Author 
 
 ** *<>*> 
 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 Title 
 
 * * 
 
 Imprint. 
 

 ~^6C 
 
 (J 
 
 T1JK 
 
 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA; 
 
 KM BRACING 
 
 A Succinct History of Agricultural Education in Europe and America, to- 
 gether with the circumstances of the Origin, Rise and Progress of 
 the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania; as also a State- 
 ment of the Present Condition, Aims and Prospects 
 of this Institution, its Course of Instruction, 
 Facilities for Study, Terms of Ad- 
 mission, &c. &c. 
 
 DRAWN UP BY A COMMITTEE 
 
 APPOINTED FOR THIS PURPOSE BY THE BOARD OP TRUSTEES. 
 
 4 
 
 ft 
 
 ;lFIM®M a <Mt< 
 
 . ^iS^fZgj&JZ^™ 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 ^ WILLIAM S YOUNG, PRINTER, NO. 52 NORTH SIXTH STREET. £ 
 
 1862. 
 
Te nngi$)vflm»<v. rL*'**"} %**** *f u 
 
 THE 
 
 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA; 
 
 EMBRACING 
 
 A Succinct History of Agricultural Education in Europe and America, to- 
 gether with the circumstances of the Origin, Kise and Progress of 
 the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania; as also a State- 
 ment of the Present Condition, Aims and Prospects 
 of this Institution, its Course of Instruction, 
 Facilities for Study, Terms of Ad- 
 mission, &c. &c. 
 
 DRAWN UP BY A COMMITTEE 
 
 APPOINTED FOR THIS PURPOSE BY THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES. 
 
 itPYtMtlL 
 
 ©!)&♦ 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 WILLIAM S. YOUNG, PRINTER, NO. 52 NORTH SIXTH STREET. 
 
 1862. 
 

 4 
 
 Afl 12 '•» \ ! 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Historical. 
 
 Agricultural Education in Europe, 
 
 Thaer's School, ...... 
 
 Pestalozzi's System of Combining Manual Labor and Study, 
 
 Eecent Progress of Agricultural Educational Institutions, 
 Agricultural Education in America, 
 
 Agricultural Education in New York, 
 
 Michigan — Massachusetts — Maryland, 
 
 Iowa — Minnesota — Illinois — Ohio — Agricultural Professorship 
 The Agricultural College of Pennsylvania, 
 
 Agricultural Societies in Pennsylvania, 
 
 Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society, 
 
 Origin of Agricultural Education, 
 
 Kind of Agricultural Schools Wanted, 
 
 Origin of the State Agricultural Society, 
 
 An Agricultural School, 
 
 The Farmers High School of Pennsylvania, 
 
 Act of Incorporation, 
 
 Report on Plan of Organizing a School, 
 
 A Call for Offers of a Site for the School, 
 
 An Offer of a Site by Judge Miles, 
 
 Meeting of the Executive Board, 
 
 Organization of the Board of Trustees, 
 
 Sites Offered, 
 
 Report of Committee to Examine Sites, 
 
 Final Vote on the Location of the School, 
 
 Solicitation of aid from the State, . 
 
 Plans for College Buildings, 
 
 Contract to Erect College Buildings, 
 
 First Annual Meeting of Delegates, 
 
 Appropriation by the State Legislature, 
 
 A Large Meeting of Delegates, 
 
 Financial Difficulties, 
 
 Contractor unable to fulfil his Contract, 
 
 Embarrassment of the Board, 
 
 9 
 9 
 
 11 
 12 
 
 13 
 13 
 13 
 13 
 11 
 15 
 16 
 16 
 17 
 18 
 19 
 20 
 23 
 24 
 24 
 25 
 27 
 28 
 28 
 28 
 28 
 29 
 30 
 33 
 34 
 35 
 
IV. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 The Agricultural College of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Prospect of Failure, 
 
 Opening School, ... 
 
 Faculty for 1860, ,. 
 
 Final Appeal to the State Legislature, 
 
 Completion of the College Buildings,. 
 
 Change of Name, . . . . 
 
 Object of the Institution, .... 
 
 The Collece as it will be in Operation next year, 1863, 
 Buildings,. ...... 
 
 Course of Studies, ..... 
 
 Course for Graduates, .... 
 
 Auxiliaries to Study, ..... 
 
 The Full Course, .... 
 
 Partial Scientific and Practical Course, 
 Practical Course, .... 
 
 Special Peculiarities and Advantages of the Course, 
 
 Conditions, and Form of Admission, 
 
 Expenses, ....... 
 
 Location, ..... 
 
 Farming Material, ..... 
 
 Keaping Machines, .... 
 
 36 
 37 
 38 
 39 
 42 
 43 
 45 
 49 
 49 
 51 
 52 
 53 
 55 
 56 
 56 
 56 
 58 
 58 
 59 
 60 
 60 
 
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 
 
 & 
 
 The idea of educational institutions especially devoted 
 to agriculture and the industrial arts, is of comparatively 
 modern origin. Among ancient authors we find several 
 very respectable attempts to lay down rules for agricultural 
 practice, but the writers being wholly ignorant of science, 
 were unable to give the rationale of the most simple facts 
 in agriculture; and hence agricultural schools for instruc- 
 tion in agricultural principles were out of the question. 
 
 In modern times the interest manifested in agricultural 
 education has grown with the development of modern 
 science. In the first half of the eighteenth century a 
 number of works upon agriculture appeared, in which the 
 few faint glimpses of experimental science, at that time 
 known, were used to illuminate agricultural practice. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN EUROPE. 
 
 As early as 1730, Wallerius was engaged in chemico- 
 agricultural investigations in Sweden, while Jethro Tull 
 was developing his system of practical farming in England; 
 and in 17G1, the former published a work (Agriculture 
 Fundamenta Chemica) in which he sought to develop a 
 system of manuring founded on the examination of the 
 ashes of plants. Quesnay, in 1747, founded the Physio- 
 cratic School in France; the principal object of which was 
 the dissemination of agricultural ideas. A little later, ag- 
 ricultural societies were founded in Switzerland, Saxony, 
 and Hanover; and as the interest in the dissemination of 
 agriculture increased, agricultural professorships were esta- 
 
 2 
 
6 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 
 
 blished in the universities of Goettingen, (1769,) Giessen, 
 Eostock, and Leipsic, (1778;) and soon after- this, says a 
 recent writer,* agricultural instruction was given in all 
 the High Schools of the country. As yet, however, no 
 agricultural schools had been founded. 
 
 thaer's school. 
 
 To the immortal Thaer is due the honor of first con- 
 ceiving, and attempting to carry out, the idea of founding 
 educational institutions especially devoted to instruction in 
 agricultural science and practice. f 
 
 Not only did Thaer see the necessity of having a system 
 of education developed to correspond to the wants of the 
 farmer, but, with surprising acuteness, he discerned what 
 should constitute the general principles according to which 
 this system should be built up. In his principles of agri- 
 culture, (1809,) after dwelling upon the necessity of a 
 knowledge of Botany, Zoology, and Chemistry, and other 
 sciences, to an intelligent appreciation of agricultural prac- 
 tice, he goes on to remark, that "it is then evident that agri- 
 culture ought to borrow from every science the principles which 
 she employs as the foundation of her own." With these ideas 
 he founded his agricultural school. An English traveller 
 who visited it in 1820, says: — 
 
 "It comprised a model farm of 1200 acres, and a college for in- 
 struction. The education was partly theoretical, and partly of a 
 practical description. The former was provided for by three Pro- 
 
 * Dr. Be"rnbaum Lehrbuch der Landwirthschaft. Vol. I. P. 31. 
 
 •)• Albrecht D. Thaer was born in Hanover, Germany, 1752. He studied at the 
 University of Goettingen about the time (1770) that Prof. Walther commenced his 
 course of lectures on agriculture at that institution; and although he devoted him- 
 self, while a student, to the study of medicine, he doubtless saw enough of the dis- 
 advantages of attempting agricultural education in an old conservative institution 
 with stereotyped habits, to satisfy him that a course of instruction so radically dif- 
 ferent from that of the university, as that of scientific and practical agriculture 
 must be, could only be carried out properly in a new order of institution especially 
 adapted to agricultural science and practice. About 1800 he started a small agri- 
 cultural school at his native town, Celle, in Hanover, but in 1803 it was broken up 
 by the invasion of the French. Soon after, at the urgent solicitations of the King 
 of Prussia. (1804,) he went to Beilin and founded the Agricultural School, with 
 model farm, (400 acres,) at Moeglin, about 20 miles from the Prussian capital. 
 The disastrous defeat of the Prussian army at Jena, and the subsequent occupation 
 of Berlin by Napoleon's troops, (1806,) for a time delayed Thaer's plans; but, in 
 1807, he opened his school with 10 students, and after the peace of Tilset he had 
 an uninterrupted success with his school and farm till near his death in 1828. 
 
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 7 
 
 fessors, who lived upon the premises ; one for mathematics, Chemis- 
 try and Geology ; one for the veterinary art ; and the third for Botany 
 and the use of the various vegetable productions in the materia 
 medica as well as for entomology. The practical instruction was 
 communicated by an experienced agriculturist, who pointed out 
 the method of applying the principles of the several sciences, to the 
 daily routine of husbandry. The course commenced in September. 
 During the winter months the time of the pupils was occupied in the 
 study of mathematics, and the six books of Euclid were mastered by 
 them ; whilst in the summer the knowledge thus obtained was 
 applied to the measurement of land, timber, buildings, and other 
 practical purposes. The first principles of Chemistry were also un- 
 folded. By means of a good but economical apparatus, various ex- 
 periments either on a large or small scale were performed. For 
 the larger ones the brew-house and still-house with their appendages 
 were found to be highly useful. Much attention was directed to 
 the analysis of the soils, and the dhTerent sorts met with distinguished 
 according to the relative proportion of their component parts, were 
 arranged on the shelves with great order and regularity. There 
 was an extensive botanic garden, arranged according to the system 
 of Linnaeus ; an herbarium, containing a large collection of dried 
 plants; a series of the skeletons of different animals connected 
 with husbandry ; and models of agricultural implements, all open to 
 the examination of students. The various implements used upon 
 the farm were all made by smiths, wheelwrights, &c, residing around 
 about the institution; and the pupils were allowed access to the 
 workshops and encouraged to make themselves masters by minutely 
 inspecting the implements, and the niceties of their construction." 
 
 Thaer's school demonstrated the necessity of such insti- 
 tutions, and hence a number of similar ones sprung up, 
 under liberal government patronage, in different parts of 
 Germany; as that of Tharant, near Dresden, (founded 
 1811) for Sylviculture, and those of Hohenheim in Wurtem- 
 burg, (1818) and Weyhenstephen in Bavaria, (1822) for 
 agriculture. 
 
 PESTALOZZl'S SYSTEM OF COMBINING MANUAL LABOR AND 
 
 STUDY. 
 
