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WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
throughout the state, by the press, and in our annual volume of 
Transactions, and be promotive of the highest good. 
At 8 o’clock, P. M., a joint convention of the Agricultural and 
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Horticultural societies was held in the Assembly Chamber, Presi¬ 
dent Taylor of the former, and President Stickney of the lat¬ 
ter, presiding. 
President Taylor introduced W. W. Daniells, M. S., Prof, 
of Agriculture and Analytical Chemistry in the University of 
Wisconsin, who proceeded to deliver the following interesting and 
able annual address, in behalf of the Agricultural Society: 
ANNUAL ADDRESS. 
BY PROF. W. W. DANIELLS. 
There is no other question that occasions so much perplexity 
and anxiety among those interested in education, and the educa¬ 
tional institutions of to-day, as this: “What course of study is 
best suited to the college curriculum ?” Shall a college have a 
single course for all students, whatever be their tastes or aims in 
life, or with certain prescribed studies, forming a basis and com¬ 
mon nucleus for all; shall elective studies be allowed to meet the 
natural bent of each, and, as far as is consistent in such a course, 
to direct the student’s mind in the channel of his life work? 
Shall the classics and mathematics constitute the college course, 
or may the natural sciences, and the modern languages largely 
take their place ? 
These are questions of vital importance to all. It is but trite 
to say that the welfare of the world lies to a great extent in the 
education and intelligence of men. 
The advancement and discoveries that are being continually 
made in every department of learning, by increasing the sum 
total of human knowledge, render man’s three score years and 
ten, a comparatively shorter period than it was a hundred years 
ago, when there was less to be acquired. So that it is essential to 
so plan work that each one may accomplish the most in the time 
allotted here. 
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It is not strange that men should think differently upon this all 
