Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1880-08-05
UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE
Laying the Corner Stone of the
Agricultural Hall.

very pteASaHb aAAlI, HOiWlLnsla0uI
the inclemeney ofthe weather.
Prof. ]. M.iMcBryde, of the chair of
agriculture, horticulture and botany
in the University of Tennessee, after
explaining the object of the gathering
announced that the exercises would be
opened with prayer By the Rev. &C.
Rankin. After a fervent and i'm
pressive prayer from Rev. Mr..
Rankin, Col. Moses White.
chairman of the agricultural commit
tee of the board of trustees, made a few
appropriate remarks, hailing the occa-
sion as an auspicious event in the his
tory of the University, and as an un-
mistakabie evid enee of disposition
on the part of the board of trustees TO
extend to the agricultural department
of the University that prominence to
which it was so justly entitled.
Maj. 81. FL. Ingersoll was introduced
and spoke as follows:
| In state where nine-tenths of the
| population till the hOil for livelihood,
the youth should be instl acted in the
art Of agriculture; and, state univer-
slty, protesting to give instruction in
this art, and receiving much of its en-
dOwment from fund dedicated to
agricultural education ought to have an
agricultural hall, both as an external
symbol of this function, and also as q
temple sacred to Ceres.
This conviction. long cherished by
the board Of trustees as cardinal or
thodoXy, has now from a dead creed
come to be living faith; and to-day,
in token of their earnest sincerity in
this work, they lay the corner stone of
Agricultural Hall. May it be good
work, true work and square work
May 1t stand fast and be firm as the
rock-ribbed hill beneath And may
the ,superstructure be comeIy and
graceful and strong, and long may it
endure as monument to the wisdom
and zeal of its founders!
Mythology says that, during the
wanderings of Ceres in search of her
lost daughter Prosepine, the cultiva-
ton of the earth was neglected and
the ground became barren. Might not
an ancient, travelling through our
beautiful land, wonder whether Pluto
had again abducted the goddess daugh-
ter, aud Ceres was again wandering
over the earth in search Of her?
Many are the earth -tillere, who are
idling away the day in the market and
on the street corner, and many the
fields that suffer therefor. But many
more are the fields that have become
barren and desOlate from ignorant, in
d0ient half-cuIture. On! the acres OF
land on our hill sides and in our val
leys even that for years have been
scratched and starved by shiftless
thriftless farmers Six inches under
The surface the sunlight is perennial
stranger, and many fields havs tasted
: for more than forty years. Brier and
broom-sedge, penny.royal and persim-
mon sprouts, sassafras and sinkfield
guileys and galls-these are the fruits
of q careless, listless husbandry, 8
!, thatll-do policy of farming, which
may be seen in every direction, far and
near. From this beautiful site, liz
plain view of the University of Ten
nessee with it's department Of agricul
ture, this washed and Worn-out land
stares US in the face, complaining o.
the Ignorance or Incidence of its
owners, and pleading for something
! better-praying for a chance, only s
fair chance, to bring forth grass anC
herbs and grain and trees yielding
fruit for the use of man and beast, tha
it may thus fulfill its destiny.
Have we not some Triptolemus
taught of Ceres how to plow and SOW
and reap, to make bread and take car,
of fruit trees, and like him commits
stoned and commanded by her t.
: travel up and down, and teach mer
how to live and thrive and be happy
in the culture of the earth! Th'
farmer ought to be the brightest
) healthiest, happiest man on earth
= Work and labor, of course, b.
must but he need not worr,
, and toll. Labor, sent to mar
as a curse, he has tried and studied
} and courted, till he has changed j
into helper and blessing; anu nov
not labor, but idleness, is the curse
and he is the hopeless wigh
who has nothing to do and know
, not how to do it. Plow and sow til,
his wOrn-out soil; but give him in
struction and incentive and soon he'll
: Craze and NOW instead. Soon he will
/ learn that cattle and mules, sheep ant
horses are better friends than corn ant
! wheat, and oats and millet. Better
rood of grass than an acre Of grain.
; Teach him that it costs no more t.
F.. raise an Alderney Or ehort
. horn than a spiney or a scrub; tha
with good food, aud shelter, aud car
and currying he may, in q few years
9 make thoroughbreds of bis common
e stock; that deep ploughing will guar
against both flood and drouth; teacl
him the philosophy of rotation O
crops, the value of manure; how ht
D may make it on his farm out of the re
t fuse and the rocks; how he may im
prove his farm and his condition, in
crease his wealth and his happiness
teach him that learning is not the en-
!. emy, hut the ally of farming; that he i
4 better off in thecountry than the town
freer from worry and sorrow; from
: vice and temptation; from sin az,
}. disease, and nearer to nature, to health
J, to home and happiness, and you hav
a him aud his farm both on the higl
road to redemption.
For those of settled habits this ma,
= not be done. They may be too old t
}. learn. But this University may teacl
the ingenious youth, who come her
for instruction, the art and mystery O
agriculture, so that another generation
r snail make our beautiful landscap
laugh with verdure, and our field
groan with harvests; and then short
horn and Poland Chino shall supplan
pennyroyal and peach orchard; tn
Jersey the scrub; the Pescheron tn
g Brimmer; the grass the grain; man
L.