 While Thaer was thus developing his system of agricul- 
 tural education in Germany, Pestalozzi (born at Zurich 
 1745 and died 1827) was laboring in Switzerland to build 
 up a system of education for the benefit of the poor, that 
 would combine manual with mental labor. And this sys- 
 
8 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 
 
 tem, under the patronage of Fellenberg, with the labor of 
 Wehrli, was inaugurated at Hofwyl, near Berne; where, 
 in addition to a school for the poor, was also one for the 
 sons of gentlemen of wealth, who wished to study agricul- 
 tural science and practice ; and at a later period an addi- 
 tional department for the education of teachers was estab- 
 lished. After the death of Pestalozzi and Thaer the num- 
 ber of agricultural schools gradually increased in Europe, 
 till about the year 1840. The system of Pestalozzi (impro- 
 perly called the Wehrli system) was gradually introduced, 
 with various improvements and modifications for the benefit 
 of the poor, and that of Thaer for the more independent 
 classes, and in some institutions both were combined. 
 
 RECENT PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATIONAL INSTI- 
 TUTIONS. 
 
 All these attempts at agricultural instruction were very 
 imperfect, owing to the very undeveloped state of agricul- 
 tural science. But the labors of De Saussure, Gay-Lussac, 
 Thenard, Lavoisier, Sennebier, Priestley, Ingenhauss, 
 Davy, and other scientific men, were preparing the way for 
 an agricultural science which in the length and breadth of 
 its domain, and the accuracy of its result, would afford am- 
 ple material for thorough mental training and a prolonged 
 college course. 
 
 In 1840, Liebig, under the title of " Chemistry in rela- 
 tion to Agriculture and Physiology," published a work in 
 which was exhibited all his characteristic power of pre- 
 senting in clear and forcible language, all that his prede- 
 cessors had learned in regard to agricultural science, com- 
 bined with what his own investigations and reflections had 
 taught him. This work astounded the reading world; it 
 was soon translated into the different languages of all cul- 
 tivated people, and awakened the most active spirit of in- 
 quiry in the minds of all educated men. Hundreds of 
 scientific and practical men, in Europe and America, be- 
 took themselves to experimentation in the field and labo- 
 ratory, to test the correctness of Liebig's views. 
 
 While in many cases of detail, these investigations led 
 to the modification of many of Liebig's opinions, in the 
 
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 9 
 
 main they were found to be correct, and the necessity for 
 agricultural schools in which to teach the newly developed 
 science of agriculture, became more apparent every where, 
 and accordingly we find that the number of such schools 
 has been increasing with surprising rapidity within the 
 last twenty years. So that at present we find about twenty 
 High Agricultural Schools or Colleges in Germany alone, 
 three in France, one in England, one in Ireland, one in 
 Holland, and in addition to these, several hundred ele- 
 mentary agricultural schools for the peasantry, and a large 
 number of Professorships of Agriculture in the different 
 Universities of Europe. Nearly all the high schools and 
 colleges have farms attached, and extensive means in the 
 laboratory and field to experiment in agricultural science 
 and practice. 
 
 The principal part of them are supported, in part, by 
 state patronage, and their increasing number and import- 
 ance is a marked indication of the necessity of their exist- 
 ence. Even in Russia, an agricultural school was founded 
 near St. Petersburgh about twenty-four years ago, at which 
 the Emperor educated the serfs who were to help manage 
 the immense estates of his realm. They devoted five years 
 to labor and study so as to become familiar with the best 
 methods of agricultural practice, and then were sent one by 
 one to different parts of the Empire to infuse a knowledge 
 of what they had learned into the minds of others; about 
 sixty such were sent out annually; since this time other 
 agricultural schools have been founded in that country. 
 
 It was hardly possible that the subject of agricultural 
 education should have occupied so prominent a place in 
 the minds of European agriculturists, without attracting a 
 corresponding degree of interest in American minds. Iu- 
 deed, before any of the great modern scientific agricultural 
 schools of Europe were founded, the necessity for the pro- 
 fessional education of young farmers was proclaimed from 
 American lips. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. 
 
 As early as 1838, the Hon. Jesse Buell was pleading the 
 
10 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 
 
 cause of Agricultural Education in New York. In an 
 address prepared for delivery before the Agricultural and 
 Horticultural society of New Haven, Connecticut, (a short 
 time before his death) September 25, 1839, after dwelling 
 upon the fact, that we have schools for the study of the 
 sciences of medicine, law, engineering and war, and de- 
 claring that for agriculture, by which, under the blessing of 
 Providence, we virtually live and move and have our being, 
 and which truly embraces a wider range of useful science 
 than either law, medicine, or navigation, we have no means 
 of professional education at all, he proceeds to point out 
 the evil consequences of this absence of agricultural schools, 
 in which to teach the principles and practice of agriculture, 
 and urges upon farmers the necessity of having them estab- 
 lished, and closes his appeal with the prophetic declara- 
 tion, that u many who now hear me will live to see pro- 
 fessional schools established in our land; to see their utility 
 extolled, and to be induced to consider them the best nurse- 
 ries of republican virtues, and the surest guarantee for the 
 perpetuation of our liberties. They should be established, 
 they will be established, and the sooner they are established 
 the better for our country." (See page 280, The Farmer's 
 Companion of 1840.) From 1842 till 1846, the subject of 
 agricultural education was discussed by prominent citizens 
 of the New York Agricultural Society, and in the latter 
 year an effort was made to induce the Legislature to take 
 some action upon the subject. 
 
 The question was repeatedly brought before the Legisla- 
 ture in subsequent years, but elicited no action till 1853, 
 when a bill was passed incorporating the " New York Agri- 
 cultural College," but providing no means for founding it. 
 In 1855 a subscription was opened, and soon after an act 
 of Legislature passed, loaning the college $40,000 for twenty 
 years without interest, provided a like sum be raised by 
 private subscriptions for the purchasing of a farm, erecting 
 of College buildings, &c, &c. Soon afterwards a farm was 
 secured of 700 acres, between the village of Ovid and the 
 eastern shore of Seneca Lake. A large college building 
 was laid out and a part of it finished so as to admit 150 
 students. The college was open for students on the first 
 
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 11 
 
 day of December, I860, but it did not survive the general de- 
 pression produced by the war, and at present its doors are 
 closed. 
 
 The People's College, which was also designed to be, in 
 part, agricultural in character, was incorporated in 1853 
 by an act of Legislature, and subsequently located upon 
 a tract of 200 acres of land in Schuyler county, New 
 York. The buildings of this college have been partially 
 completed, but it is not yet in successful operation. 
 
 MICHIGAN. 
 
 The State of Michigan has a clause in her constitution 
 (adopted 1850) providing for an Agricultural College, in 
 accordance with which, in 1855, the Legislature appro- 
 priated $50,000, with which a tract of 700 acres of land 
 was purchased, near Lansing, and buildings erected upon 
 it for an Agricultural College. In 1857 an additional 
 
 ),000 was appropriated to the College, and in the follow- 
 ing May, students were admitted. To Michigan belongs 
 the honor of thus having put the first State Agricultural 
 College in the United States in operation, but for some 
 cause this College has been obliged to suspend operation. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 The Massachusetts Legislature, as early as 1850, appoint- 
 ed committees to investigate the subject of Agricultural 
 education, and in 1856 incorporated a " school of agricul- 
 ture," and the question is still under consideration by pro- 
 minent citizens of the state, but as yet, the school has 
 not been founded. 
 
 MARYLAND. 
 
 The Maryland Agricultural College was incorporated in 
 the winter of 1856, and soon after located upon the home- 
 stead of the Hon. Charles B. Calvert, upon a farm of 400 
 acres, ten miles north of Washington City; the act pro- 
 vided for an annual appropriation of $6,000, for the sup- 
 port of the college, provided the sum of $50,000 was first 
 received by subscription; this amount being received, the 
 college was partially completed and opened for students in 
 1860, and has been in successful operation since that time. It 
 differs from the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania, in its 
 
12 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 
 
 course of instruction, being more nearly allied to that of 
 ordinary literary colleges, and consequently having a less 
 scientific course, and in its not requiring manual labor 
 of each student upon the farm. 
 
 IOWA. 
 
 The Iowa State Agricultural College and Farm was incor- 
 porated in March, 1858, and some provisions were made 
 for the erection of college buildings, but the disturbed state 
 of the country has for some time suspended operations there. 
 
 MINNESOTA. 
 
 The Minnesota Agricultural College was incorporated in 
 1858, and located on a farm of 320 acres in Glen County, 
 but the buildings for a college have not yet been erected. 
 
 ILLINOIS. 
 
 The agitation in favor of Agricultural Colleges in Illinois 
 was commenced early by public-spirited men, and as early 
 as 1852 the Legislature was memorialized upon the sub- 
 ject. Repeated efforts have been made by the friends of 
 agriculture in the state, to induce the Legislature to found 
 an Agricultural College, yet nothing has been done by the 
 state. But private enterprise has succeeded in establish- 
 ing the embryo of an agricultural college near Chicago, 
 though it is languishing ibr that aid which every enlight- 
 ened state should confer upon agricultural education. 
 
 OHIO. 
 
 The State of Ohio has had the subject of agricultural 
 education before its Legislature at different times, but 
 nothing tangible has, so far as we know, resulted from its 
 action. A Farmers' College, with a few acres of land, has 
 been established by private enterprise near Cincinnati, but 
 its course of instruction does not differ essentially from 
 that of an ordinary literary college. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL PROFESSORSHIP. 
 
 In several of the Colleges and Universities of the United 
 States, Agricultural Chairs have been established. 
 
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 16 
 
 In the preceding brief synopsis we have not mentioned 
 the names of the many public-spirited and liberal-minded 
 men, by whose disinterested efforts all these attempts to 
 found agricultural institutions of learning have been made. 
 
 It was sufficient for the purposes of this paper to briefly 
 note what they have done, and leave their names to history, 
 which will yet tell their deeds to unborn grateful millions, 
 who, in future generations, will enjoy the blessings of agri- 
 cultural education in institutions originating in their un- 
 rewarded and unappreciated efforts. We now come to that 
 which more nearly concerns us in the present history. 
 
 ©lie g^rintltttKtl Mltp $t fmt^tomtk 
 
 This Institution, though about the first that was founded 
 in the country, is still hardly old enough to* constitute a 
 subject for a history ; but as many questions are often 
 asked in regard to its origin, it is deemed proper to devote 
 a few pages here to this subject. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 The State of Pennsylvania was one of the first in the 
 Union to adopt measures for the diffusion of agricultural 
 intelligence. As early as 1785 the Philadelphia Agricul- 
 tural Society was founded, and its members met regularly 
 for a number of years. In 1823, .the Pennsylvania Agri- 
 cultural Society including the counties of Philadelphia, 
 Chester, Montgomery, and Delaware, was founded. This 
 Society held some fairs during its existence. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
 
 In 1851, the present Pennsylvania State Agricultural 
 Society was organized, under the auspices of which the 
 Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania (now the Agri- 
 cultural College of Pennsylvania) originated. As already 
 intimated, the primary idea of Educational Institutions, 
 especially devoted to instruction in agriculture, and the 
 industrial arts, was of much earlier origin. 
 
