Vermont daily transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1868-1870, 1868-05-30
Vermont Daily Transcript.
SATURDAY, MAY 80, 1868.
massachusetts, 4igricHitUdcJ C0Hcgc


is becoming somewhat hackneyed, ana
we protest to begin with against any
inference that we propose to write an
essay upon that subject But having re-
Gently spent nearly week upon the
grounds and among the buildings of the
Massachusetts, Agricultural College |
Farm at Amherst, we have thought that |
n few notes upon that peculiar institu-
ton may be acceptable to our readers.
The subject of Agricultural Educa-
ton has been in various forms before
| the people of that Commonwealth since /
1850, when, principally through the in
huence of Hon. Marshall p. Wilder,
then President of the Senate, DR.. Ed
ward Hitchcock, President of Amherst
College, was commissioned to visit the
Agricultural Institutions of Europe,
and report upon their organization and
success.
The first practical result of this effort,
was the establishment of the Board Of
agriculture, which has accomplished
much, both to improve the farms and
farmers of the State, and to prepare the
way for the successful operation of an
Agricultural College.
In 1862 Congress, mainly through the
personal efforts of our esteemed Senator
Morrill,, who was then in the lower
House of Congress, made to each State
the liberal offer Of SO, coo acres of land
for every member of Congress, TO which
it was then entitled for the endowment
of one or more Colleges, the leading
= object of which should be to teach such
branches of learning as are related to
! Agriculture and the Mechanic arts.
The legislature of Massachusetts at
+ once accepted this generous gift, and af-
, one independent College for the special
education Of young men in scientific az
aiculture and horticulture. TO this in
: stitution was given practically two
: thirds ofhthis fund, while the other third
= was given to the Institute of Technol-
ogy at Boston, which from its favorable
i location and ample endowment possess
ed admirable facilities for the instruc-
ton of young men in the mechanic arts.
d Thus Massachusetts, alone of all the
States has established College for the
{ one sole purpose of giving instruction
in agriculture and horticulture-of affor-
> ding a professional education to practi-
J. cal farmers and gardeners.
That the course of instruction may
y combine the practical with the theoret
ISL the c2 afHs f 2eatea nPon one
u consisting of $685. acres, which cost eX
- elusive of building $37 600. The build
E. ings now upon the farm cost $7S, 900 ant
others are in course of erection.
The accommodations are now ample
+ for fifty students, and will be increased
so as to accommodate other sixty 10y tn,
4, opening of the second college year il
10 September.
The students all room in the dormi
I'd tory, and take their meals at the board
he ing house.
The President in his annual rcpor
~. says: 1.-The expense of living at TIN
to College will be reduced to the loves
n point compatible with health and com
fort, since, while the advantages of tn
~, Institution are freely offered to all, the.
Jul are especially designed to benefit TIL
TX industrial classes. A young man, cal
Il here procure superior education TO
~ 500 per annum, in addition to what h
rs can earn on the premises"
The expenses are: Tuition per tern
ia So; room rent s. board IS per week
L ,fol, I'm,
&C., at cost-about $25 per annum. TIL
!" students are required to labor six hour
per week without compensation, and ar
- encouraged to perform as much NOR
ed labor as is compatible with their elias
1t. duties; and it may be mentioned as il
e. Illustrative of the fact, that manual labo
does not necessarily prevent severe meI
he tai application that the best scholar i
ID, the class earned during the last teri
ng S39,97, at 122c per hour.
l. Candidates for admission must be fl
teen years old, and pass an examinatio
on in English Grammar, Geography, Aritl
e. metic, and algebra to Quadratic ECU,
~ sions, and furnish certificate of goo
Ter character.
IRE The course of instruction is scientific
ne and yet eminently practical.
Z" The farm Superintendent is also
ed Professor in the College, and equally ,
ok home in either place, thus affording til
ed student opportunity for practically al
is' plying the knowledge acquired in tt
ms class room, under the direct persons
nd superintendent of the Professor.
Ter Several of the students now in II
- ~, ~ -. l..c .: e A., r.,