 
class, you far outweigh in natural advantages, every 
other class; in numbers, we constitute more than three- 
fourths of the whole nation, yet, strange to say, not a 
school, not an academy, not a single college has been 
devoted to the advancement of our high calling—a call¬ 
ing which in truth demands as high or a higher educa¬ 
tion for its perfection, than any other position in life. 
This is strong language for us, but it is true; it is ca¬ 
pable of full demonstration; and the claims we are now- 
making for our share of public attention and our rights, 
will be upheld by a burst of stronger tones than mine. 
Let us then press forward with one accord—let us as 
farmers feel as one family, and claim from our State 
government the prompt establishment of an agricultural 
college, with suitable farms, to shed the light of sci¬ 
ence upon agriculture, as it has done, by similar means, 
upon law r , medicine, commerce and manufactures. 
Doings of the Sipithsonian Institution. 
Editors or the Cultivator— -I have just finished 
an examination of the first and second Reports of the 
first secretary and other officers of the Smithsonian In¬ 
stitution. I hardly remember to have taken anything 
in hand, for a long time, more full of interest, or, in 
my opinion, calculated to develope more important re¬ 
sults for science, than the plan of organization of this 
institution, and the designs of the Board of Regents, in 
carrying out and perfecting the same. 
It is well know T n that Mr. Smithson left his pro¬ 
perty in trust to the United States government, to found 
at Washington, an institution w-hieh should bear his 
own name, and have for its object “ the increase and 
diffusion of knowledge among men.” This trust was 
accepted by our government, and an act of Congress 
w-as passed, constituting certain individuals an estab¬ 
lishment, under the name of the “ Smithsonian Institu¬ 
tion for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among 
men.” The act establishing the institution, directs, as 
a part of the plan of organization, the forming of a li¬ 
brary, a museum and a gallery of art, together with 
provisions for physical research, and popular lectures; 
leaving to the Regents of tne institution the pow"er of 
adopting such other plans as may to them seem best 
suited to promote the objects of the bequest. 
The secretary, in his latest Report, informs us that 
the Regents have resolved to divide the annual income 
into tw T o equal parts; one part to be devoted to the in¬ 
crease and diffusion of knowledge, by means of original 
and particular research, publications and lectures; and 
the other half to be applied, in accordance with the act 
of Congress, to the gradual formation of a library, a 
museum and a gallery of art.. 
The secretary also informs us, that several distinct 
scientific researches are now- in progress, under the di¬ 
rection of the institution, memoirs of which will be 
duly published; that the library is gradually increasing 
by donations and by books deposited by publishers, and 
that, hereafter, considerable additions w r ill be made in 
the w r ay of exchanging the Smithsonian Contributions 
for the published Transactions of other institutions; that 
preparations are making for giving a series of free 
public lectures, to be commenced as soon as the build¬ 
ing is ready for the purpose. 
We find by the report of the building committee, 
that the east wing of the building is ready for occupa¬ 
tion, and that the w’hole structure will be completed 
within the specified lime, namely, by March, 1852; 
that the plan of building adopted, comprises a museum 
200 feet by 50, a library 90 feet by 50, a gallery of 
art 125 feet long, two lecture rooms, of which one is 
capable of containing an audience of 800 to 1000 per¬ 
sons—that the style of building selected is the later 