 ORIGIN OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 
 
 It was a legitimate consequence of the progress of modern 
 
14 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 
 
 science and its important bearings upon the practical 
 operations of life, together with the general diffusion of 
 knowledge among all classes, by which the purely sci- 
 entific and purely practical man were brought into con- 
 tact with each other. 
 
 The necessity for Agricultural Schools was apparent to 
 any one at all acquainted with the resources of science, 
 or the demands of Agricultural practice. 
 
 The importance of Agricultural Education being recog- 
 nised, the only question at issue, related to the manner in 
 which a system of Agricultural Education should be in- 
 augurated. 
 
 KIND OF AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS WANTED. 
 
 Did the Agricultural interest demand a course of in- 
 struction as extensive as that of our ordinary Colleges, 
 obliging the student to devote three to five years to the study 
 of those sciences which relate to agricultural and the in- 
 dustrial arts, as in the highest Agricultural Institutions in 
 Europe, or did it demand only an elementary course, such 
 as is there given in their schools for Farm Bailiffs, who 
 are not supposed to have the tastes and aspirations of 
 those whom they technically term gentlemen? 
 
 Was it desirable that the farmer should have such a 
 knowledge of agricultural science, as would enable him to 
 investigate and develop" agricultural principles, or was it 
 simply desirable to teach him to practise those rules, 
 which others deduced for him from principles he could 
 not understand? Was it desirable that one large Agri- 
 cultural Institution be founded in a State, capable of em- 
 ploying a sufficient number of professors to admit of a 
 proper division of labor amongst them, and consequently 
 enable them to afford a thorough and efficient course of 
 instruction, in order to educate a few students to a high 
 standard? or was it better to have several smaller local 
 Institutions capable of giving only a popular smattering to 
 a larger number of students? These questions were can- 
 vassed by various parties, and the several different plans 
 they refer to, proposed by different individuals, but with- 
 out any one being accompanied with sufficient evidence in 
 
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 15 
 
 its favor, to leave no doubt of its being the best system. 
 But the time had come for trying the experiment. 
 
 A number of prominent men in Pennsylvania had been 
 thinking upon the necessity of Agricultural Education 
 for several years. An Agricultural Institution of learn- 
 ing, adapted to the wants of the farmer, had been a favor- 
 ite idea with the present worthy President of the Board 
 of Trustees of the Agricultural College of Pennsylva- 
 nia for twenty years before this Institution was founded; 
 but the pressing duties of public life prevented him from 
 devoting time to the advocacy of these views till, in 1853, 
 the subject was brought before the Pennsylvania State 
 Agricultural Society. 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
 
 This Society originated in a call, dated May 15, 1850, 
 for an Agricultural Convention to be held at Harrisburg, 
 on the 21st of January, 1851. It was signed by James 
 Gowen, Dr. Elwyn, Samuel C. Ford, Algernon S. Roberts 
 and J. P. Wetherill. 
 
 This Convention was attended by delegates from 55 
 counties of the State; after having organized, a committee 
 was appointed to memorialize the Legislature for a charter. 
 The Hon. Fred. Watts was appointed Chairman, and 
 Dr. A. Elwyn, Secretary for the year. 
 
 Upon the last three days of the following October, the 
 first annual fair of the Society was held at Harrisburg: 
 About 20,000 persons are supposed to have been present, 
 and the first annual meeting of the Society was held at 
 the same place, on the 20th of the following January, 
 (1852.) 
 
 The President, and Secretary, and Vice Presidents of 
 the preceding year, were re-elected. 
 
 The second annual exhibition was held on the 20th, 
 21st, and 22d of October, at Lancaster, and proved to be 
 an entire and unprecedented success, and the report of pre- 
 miums awarded by the Judges, was embodied in the first 
 annual report of the Society, presented by the President 
 to Governor Bigler, January 20th, 1854. 
 
 The second annual meeting convened January 18th, 
 
16 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 
 
 1853, at Harrisburg. At this meeting, Messrs. Frederick 
 Watts, James H. Ewing and H. N. McAllister, were ap- 
 pointed members of a Board of Agriculture, in pursuance 
 of a provision of the United States Agricultural Society, 
 establishing such a Board; also, the following gentlemen 
 presented a report upon the subject of an Agricultural 
 School, A. S. Roberts, T. C. Carothers, Jos. Kcenigmacher, 
 A. 0. Hiester, D. Mellinger. 
 
 AN AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL. 
 
 The members of this Committee state that they believe 
 the present to be an auspicious time for founding an Agri- 
 cultural School; that the advantages to be derived from 
 it, are too obvious to require demonstration, and that to 
 inaugurate the movement, they recommend the calling 
 of a general convention of Delegates from all parts of 
 the State, to meet at Harrisburg, to consider this subject; 
 whereupon it was resolved 
 
 " That an Agricultural Convention be held at Harris- 
 burg, on Tuesday, the 8th of March next, to adopt measures 
 for the establishment of an Agricultural Institution, to be 
 styled, ' The Farmers High School of Pennsylvania, , with 
 a model farm attached thereto, and that the convention con- 
 sists of as many delegates from each district, as there are 
 Senators and Legislators from the same: said delegates to be 
 chosen by the Agricultural Societies where such are located, 
 and in other districts by the friends of Agricultural Edu- 
 cationr 
 
 THE FARMERS HIGH SCHOOL OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 This convention met and, in the language of the Hon. 
 Frederick Watts, in a letter afterwards addressed to Go- 
 vernor Bigler, " with an unparalleled unanimity recom- 
 mended the establishment of a school for the education 
 of Farmers, and gave the subject in charge to a committee 
 to have it enacted into a law, and carried into effect." 
 
 This letter, which Judge Watts, as President of the 
 State Agricultural Society, addressed to Governor Bigler 
 on the occasion of his presenting the first copy of the 
 annual report of that Society, is devoted mainly to the 
 consideration of the proposed Agricultural School. 
 
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 17 
 
 The advantages of such a school to the farmer, are 
 pointed out with the characteristic force and perspicuity 
 of the author, and a plan for its organization, together 
 with the probable expenses of founding and maintaining 
 it, is given. 
 
 In accordance with the decision of that committee, the 
 next Legislature was applied to for an Act of Incorpora- 
 tion, which was granted and approved, April 13th, 1854. 
 
 ACT OF INCORPORATION. 
 
 This act states that "the Institution shall be called the 
 Farmers High School of Pennsylvania, and shall be 
 under the control of a Board of Trustees, composed of the 
 Presidents of the County Agricultural Societies, and the 
 President and Vice President of the State Agricultural 
 Society, thirteen of whom shall constitute a quorum. They 
 are directed to meet at Harrisburg, on the 2d Thursday 
 of June after the passage of this act, and to organize and 
 select a site, and erect buildings for an Institution, and 
 •procure a good practical farmer for its principal, who, 
 with such other persons, as shall from time to time be era- 
 ployed as teachers, shall compose the faculty." 
 
 The teachers are to be capable of imparting a know- 
 ledge of the English Language, Grammar, Geography, 
 History, Mathematics, and such other branches of the 
 natural and applied sciences, as would conduce to the 
 proper education of a farmer. And the students should 
 be required to perform a certain amount of manual labor 
 daily. 
 
 It was also made lawful for the State Agricultural So- 
 ciety to donate, out of its funds, for the purpose of the 
 act, the sum of $10,000. 
 
 It is obvious that this act contemplated an Institution 
 for a very elementary course of scientific and literary in- 
 struction, combined with instruction in practical agricul- 
 ture; but its most remarkable feature was the provision 
 for the control of the Institution. 
 
 It requires but little reflection to see that a responsi- 
 bility so divided as that devolving upon the trustees de- 
 signated in this act, would be felt by no one. 
 
18 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 
 
 FIRST MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES. 
 
 But in conformity with the provisions of the act, a few 
 of the persons designated therein as trustees, met at Harris- 
 burg, on the loth of June, 1854, to consider its provi- 
 sions, when it was found that a quorum of members was 
 not present. 
 
 On motion of the Hon. George W. Woodward, it was 
 
 Resolved, That Messrs. Frederick Watts, James Gowen, 
 and John Strohm, be appointed a committee to report a 
 plan of organization to the next meeting of the Board, to 
 be held on the 13th of July following, at Harrisburg. 
 
 At this adjourned meeting, only Messrs. Watts of Cum- 
 berland, Mumma and Rutherford of Dauphin, Mcllvaine 
 of Chester, Boal of Centre, and Baxter of Philadelphia, 
 were present. 
 
 REPORT ON PLAN OF ORGANIZING A SCHOOL. 
 
 In behalf of the committee to which was referred the 
 subject of a plan of organization for the Farmers' High 
 School of Pennsylvania, the Hon. Frederick Watts re- 
 ported that the committee are of opinion, that no good 
 can result from any effort to organize under the existing 
 law, that it provides for too many trustees (50 or 60) — 
 that these are liable to be created or removed by causes 
 entirely independent of the interest of the school, and 
 they recommend that the Board shall consist of not more 
 than 13 in number, of whom 9 shall be elected, and 4 
 ex-officio members. The committee further state that the 
 bill is defective in view of its making no appropriation in 
 aid of the object to be attained by it, and they go on to say 
 that " There are many public-spirited men who believe 
 " that the establishment of such a school where boys may 
 " be educated as farmers, is of more importance than any 
 " design which could occupy public attention. It is a fact 
 " universally known, that the literary institutions of this 
 "country, as at present constituted, educate young men 
 " to a state of total unfitness, not only for the pursuit of 
 " a farmer, but as a companion for his parents, brothers 
 "and sisters, with whom he is expected to spend his life. 
 " He is therefore driven from his father's estate, and into 
 
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 19 
 
 " a profession for which he has perhaps little capacity, 
 " and where he is subjected to all the temptations of an 
 " idle life. Whereas, the Farm School proposes to impart 
 "an education which is appropriate to a farmer, which 
 " educates his body to the art, as well as his mind to the 
 " science of farming, and which will have the feature of 
 "making the Institution so nearly self-sustaining, as to 
 "bring education, in point of expense, within the reach of 
 "every man who desires to make his son an educated 
 " farmer." 
 
 The probable expense of founding and sustaining such 
 a school is then given, and the necessity of founding it 
 still further dwelt upon. 
 
 Whereupon, it was 
 
 Resolved, That the report be referred to Frederick Watts, 
 George W. Woodward, and A. L. Elvvyn, whose duty it 
 should be to address the people of the State upon the sub- 
 ject, and to apply to the next Legislature to amend the 
 bill as indicated in the report, and that said committee 
 make all necessary inquiries where the Farmers High 
 School of Pennsylvania may be most advantageously lo- 
 cated, and that they invite propositions from all parts of 
 the State, for its locality. 
 
 A CALL FOR OFFERS OF A SITE FOR THE SCHOOL. 
 
 The committee published an address, July 21st, 1854, 
 to the people of Pennsylvania, setting forth the claims of 
 the school, and its advantages to farmers, and the prospect 
 of its soon being located, and tbey called upon persons for 
 offers of inducements to locate it in specified localities. 
 
 At the fourth annual meeting of the State Agricultural 
 Society, convened at Harrisburg, January 16th, 1855, a 
 resolution was passed expressive of the deep interest felt 
 by the State Agricultural Society of Pennsylvania in the 
 Farmers High School of Pennsylvania, and praying the 
 Legislature, then in session, to make such change in the 
 Act of Incorporation of the Farmers' High School, as 
 would secure its establishment. 
 
 At this meeting, the following communication was re- 
 ceived, which, because of the liberality of the donor, and 
 
20 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 
 
 of its being the first of its kind received, deserves a place 
 here. 
 
 AN OFFER OF A SITE BY JUDGE MILES. 
 
 Gentlemen: — Believing the Agricultural interests of our 
 State may be greatly and eminently promoted by the early 
 establishment of the Farmers' High School of Pennsylva- 
 nia, where a thorough, practical and scientific education 
 may be acquired by the youth of our State who desire to 
 make the tillage of the soil the business of their lives, I 
 beg to make known to you, and through you to the gen- 
 tlemen who are, or may be appointed trustees of the Far- 
 mers' High School of Pennsylvania, that I will give to the 
 Institution, two hundred acres of land, situated in Girard 
 Township, Erie County, provided said School be located 
 on said land. 
 
 Yours truly, James Miles. 
 
 Subsequent to this, the Legislature passed the following 
 Act of Incorporation of the Farmers' High School of 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 An Act to Incorporate "The Farmers High School of Penn- 
 sylvania : " 
 
 Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repre- 
 sentatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General As- 
 sembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the 
 same, That there be and is hereby erected and established, at the 
 place which shall be designated by the authority, and as herein- 
 after provided, an Institution for the education of youth in the 
 various branches of science, learning and practical agriculture, as 
 they are connected with each other, by the name, style and title of 
 " The Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania." 
 
 Sec. 2. That the said Institution shall be under the manage- 
 ment and government of a Board of Trustees, of whom there shall 
 be thirteen, and seven of whom shall be a quorum, competent to 
 perform the duties hereinafter authorized and required. 
 
 Sec. 3. That the Governor, Secretary of the Commonwealth, 
 the President of the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society, 
 and the Principal of the Institution, shall each be ex-officio a mem- 
 ber of the Board of Trustees, and they with Dr. Alfred L. El- 
 wyn, and Algernon S. Roberts of the City of Philadelphia, H. N. 
 
OF PENNSYLVANIA. 21 
 
 McAllister, of the County of Centre, R. C. Walker, of the County 
 of Allegheny, James Miles, of the County of Erie, John Strohm, 
 of the County of Lancaster, A. 0. Hiester, of the County of Dau- 
 phin, William Jessup, of the County of Susquehanna, and Frede- 
 rick Watts, of the County of Cumberland, shall constitute the first 
 Board of Trustees; which said Trustees, and their successors in 
 office, are hereby erected and declared to be a body politic and cor- 
 porate in law, with perpetual succession, by the name, style and 
 title of the Farmers High School of Pennsylvania ; by which name 
 and title the said Trustees, and their successors, shall be able and 
 capable in law to take by gift, grant, sale or conveyance, by be- 
 quest, devise or otherwise, any estate in any lands, tenements and 
 hereditaments, goods, chattels or effects, and at pleasure to alien 
 or otherwise dispose of the same to and for the uses and purposes 
 of the said Institution: Provided, however, That the annual in- 
 come of the said estate, so held, shall at no time exceed twenty-five 
 thousand dollars; and the said Corporation shall by the same 
 name, have power to sue and be sued, and generally to do and 
 transact all and every business touching or concerning the premi- 
 ses, or which shall be necessarily incidental thereto, and to hold, 
 enjoy and exercise all such powers, authorities and jurisdiction as 
 are customary in the Colleges within this Commonwealth. 
 
 Sec. 4. That the Trustees shall cause to be made a seal, with 
 such device as they may think proper, and by and with which all 
 the deeds and diplomas, certificates and acts of the Institution shall 
 be authenticated, and they may, at their pleasure, alter the same. 
 
 Sec. 5. That at the first meeting of the Board of Trustees, the 
 nine named who are not ex-officio members, shall by themselves 
 and by lot, be divided into three classes, of three each, numbered 
 one, two and three. The appointment hereby made of class number 
 one, shall terminate on the first Monday of October, one thousand 
 eight hundred and fifty-six, number two on the first Monday of 
 October, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, and number 
 three on the first Monday of October, one thousand eight hundred 
 and fifty-eight; and upon the termination of the office of such 
 Directors, to wit : on the first Monday of October in every year, 
 an election shall be held at the Institution to supply their place, 
 and such election shall be determined by the votes of the mem- 
 bers of the Executive Committee of the Pennsylvania State Agri- 
 cultural Society, and the votes of three representatives duly chosen 
 by each County Agricultural Society in this Commonwealth, which 
 shall have been organized at least three months preceding the 
 time of election; and it shall be the duty of the said Board of 
 Trustees to appoint two of their number as judges, to hold the said 
 election, to receive and count the votes, and return the same to the 
 
22 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 Board of Trustees, with their certificate of the number of votes 
 cast, and for whom ; whereupon the said Board shall determine who 
 have received the highest number of votes cast, and who are 
 thereby elected. 
 
 Sec. 6. That on the second Thursday of June, after the pas- 
 sage of this act, the Board of Trustees who are hereby appointed, 
 shall meet in Harrisburg, and proceed to the organization of the 
 institution, and selection of the most eligible site within the Com- 
 monwealth of Pennsylvania for its location, where they shall pur- 
 chase or obtain by gift, grant or otherwise, a tract of land con- 
 taining at least two hundred acres, and not exceeding two thousand 
 acres, upon which they shall procure such improvements and 
 alterations to be made, as will make it an Institution properly 
 adapted to the instruction of youth, in the art of farming, accord- 
 ing to the meaning and design of this act ; they shall select and 
 choose a Principal for the said Institution, who with such scientific 
 attainment and capacity to teach as the Board shall deem necessary, 
 shall be a good practical farmer ; he with such other persons as shall 
 from time to time be employed as teachers, shall compose the faculty, 
 under whose control the immediate management of the Institution, 
 and the instruction of all the youth committed to its care, shall be 
 subject, however, to the revision and all orders of the Board of 
 Trustees ; there shall be a quarterly meeting of the Board of Trus- 
 tees at the Institution, and as much oftener as shall be necessary, 
 and as they shall determine ; the Board shall have power to pass all 
 such By-Laws, ordinances and rules as the good government of 
 the Institution shall require, and therein to prescribe what shall 
 be taught to, and what labor performed by the pupils, and gene- 
 rally to do and perform all such administrative acts as are usually 
 performed by and with the appropriate duty of a Board of Trus- 
 tees, and shall, by a Secretary of their appointment, keep a minute 
 of the proceedings and action of the Board. 
 
 Sec. 7. That it shall be the duty of the Board of Trustees, as 
 soon and as often as the exigencies of the Institution shall require, 
 in addition to the Principal, to employ such other professors, teach- 
 ers or tutors, as shall be qualified to impart to pupils under their 
 charge, a knowledge of the English language, Grammar, Geogra- 
 phy, History, Mathematics, Chemistry, and such other branches 
 of the natural and exact sciences, as will conduce to the proper 
 education of a Farmer; the pupils shall themselves, at such proper 
 times and seasons as shall be prescribed by the Board of Trustees, 
 perform all the labor necessary in the cultivation of the Farm, 
 and shall thus be instructed and taught all things necessary to be 
 known by a Farmer, it being the design and intention of this act 
 to establish an Institution in which youth may be educated, so as to 
 fit them for the occupation of a Farmer. 
 
OF PENNSYLVANIA. 23 
 
 Sec. 8. That the Board of Trustees shall annually elect a 
 Treasurer, who shall receive and disburse the funds of the Insti- 
 tution, and perform such other duties as shall be required of him, 
 and from whom they shall take such security for the faithful per- 
 formance of his duty, as necessity shall require ; and it shall be 
 the duty of the said Board of Trustees, annually, on or before the 
 first of December, to make out a full and detailed account of the 
 operations of the Institution for the preceding year, and an ac- 
 count of all its receipts and disbursements, and report the same to 
 the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society, who shall embody 
 said report in the annual report, which by existing laws, the said 
 Society is bound to make and transmit to the Legislature, on or 
 before the first Monday of January, of each and every year. 
 
 Sec. 9. That it shall be lawful for the Pennsylvania State 
 Agricultural Society to appropriate out of their funds to the object 
 of this act, a sum not exceeding ten thousand dollars, whenever 
 the same shall be required, and to make such further appropria- 
 tions annually, out of their funds, as will aid in the prosecution of 
 this object, and it shall be the duty and privilege of the said So- 
 ciety, at such times as they shall deem expedient by their com- 
 mittees, officers or otherwise, to visit the said Institution, and ex- 
 amine into the details of its management. 
 
 Sec. 10. That the Act to Incorporate the Farmers High School 
 of Pennsylvania, approved the thirteenth day of April, Anno 
 Domini, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, be and the 
 same is hereby repealed. HENRY K. STRONG, 
 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
 WM. M. HIESTER, 
 Speaker of Senate. 
 
 Approved — The twenty-second day of February, Anno Domini, 
 one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five. JAS. POLLOCK. 
 
 (The above is the present law, with the simple excep- 
 tion of the time of holding the annual meeting of Dele- 
 gates, which by act of Legislature, approved Ma}^ 20th, 
 1857, was changed to the first Wednesday in September. 
 And a subsequent act providing that five members shall 
 constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.) 
 
 MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 
 
 The following members of the Executive Committee, met 
 at Harrisburg, April 17th, 1855: Jas. Gowen, H. N. McAl- 
 lister, A. 0. Hiester, John Strohm, James Miles, Abraham 
 Mclllvain, Isaac G. McKinley, Thomas P. Knox, George 
 
24 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 H. Bucher, William Bigler, David Mumma, J. S. Halde- 
 man, A. L. Elwyn, A. S. Roberts, J. P. Rutherford, and 
 R. C. Walker. At this meeting, a communication was 
 received from Gen. James Irvin, proposing to donate 200 
 acres of land, in Centre County, for the purpose of an 
 Agricultural School. The Secretary was directed to lay 
 this proposition, together with that from Judge Miles, of 
 Erie, with any others, that might be received, before the 
 Trustees of the Farmers High School, at their meeting 
 in June next; and with a hope of exciting emulation; 
 and inducing citizens from other parts of the State to 
 make similar offers. This order to the Secretary was pub- 
 lished in the leading Newspapers of the State. 
 
 ORGANIZATION OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES. 
 
 On the 14th of June following, the Board of Trustees 
 met at the office of the Pennsylvania State Agricultural 
 Society, at Harrisburg, and organized according to the 
 provision of the Act of Incorporation. (Page 20.) There 
 were present, Messrs. James Pollock, Governor, and A. G. 
 Curtin, Secretary of the Commonwealth, A. 0. Hiester, 
 Frederick Watts, H. N. McAllister, John Strohm, James 
 Miles, A. L. Elwyn, and Robert C. Walker. 
 
 SITES OFFERED. 
 
 The following proposals to donate and sell land for a 
 site, were made: James Miles to donate 200 acres, in Erie 
 County; Genl. James Irvin, to donate 200, in Centre 
 County; Elias Baker, to donate 200 in Blair County; 
 James Bailey, to sell 2000 acres in Perry County, and Geo. 
 A. Bayard, to sell 600 acres in Allegheny County. On 
 motion of H. N. McAllister, Governor Pollock, Judge 
 Watts and Dr. Elwyn, were appointed a committee to ex- 
 amine the several sites offered. 
 
 At the next meeting of the Board, July 17th, 1855, at 
 Harrisburg, this committee made an elaborate report, sta- 
 ting that they had visited several sites offered for the lo- 
 cation of the college. 
 
OF PENNSYLVANIA. 25 
 
 REPORT OF COMMITTEE TO EXAMINE ' SITES. 
 
 General James Irvin had offered any one of three farms 
 of two hundred acres of good limestone land, with the pre- 
 emption right to two hundred additional acres, adjoining 
 any one of them within five years. 
 
 The two hundred acres offered by James Miles, were 
 situated about eighteen miles west of the city of Erie, be- 
 tween the railroad which bounds it on the south, and the 
 lake shore. The land was a sandy loam, highly fertile, 
 with about one hundred acres of cleared land, and the rest 
 with heavy timber; he would also give the pre-emption 
 right to any additional quantity of land, which may be 
 desired, at $60,00 per acre. 
 
 The estate of George A. Bayard was situated on the 
 Youghiogheny River, about three miles from its mouth, and 
 eighteen miles from Pittsburgh. It consisted of 600 acres 
 of well-watered freestone land, worth $35.00 per acre. 
 Very extensive improvements had been made upon the 
 estate, including several dwelling-houses, and two large 
 barns. Mr. Bayard would sell on reasonable terms. 
 
 The two hundred acres offered by Elias Baker, were 
 situated in Blair County, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, 
 about two miles southwest of Altoona; all the land, ex- 
 cept about forty acres, was cleared and fenced, about sixty 
 acres (south of the Railroad) was of good freestone land, 
 and the balance (north of the Railroad) good slate land. 
 There were upwards of two hundred acres more in the 
 tract that could be purchased at about $25.00 per acre. All 
 the land was finely watered. 
 
 The committee further stated, that they had just re- 
 ceived an offer of 200 acres of land, worth $60.00 per 
 acre, from Wm. H. Easton of Franklin County; also, that 
 in their examination of the land, they had been accompa- 
 nied by several members of the Board, of whose opinion 
 they had availed themselves, in viewing the several tracts 
 offered. 
 
 The committee close their report by saying, that although 
 any one of the several sites they had viewed would be eli- 
 gible, yet in view of the importance of the subject, and the 
 fact that the people of the state were not yet sufficiently 
 
26 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 acquainted with their efforts, they did not then deem it 
 advisable to make a selection of any one of the sites offered. 
 
 The committee was then continued, and directed to exa- 
 mine such other sites as might be offered, and to report at 
 the next meeting of the Board. In order that all friends 
 of agricultural education over the state might have an op- 
 portunity to offer inducements to locate the college where 
 they wished it, the proceedings of the meeting were ordered 
 to be published in all the prominent papers of the state. 
 
 The Hon. Simon Cameron then stated that he thought 
 $10,000 could be raised in Dauphin County to purchase a 
 farm there for a site, and that to this end he would lead a 
 subscription with $1,000. Messrs. J. W. Patten and J. 
 Morrow, in behalf of the citizens of Blair county, offered 
 to purchase two hundred additional acres, adjoining the 
 two hundred offered by Colonel Baker, thus offering four 
 hundred acres, provided the school were located in Blair 
 county. 
 
 The meeting of the executive committee of the State 
 Agricultural Society also convened at this time in Harris- 
 burgh. On motion of H. N. McAllister, at this meeting, it 
 was Resolved, That the sum of $10,000 be appropriated by 
 the State Agricultural Society to the Farmers' High School 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
 The third meeting of the Board of Trustees convened at 
 Harrisburg, September 12, 1855. 
 
 The Committee appointed to view sites for the location 
 of the college, reported that, since the last meeting of the 
 board, they had viewed three farms, offered by Mr. Easton, 
 of Franklin County; two of them, of about 200 acres each, 
 ' were situated on the Pittsburg turnpike, near the town of 
 Loudon, both good limestone land in a high state of im- 
 provement, and on the one nearest the town a never-fail- 
 ing spring of water. A third farm, between Loudon and 
 Mercersburg, of 240 acres limestone land in a high state of 
 improvement, was also offered. 
 
 The Committee also presented a letter just received from 
 David Blair, in which he offered to donate 200 acres, near 
 Shade Gap, on the road leading from Mount Union, on the 
 Pennsylvania Railroad, to Chambersburg, containing about 
 
OF PENNSYLVANIA. 27 
 
 130 acres of cultivated land, the whole well watered, and 
 limestone quarries on it. In regard to the site in Centre 
 County, H. N. McAllister presented a paper in which he. 
 James Irvin and A. G. Curtin, pledged themselves in be- 
 half of Centre and Huntingdon Counties to donate the 
 sum of $10,000 for the purposes implied in the act of incor- 
 poration of the Farmers High School of Pennsylvania, pro- 
 vided the said site be accepted. 
 
 Mr. McFarlane and Elias Baker offered to donate 400 
 acres of land near Altoona, and to guaranty the sum of 
 $10,000 from the citizens of Biair County, provided this 
 site were accepted. 
 
 An offer was also made by the trustees of the estate of 
 Mr. Moore in Union County to sell 265 acres of land for a 
 site. 
 
 FINAL VOTE ON THE LOCATION OF'THE SCHOOL. 
 
 After due consideration of all these oners, the Hon. 
 Fred. Watts, of Cumberland, offered the following resolu- 
 tion : — Resolved, that the adoption of the proposition of Gen. 
 James Irvin for the location of the Farmers High School of 
 Pennsylvania will best promote the interests of the institution, 
 and that the same is hereby adopted. 
 
 The question being on the adoption, Mr. Jas. Gowen 
 moved to strike out the name of General Irvin and insert 
 that of Elias Baker; not agreed to. Dr. Elwyn moved to 
 strike out the name of General Irvin and insert that of H. 
 Easton — not agreed to. Fred. Watts then moved that the 
 question be postponed, and that James Gowen, A. O. 
 Hiester and John Strohm be appointed a committee of 
 three to examine the propositions and determine which 
 should be accepted — not agreed to. Robt. C. Walker then 
 moved to strike from the resolution the name of General 
 James Irvin and insert that of Geo. A. Bayard ; not agreed 
 to. The question then recurring upon the original resolu- 
 tion, was decided in the affirmative. 
 
 The details of the selection of a site as just given are 
 made more full than would otherwise have been neces- 
 sary, in order to satisfy persons who may have an interest 
 in the subject, that the present site of the Agricultural Col- 
 
28 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 lege of Pennsylvania was not selected without a full and 
 free opportunity for the friends of any other site to offer 
 inducements for its location and erection, and without the 
 claims thus presented being fairly and impartially considered. 
 
 SOLICITATION OF AID FROM THE STATE. 
 
 At a meeting of the Board of Trustees held January 4th, 
 1856, H. N. McAllister, A. 0. Hiester and Robt. C. Walker 
 were appointed a committee to solicit an appropriation (of 
 $50,000) from the Legislature then in session, for the 
 furtherance of the object of the act of Incorporation of 
 the Farmers High School of Pennsylvania. 
 
 PLANS FOR COLLEGE BUILDINGS. 
 
 At this meeting several plans for college buildings were 
 presented. One by H. N. McAllister, for the college build- 
 ing, and one by Fred. Watts for a barn, were adopted, 
 and H. N. McAllister, Fred. Watts, and James Miles were 
 appointed a building committee to contract for the con- 
 struction of the college buildings. Means were taken to 
 secure a principal and competent teachers, to open the 
 school as soon as the buildings were ready for the admis- 
 sion of pupils. The board also agreed to take 200 addi- 
 tional acres of land from Gen. James Irvin, making a farm 
 of 400 acres. 
 
 CONTRACT TO ERECT COLLEGE BUILDINGS. 
 
 On the 12th of May, 1856, the building committee 
 articled with Messrs. Turner & Natcher to construct the 
 College Buildings for the sum of $55,000, and the work 
 upon the building was at once commenced. 
 
 FIRST ANNUAL MEETING OF DELEGATES. 
 
 On the 6th of the following October, the board met for 
 the first time at the site of the College. The occasion was 
 that of the first annual meeting of delegates for the elec- 
 tion of trustees. The contract of Turner and Natcher was 
 approved by the board. Measures were taken to secure a 
 sum of nearly ($5,000) left by the will of the late Elliot 
 Cresson to the Farmers High School; and Messrs. F. Watts, 
 H. N. McAllister and J. Strohm, were appointed a com- 
 
OF PENNSYLVANIA. 29 
 
 mittee to lay the affairs of the institution before the next 
 Legislature. 
 
 APPROPRIATION BY THE STATE LEGISLATURE. 
 
 Accordingly, at the next Session, a bill to appropriate 
 $50,000 to the Farmers High School of Pennsylvania, was 
 placed in the hands of Colonel Gregg, at that time Senator 
 from that district. The committee also found an earnest, 
 influential advocate in the Hon. James T. Hale, of Centre 
 County. 
 
 Colonel Gregg at once espoused the cause of the bill with 
 all the earnestness of an advocate; and, in conjunction with 
 Judge Hale and the committee, canvassed it thoroughly be- 
 fore the Legislature, and finally brought it to the test of a 
 vote by which it became a law, approved May 20th, 1857. 
 
 The Act in question appropriated $25,000 at once to the 
 Farmers High School, in view of $25,000 already obtained; 
 and appropriated an additional $25,000, provided a like 
 sum be raised by subscription. It further provides that 
 the annual meeting of delegates for the election of mem- 
 bers to the Board of Trustees be held on the first Wednes- 
 day of September. 
 
 At the 7th meeting of the Board held at Harrisburg the 
 18th of March, 1858, H. N. McAllister, of the Committee 
 appointed for this purpose, made a report upon the progress 
 of the Buildings under the contract, and of the state of the 
 farm. 
 
 The passage of the act of May, 1859, infused new con- 
 fidence into the movement. It placed $25,000 in the hands 
 of the Trustees at once, in addition to the $25,000 already 
 collected by subscription, and there was little doubt felt 
 that the other 25,000 could easily be raised, thus redeem- 
 ing the additional $25,000 from the Legislature, and making 
 a total of $100,000, at the disposal of the Trustees. With 
 the main College Buildings contracted for $55,000, there 
 seemed to be an additional surplus quite sufficient for erect- 
 ing out-buildings and putting the farm into proper order 
 for opening the college. At a meeting of the Board, July 
 2d, 1857, E. C. Humes was authorized to draw upon the 
 State Treasury for $25,000 in accordance with the act of 
 May 20. 
 
30 "AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 A LARGE MEETING OF DELEGATES. 
 
 The annual meeting of delegates for the election of Trus- 
 tees assembled September 2d, 1857. There were dele- 
 gates present from Allegheny, Berks, Blair, Bucks, Cam- 
 bria, Chester, Clinton, Cumberland, Centre, Delaware, Erie, 
 Huntingdon, Juniata, Lancaster, Mifflin, Northumberland, 
 Perry, Schuylkill, Westmoreland, and Union. This meet- 
 ing was opened by the Hon. Jas. T. Hale, thanking the 
 audience for their attendance, and expressing a hope that 
 the Hon. President of the Board of Trustees would favor 
 them with some remarks upon the subject of the meeting, 
 whereupon Judge Watts arose and said, that observation 
 and reflection teach that men are classified by the amount 
 and quality of their education, and not by their calling. 
 
 That the merchants and manufacturers in the eastern 
 states, the professional men of the middle states, and the 
 planters of .the Southern States, were the most influential 
 men in their respective states, because the best educated. 
 The importance of agriculture in Pennsylvania, and the 
 necessity of the agriculturist exerting a marked influence, 
 pointed out the necessity of agricultural schools, at which 
 to secure that education out of which this influence only 
 can grow. He dwelt upon the great benefits conferred 
 upon the agricultural interests, by the many agricultural 
 societies which have recently been founded; and urged the 
 necessity of building up the Farmers High School, as a 
 means of still further enlightening the farmer on the duties 
 of his calling, by affording a suitable course of instruction 
 for his sons, at prices commensurate with his means. After 
 alluding to the fact that the expense of an ordinary College 
 course was too great to be met by the generality of farmers, 
 he said: 
 
 "But the cost is by no means the greatest objection; for the effect 
 of this education upon the farmer's son in almost every case is, that 
 of utterly estranging him from, and unfitting him for^the safe and 
 healthful and normal pursuit of his father. The youth who returns 
 to the farm at home, after three or four years' study of books at col- 
 lege desks, and in purely literary society, finds utter uncongeniality 
 in the company of his own father and brothers ; his mind has been 
 turned into paths leading quite away from rural pursuits, and hjs hands 
 
OF PENNSYLVANIA. • 31 
 
 are untaught and unfitted to assist in, or direct the labors of the farm. 
 The moral effect of this common but sad result is equally disastrous 
 and pitiable both in father and son. It is a state of things which 
 must be cured : if not, it will act like a corrosive ulcer. We must 
 combine the cultivated intellect and social amenities of mental refine- 
 ment, with the strong practical usefulness and sound virtues of the 
 agriculturist, who giving the sweat of his brow receives from Pro- 
 vidence such bounties as are now stored around us in this building,* 
 and spread upon these tables for the daily support of all human life, 
 and who dispenses them to all other classes. 
 
 If these be not thus wedded, this great agricultural state of Penn- 
 sylvania must remain, as now, with the balance of influence and power 
 in the hands of comparatively few ; for I may be allowed to repeat, 
 with no other desire than to contribute to the future prosperity of our 
 glorious Commonwealth, that the great body of our citizens, the great 
 agricultural body, have not the power and the influence which they 
 ought to have for the proper balance of power in our political and 
 social relations. Something must be done to increase their power — 
 how shall we do it ? Education will impart influence, but it must 
 be such education as will lead to the desired end ; it is self-evident 
 that it is no education unless it is a fit one. Science, art, and labor 
 must be combined. Here is our want. At present we have no suit- 
 able college in existence. Whatever may have been done in Europe 
 under the greater pressure of necessity we have no such institutions 
 as yet, to which we can have access. 
 
 Now the institution we are striving to establish, at the earliest 
 possible period, is intended to supply this great social, political, 
 moral, and economical want. And while it improves the mind of 
 the agriculturist, and trains his hands, it will do both at less expense 
 than a purely literary training can be obtained for. Thus, while 
 reducing costs very greatly, it will educate better and fit for every 
 business relation of practical life. 
 
 We estimate that $100 per annum will fully cover all expenses 
 for board and tuition, as we are instituting upon the farm different 
 branches of culture adapted for exercise, and to illustrate fully the 
 entire theory and practice of cultivation, and at the same time such 
 as will afford pleasant and profitable, moderate, regular, and varied 
 labor to the students. Provision will be made for ample and ex- 
 tensive mathematical training and engineering practice. All the 
 branches of Natural science will be fully illustrated and taught. 
 Moral and Social science, and all the arts of practical life, excluding 
 nothing but what is exclusively literary as the acquisition of the dead 
 and foreign languages. We have started — there must now be for 
 us no such word as fail. Our Legislature has done much to aid us ; 
 
 * At the dinner table in the barn. 
 
32 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 we have much to do ourselves. Let us ask ourselves, each one of 
 us, how much do we owe to society, and especially to the great class 
 that forms its hasis. Let there be no adverse feelings founded on 
 local preference. What motive could there be to induce those who 
 examined and determined the locality of this school to do else than 
 right ? With the approval of my associates, I could gladly have 
 taken it into my own dear valley of Cumberland, but in the exercise 
 of a sound and clear judgment (I speak for all as an inconsiderable 
 one only) the Board having looked over all proposed lands and con- 
 sidered all circumstances, believed the one chosen to be the best. 
 It is possible that we were in fault, yet I have ever believed the 
 selection made combined more advantages than any other offered, 
 and I ask for myself and associates the credit at least of honest mo- 
 tives, and of all to consider how many of the most essential advan- 
 tages of soil, surface, exposure, healthfulness, and centrality, are 
 combined in the ground we have met upon. 
 
 For a great common good, and in a spirit of mutual confidence, 
 let personal feelings not enter into our consideration; but let us all 
 agree to the conclusion that what is done is best. I must only 
 detain you with a brief detail of our financial strength. We have 
 received from our State Society $10,000, from citizens of Centre 
 County $10,000, from the State $25,000. From the estate of the 
 late Elliot Cresson $5,000, making in all $50,000. To complete 
 the buildings and open the institution we must have $50,000, and 
 this is provided for, if one half of the amount be raised by indi- 
 viduals. We shall then have $100,000 with, which we can then 
 start this instiiution into active and useful operation at a rate 
 of charge to each student of not over $100 per annum. All 
 the influence and industry we can exercise will go into the ac- 
 count, and if our judgment and management be approved, we 
 shall not be allowed in this great Commonwealth to fail of such 
 an object. The community understanding our aims, will not let 
 us fail. We must obtain the $25,000 by individual contribu- 
 tion, and I say for myself only because I am urged to say it, that 
 I will be one of ten to give $1,000 each towards making up that 
 amount." 
 
 The speaker took his seat amidst the approbation of his 
 auditors. Gen. James Irvin offered to be one of ten to sub- 
 scribe $1,000, 
 
 Hon. James Miles pledged $1,000 for Erie and Craw- 
 ford Counties. Hon. James Burnside thought Clinton 
 County would be good enough for $1,000, and Cambria for 
 $500. Hon. George Boal pledged Centre County for $1,000 
 in addition to the $10,000 already subscribed. General 
 
OF PENNSYLVANIA. 33 
 
 Snodgrass pledged Allegheny County for $1,000. H. N. 
 McAllister offered to be one of twenty to give $500 each. 
 Judge Hale arose and said : 
 
 Centre County has raised $10,000, and one of her distinguished 
 citizens has given an equal value in land, and has just pledged 
 another $1,000, followed by other conditional pledges from other 
 of her citizens for yet another $1,500. 
 
 The President of this meeting, who has given so freely of his 
 valuable time and abilities to all the details of the enterprise at 
 the greatest sacrifice, has offered yet a sum of $1,000 : now cannot 
 we raise the balance of the sum wanted on the spot? I will pledge 
 myself to raise $500 more, if we can thus accomplish this. Let 
 us hear from all the counties represented. As to the location of 
 the school, it must necessarily be located somewhere. It has been 
 located here, and we are sensible of the advantages it brings to us, 
 and have contributed very nearly one-fourth of the entire estimate 
 of 100,000. Yet all other counties will have an equal right with 
 us to send pupils, and we feel that we have a right to ask other 
 counties to aid in the consummation of this great work of the 
 State." 
 
 Dr. J. R. Eshelman then pledged Chester County for 
 $500 ; John Strohm pledged $500 for Lancaster. Several 
 other pledges were given for all that could be done in other 
 counties. 
 
 FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 Unfortunately for the funds of the school many of the 
 above pledges were not redeemed, and the general depres- 
 sion of business which followed the financial panic of 1857, 
 together with the failure of crops in some of the counties, 
 almost put a stop to raising subscriptions. In the mean- 
 time, the work on the college buildings was progressing, 
 and the constant drafts on the treasury warned the busi- 
 ness committee that some effort must be made to obtain 
 subscriptions. 
 
 At two successive meetings of the Board at this time, 
 December, 1857, and March, 1858, there was not a quorum 
 of members present, and the business committee were to 
 a certain extent left to their own resources in order to sup- 
 ply the constant demands upon the Treasury. 
 
34 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 CONTRACTOR UNABLE TO FULFIL HIS CONTRACT. 
 
 It now became more and more apparent that the con- 
 tractors would be unable to comply with the conditions of 
 their contract, as it was evident that they had taken it at 
 a price that would do little more than meet half the ex- 
 pense involved in complying with the contract, and being 
 without means beyond those afforded by the Trustees, and 
 the latter having an empty Treasury to draw upon, the 
 prospects of the school were anything but flattering. 
 
 At this time there is no doubt the work would have 
 been suspended, and the Pennsylvania Agricultural College 
 would soon, like a great many others in the United States, 
 have been known only by the half finished works that 
 marked the spot where it was intended to stand, had it 
 not been for the indomitable perseverance and unremit- 
 ting labor of the business committee, and more especially 
 of H. N. McAllister, the local Trustee, in looking after. its 
 affairs. 
 
 In addition to the $10,000 that the latter gentleman 
 guarantied for Centre County, in case the College were 
 located upon the farm of Gen. James Irvin, he received 
 nearly $6,000 by subscription from others in the county, to 
 which he added $500 from his own pocket. He also visited 
 a number of other counties, called meetings, and raised 
 collections himself, or secured the services of others in doing 
 so. 
 
 During all this time the general control of the work on 
 the college buildings devolved upon him, and to meet the 
 demand of the contractor he was obliged to advance several 
 thousand dollars from his own pocket, trusting to raise it 
 by subscriptions. The time to perform all this labor for 
 the school was taken from a professional life already over- 
 crowded with professional d uties. It was done gratuitously, 
 and all the expenses involved in travelling to collect money, 
 hold meetings, or do other labor for the school were paid 
 from his own pocket. It has been remarked that if for 
 no other purpose, it were sufficient to locate the college in 
 Centre County to secure the aid of a laborer so efficient and 
 self-sacrificing in its behalf as the present local trustee. 
 The thirteenth meeting of the Board of the Trustees con- 
 
OF PENNSYLVANIA. 35 
 
 vened at the Farm School on the 16th of June, 1858. 
 There were present Messrs. McAllister, Eyre, Hiester, Miles, 
 Elwyn, and Watts, President. The President, as Chairman 
 of the Business Committee, reported that they had con- 
 tracted with General Irvin for the additional 200 acres 
 of land adjoining the 200 he had donated. The commit- 
 tee further reported upon the progress of the building, 
 stating the impossibility of the contractors being able to 
 finish it. Whereupon they were vested, by the board, 
 with power to act as the emergency might demand in order 
 to secure the erection of the building. 
 
 H. N. McAllister, having been appointed by the Presi- 
 dent to solicit donations, reported that Centre County had 
 subscribed $5,769 64, but that a part of this was required 
 to make up the $10,000 which he, with Messrs. Curtin 
 and Hale, had paid over as the subscription of Centre 
 County in order to secure the location of the College; he, 
 however, expressed his willingness to allow this balance 
 on the $10,000 to remain unpaid, that the entire sum just 
 collected, might be made available for securing an equal 
 amount from the state, in accordance with the act of ap- 
 propriation of 1857, provided that the amount yet due them 
 from the Centre County subscription, be paid from other 
 subscriptions, that might be obtained after all the money 
 available from the State was obtained. This proviso 
 was approved by the Board. The financial affairs of the 
 institution now presented the most serious problem for the 
 solution of the Board. 
 
 EMBARRASSMENT OF THE BOARD. 
 
 The funds were exhausted, the contractors were about to 
 fail, and the work of the basement walls not yet completed, 
 while the country was prostrated, under the influence of 
 the financial crisis of the preceding year. It was resolved 
 to present an address to the people of the State, setting 
 forth the financial difficulties of the Board, and to appoint 
 suitable persons to solicit donations from the people; and to 
 meet the emergencies of the present, it was resolved to raise 
 $5,000 upon the individual note of some of the members of 
 the Board. Under such circumstances many corporations 
 
36 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 would have at once broken up in despair, but the trustees 
 of the Farm School, determined not to yield to these diffi- 
 culties, made arrangement for the admission of pupils on 
 the assumption that the building must be prepared for them. 
 The conditions of admission and course of instruction were 
 settled upon, and it is not a little remarkable, that at that 
 time, and under these difficulties, and relying wholly upon 
 their judgment of what the college should be, but without 
 any experience as to how it would meet the wants of the 
 Agricultural Community, they laid down the general plan 
 of operation for it, which has since been followed out, and 
 is now proving successful. It was decided to carry up 
 about one-third of the building, and complete it for the 
 admission of about 100 students, leaving the other two- 
 thirds with only the basement walls up. 
 
 PROSPECT OF FAILURE. 
 
 At this period, such seemed to be the hopelessness of 
 completing the building that those who did not appreciate 
 the importance of doing so, nor understand the devotion of 
 the Trustees, and more especially of the building commit- 
 tee, to the cause they had espoused, did not think it ever 
 could be completed; and their policy of commencing a 
 building sufficiently large to organize an Agricultural 
 College was severely condemned, while a small school 
 with an elementary course of instruction was pointed out as 
 what could and should have been founded. To add to the 
 discouragement of the members of the Board, who were 
 determined the work should not stop, one of the most pro- 
 minent members who had labored hard for the cause from 
 the beginning resigned, but his place was supplied at the 
 next annual meeting of the delegates, September 1st, 1858. 
 
 At the fifteenth meeting of the Board, December 8th, 1858, 
 it was resolved that the school be opened for students on 
 the 16th of February, 1859, and measures were taken to 
 apprize the people of the Commonwealth of the fact, as 
 also of the terms and form of admission. As already re- 
 marked, it had become evident that Turner and Natcher 
 would be unable to comply with the conditions of the con- 
 tract. The work of preparing the building had therefore 
 
OF PENNSYLVANIA. 37 
 
 passed into the hands of the Building Committee, and they 
 were urging it on with all possible speed to have the build- 
 ing ready for pupils at the appointed time ; and to meet 
 the expense involved, in going on with the work, five of the 
 Trustees subscribed $500 from their own pockets, which 
 enabled them to draw a corresponding amount from the 
 State, and they further authorized the President of the 
 Board, to secure by loan an amount sufficient to finish and 
 furnish the part to be prepared for the pupils. 
 
 OPENING SCHOOL. 
 
 At the appointed time, February 16th, 1859, the school 
 was opened under the control of the following Faculty and 
 Professors. 
 
 Wm. G. Waring, who had been superintending the farm, 
 garden, and nursery for some time previous was now ap- 
 pointed General Superintendent of the College, and Pro- 
 fessor of Horticulture; S. Baird, Professor of Mathematics; 
 R. C. Allison, Professor of English Literature ; J. S. Whit- 
 man, A. M., Prof, of Natural Science. Prof. Baird resigned 
 May 18th, 1859, and the Board at that time assembled, 
 appointed Prof. David Wilson in his stead. Over 100 pupils 
 had engaged places, and sixty-nine were present on the 
 first day of opening; during the session 119 students were 
 entered, though there were never more than about 100 
 present at any one time, owing to the dismission and ex- 
 pulsion of some and the withdrawal of others. The school 
 was opened under innumerable difficulties and disadvan- 
 tages. The buildings were only partially finished, and in 
 the absence of the intended dining-room and kitchen a 
 board shantee, which could neither be kept warm in cold 
 nor dry in wet and stormy weather, was used to cook and 
 eat in. Proper apartments for museums, laboratories, and 
 recitation rooms were wanting. The farm was yet rough, 
 and the lumber and materials for mason and brick work 
 for the completion of the building, were piled round in 
 shapeless masses on all sides of the latter, rendering it 
 almost impossible to get about it, and presenting a most 
 forlorn aspect to the students, who first entered the college, 
 4 
 
38 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 through the well tramped mud of the breaking up of the 
 winter frosts. 
 
 The limited number of students that could be admitted 
 did not allow of the employment of a sufficient number of 
 professors, teachers, and assistants to admit of a proper 
 division of labor among them, and hence an efficient 
 organization of the institution was not possible. The un- 
 precedented nature of the experiment made it necessary to 
 intrust it to inexperienced hands; and although every pre- 
 caution was taken to admit none but students of the very 
 highest character, yet unfortunately, experience soon 
 proved that this flock was not without its " black sheep." 
 Add to all this the general sentiment of superficial ob- 
 servers, that the building never could be finished, and the 
 unhappy state of feeling produced in the minds of many in 
 consequence of pecuniary losses they sustained by the 
 failure of the first contractor, and bear in mind the state of 
 the finances of the Board of Trustees as already pointed 
 out, and we have some of the difficulties encountered by 
 the Farm School on first coining into existence. 
 
 FACULTY FOR 1860. 
 
 At the nineteenth meeting of the Board of Trustees, 
 held at the College, December 7th, 1859, the following 
 faculty were nominated, and instructions given to pre- 
 pare the first annual catalogue. 
 
 EVAN PUGH, Ph. D. & F. C. S., President. 
 
 DAVID WILSON, A. M., Vice President. 
 
 WM. G. WARING, General Superintendent of the Hor- 
 ticultural Department. 
 
 J. S. WHITMAN, A. M., Professor of Botany. 
 
 R. C. ALLISON, A. M., Professor of English Literature. 
 
 In view of the financial affairs of the Board, and the 
 unfinished state of the building, the Rev. Thomas P. 
 Hunt was appointed to solicit donations for the College. 
 Mr. Hunt entered upon his duties with characteristic 
 earnestness, but it was soon found that the country had not 
 yet sufficiently recovered from the financial crisis of 1857, 
 
OF PENNSYLVANIA. 39 
 
 to make it possible to raise money in this way, and the 
 project was soon abandoned. 
 
 The Session of 1859 closed about the middle of De- 
 cember, and the Trustees then thought that the success 
 which had attended the effort under the difficulties, met 
 in making it, would induce the Legislature to afford means 
 to complete the buildings. Accordingly, a bill asking 
 money for this purpose was placed in the hands of one of 
 the members, to be brought before the House of Repre- 
 sentatives. The bill, however, never reached its second 
 reading, and the College, incumbered with debt, and its 
 building unfinished, was left to struggle through another 
 year, dependent in part for its existence upon the energy 
 and enterprise and liberality of those who had already 
 sacrificed so much to bring it thus far. 
 
 The Session of 1860 was inaugurated with a full school, 
 while several who applied from other states, could not be 
 admitted. The increased experience of the faculty in 
 managing it, and the greater experience of the students 
 in performing their duties, gave additional hope of the 
 ultimate success of the College, if its buildings only could 
 be completed; on the other hand it became equally evi- 
 dent that if they were not completed, the school must 
 stop, and all the property accumulated be sacrificed to 
 meet its debts. 
 
 FINAL APPEAL TO THE STATE LEGISLATURE. 
 
 Successive appeals to private individuals had failed to 
 secure the funds required. Being a State Institution, and 
 not a denominational school^ it had not the advantage of 
 being able to interest any special sect in its favor. But on 
 the other hand being an Agricultural School, devoted to 
 the Agricultural interests of an Agricultural State, and 
 having originated in an effort of the State Agricultural 
 Society, and having been aided in its origin by State ap- 
 propriations, it became most appropriately an object for 
 State patronage, therefore, at a meeting of the Board of 
 Trustees, held at the College, December 5th, 1860, it was 
 
 Resolved, That the sum of $50,000 was necessary to 
 
40 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 finish the .College Buildings, and that an application be 
 made to the Legislature at its approaching session to make 
 an appropriation of that sum for this purpose. 
 
 Measures were at once taken to secure the passage of 
 an Act, making this appropriation. In the Senate, the 
 interests of the school would be ably represented by Colonel 
 Gregg, who had labored so efficiently for the passage of 
 the first appropriation, and in the House, where the great- 
 est difficulty was anticipated, the College was fortunate in 
 having the aid of the local member, Wm. C. Duncan, 
 whose intelligent appreciation of the necessities of agri- 
 cultural practice, and the financial difficulties of the In- 
 stitution, made him an able advocate in its favor. 
 
 A few days after the close of the Session of 1860, the 
 bill to appropriate $50,000, was read in place by Wm. 
 C. Duncan, in the House of Representatives, and referred 
 to the Committee of Ways and Means. The Trustees of 
 the College appeared before that Committee, and stated 
 the aims, objects, financial difficulties, and necessities of 
 the School. After the usual delays and hinderances com- 
 mon to legislation, the committee rendered a unanimous 
 report in favor of the bill, and it only remained to bring 
 it up for a second reading, to test the feeling of the House 
 upon its merits. 
 
 In the meantime, Mr. Duncan had espoused the cause 
 of the bill with an earnestness, and efficiency of action, 
 and honesty of purpose which satisfied all its friends, that 
 they were very fortunate in being able to intrust it to 
 his hands. His honesty and uprightness of character, 
 and personal acquaintance with all the leading friends of 
 the school, and his knowledge of its necessity were suffi- 
 cient guarantees to his fellow members, that the money 
 asked for was needed for the purpose stated, and not for 
 aggrandizement of individual or local interests. 
 
 Several of the County Agricultural Societies sent in 
 letters and resolutions to the Representatives, urging the 
 passage of the bill, while prominent friends of agricultu- 
 ral reform, from all parts of the State, either by letters 
 to members in the Legislature, or by visiting Harrisburg 
 
OF PENNSYLVANIA. 41 
 
 and by talking with them themselves, advocated the passage 
 of the bill, and the political press, without regard to party, 
 with singular unanimity united with the agricultural press 
 in urging the claims of the bill upon the Representatives 
 of the people of our great Agricultural State. The bill 
 was finally brought to its second reading, when it passed 
 with an overwhelming majority. A vote to suspend the 
 rules which forbid the reading of the same bill twice in 
 the same day, was carried and 
 
 The bill was read the third time, and thus passed the 
 House. 
 
 Col. Gregg had always assured the Trustees that if 
 the bill passed the lower House, he would have no diffi- 
 culty in securing its passage through the Senate, — there- 
 fore, a few days after it passed the House, it passed the 
 Senate, and received the signature of the Governor, and 
 became a law. 
 
 Thus a great Agricultural State was saved the disgrace 
 of allowing an Agricultural College it had attempted to 
 found, to break up in the act of being founded, and $150, 
 000 worth of property that was collected for this purpose, 
 was saved from being sacrificed, and on the other hand, 
 our old Commonwealth has succeeded in bringing the first 
 Agricultural School in the United States into successful 
 operation. 
 
 Amongst those not members of the House who con- 
 tributed to this result, the name of Hon. James T. Hale 
 deserves especial mention as having by his great influence 
 as a public man, and a member of the Board of Trustees, 
 done much for the passage of the bill; as also did all the 
 members of the Board, and most particularly the business 
 committee, who were prepared at all times to leave their 
 own pressing duties as professional men at home, to attend 
 to the advocacy of the bill while before the Legislature. 
 
 The bill passed the Senate on the 10th of April, 1861. 
 Fort Sumter was bombarded about this time, and the 
 country was in the midst of the excitement consequent 
 thereon. 
 
 The Board met at the school, May 1st, 1861, and not- 
 withstanding the disturbed state of the country, caused 
 
42 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 by the rebellion, determined to proceed at once to the 
 completion of the building. 
 
 COMPLETION OF THE COLLEGE BUILDINGS. 
 
 To this end, Messrs. Watts, McAllister and Pugh were 
 appointed a committee to examine the plans for the build- 
 ing, and to make such modifications of them, as might 
 seem advisable, and to take measures to have the walls up 
 and the building roofed by the first of the following No- 
 vember. 
 
 The committee at once advertised for sealed proposals 
 to do the whole, or any part of the work, of putting up 
 the building. 
 
 On opening the proposals thus obtained, that of George 
 W. Tate of Bellefonte, was considered the most reasonable, 
 and the committee at once articled with him to complete 
 " the entire building, excepting some items specified, for the 
 sum of $41,500 — the building to be under roof by the first 
 of November, 1861, and to be entirely completed by the 
 first of December, 1862. 
 
 The work of erecting the building was at once com- 
 menced, and has been steadily progressing up to the 
 present time, September, 1862. 
 
 THE THIRD SESSION. 
 
 The third session of the College was opened under pecu- 
 liarly unfavorable circumstances. The country was in 
 that ominous calm that preceded the storm of rebellion, 
 which has since broken upon it. The work of finishing 
 the College had been so long delayed, that the public began 
 to doubt the probability of its being finished at all, and it 
 was evident to all, if the buildings were not finished, the 
 School must go down. 
 
 Many doubted its ability to survive the third session, 
 and some parents even hesitated to pay money in advance 
 for tuition, lest it should be lost by the school being broken 
 up. There were, however, many earnest friends of the 
 movement, who never doubted even, at this time, the 
 ultimate success of the school, and the timely action of the 
 Legislature tended to restore the confidence of those who 
 
OF PENNSYLVANIA. 43 
 
 had before doubted. But the result of this inauspicious 
 opening of the college was that for the first time it was not 
 filled with students, although eighty-eight were recorded 
 in the third annual catalogue, published at the close of the 
 session. 
 
 This session will always be interesting to the students 
 of the college as being that at the close of which the first 
 class was graduated. This was also the first class that 
 graduated at an Agricultural College in the United States, 
 and they graduated upon a higher scientific educational 
 standard than is required at any other Agricultural College 
 in the world. They had completed their course in three 
 } 7 ears, owing to their having entered the third class the first 
 year. In 1858, the class had fifty-five students in it, and 
 in 1861 it was reduced to seventeen, and only eleven of 
 these completed their course, passed their examination, 
 and took the degree of Bachelor of Scientific Agriculture. 
 The following are the names. 
 
 James Miles, Jr., Erie Co.; A. C. Church, Luzerne Co.; 
 J. W. Eckman, Lebanon; Samuel Holliday, Erie Co.; E. 
 P. McCormick, Clinton Co.; M. S. Lytle, Huntingdon; 
 John N. Banks, Juniata; J. D. Isett, Huntingdon; L. C. 
 Troutman, Philadelphia; C. A. Smith, Berks; C. E. Trout- 
 man, Philadelphia. 
 
 The present session was opened on the 19th of February, 
 1862, and is now more than half completed ; the college is 
 full, notwithstanding the disturbed state of the country, 
 and all its affairs are working more satisfactorily than 
 they have ever done before. 
 
 CHANGE OF NAME. 
 
 The name " Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania," 
 originated partly in a feeling that farmers might be pre- 
 judiced against the word "college" as that of a place where 
 boys only contracted idle habits, and partly with the idea of 
 founding a small institution, with a limited course of instruc- 
 tion, similar to the Agricultural Schools of Europe, which 
 are subordinate to the Agricultural Colleges there. 
 
 But the school, on being organized, adopted a course of 
 instruction in mathematics and the natural sciences, more 
 
44 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 extensive than that in any Agricultural College of Europe, 
 and a correspondingly longer time devoted to study was 
 required for graduating. Its organization had been upon 
 a collegiate basis from the beginning, and the Trustees only 
 awaited the time in which they would be able to complete 
 its buildings, to change its name. Therefore, at the soli- 
 citation of the faculty, and on the recommendation of the 
 President of the Board of Trustees, H. N. McAllister made 
 application to the Centre County Court, at its spring 
 session, 1862, for a change of name, to the "Agricultural 
 College of Pennsylvania." The Court granted the request, 
 and the name as changed was approved by the Board at 
 its next meeting convened at Harrisburg, May 6th, 1862. 
 At this meeting it was resolved that a committee of three* 
 be appointed to prepare a history of the origin of the Ag- 
 ricultural College of Pennsylvania, as also to state its aims, 
 object, progress, and present condition and prospects. In 
 accordance with this resolution, the present pamphlet has 
 been prepared. 
 
 The history of the College here closes in the events of 
 the active present to which attention will next be drawn. 
 The secret of its success, it will have been seen, is to be 
 found in the indomitable perseverance of a small number 
 of public-spirited men, who were determined it should not 
 fail. 
 
 As shown by the foregoing historical sketch, the Agri- 
 cultural College of Pennsylvania has been in operation for 
 four years. Its organization and means of accomplishing 
 the object for which it was founded, have been very im- 
 perfect, owing to unfinished buildings and want of funds. 
 Yet it has received a degree of patronage unprecedented in 
 the history of Agricultural Colleges. It has been filled 
 with students every session, except that of 1861, and many 
 have applied from other states, who could not be admitted. 
 With this success amidst the difficulties of the past, there 
 can be no doubt of its ultimate success in the future, now 
 that its college buildings are completed and the Agricul- 
 tural College bill has passed Congress. 
 
 * This Committee consisted of the Hotis. Fred. Watts and A. 0. Hiester, with 
 myself. It is due to these gentlemen, to state that their professional duties pre- 
 vented them from giving special attention to the work, and, therefore, for any in- 
 accuracies or imperfections in it, I alone am responsible. E. Pdgh. 
 
OF PENNSYLVANIA. 45 
 
 After what has already been said it would seem superflu- 
 ous to dwell here upon the object of this institution, yet a 
 few words in detail, may throw light upon what has been 
 said. The Agricultural College of Pennsylvania has for 
 'its object, to associate a high degree of intelligence with the 
 practice of Agriculture and the industrial arts, and to seek 
 to make use of this intelligence in developing the agricul- 
 tural and industrial resources of the country, and pro- 
 tecting its interests. It proposes to do this by several 
 means. 
 
 1st. As & purely educational institution, its course of in- 
 struction is to include the entire range of the Natural 
 Sciences ; but will embrace most especially those that have 
 a practical bearing upon the every day duties of life, in 
 order to make the student familiar with the things immedi- 
 ately around him, and with the powers of nature he employs, 
 and with the material through the instrumentality of which, 
 under the blessing of Providence, he lives and moves and 
 has his being: and since agriculture more than any other 
 of the industrial arts, is important to man, and since for the 
 complete elucidation of its principles more scientific know- 
 ledge is required than for all other industrial arts combined, 
 it follows that this should receive by far the highest degree 
 of attention. The course of instruction is thorough, so 
 that it not only affords the student the facts of science, 
 but it disciplines his mind to habits of thought, and en- 
 bles him fully to comprehend the abstract principles in- 
 volved in the practical operations of life. In doing this it 
 is not deemed possible to educate every agriculturist, arti- 
 san, mechanic, and business man in the state, but to send 
 out a few students educated in the college course that they, 
 by the influence of precept and example, may infuse new 
 life and intelligence into the several communities they 
 enter. A single individual who is thoroughly educated in 
 the principles and the practice of an art, followed by a com- 
 munity, will often exert a more salutary influence upon 
 the practice of this art, by the community, than would re- 
 
46 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 suit from sending the whole community to a school of lower 
 order than that which he attended. A single practical 
 school of the highest order in Paris (the Ecole Polytechnique) 
 during the last generation made France a nation celebrated 
 alike for profound philosophers, great statesmen, able ge- 
 nerals and military men, and civil engineers. If one high 
 school is established, subordinate schools affording the 
 elementary education of the latter, will follow in due time.' 
 
 2d. As a Practical Institution the Agricultural College 
 of Pennsylvania has adopted the fundamental principle, 
 that whatever is necessary for man to have done, it is 
 honorable for man to do, and that the grades of honor at- 
 taching to all labor, are dependent upon the talent, the care 
 and fidelity exhibited in performing it. It is further con- 
 sidered essential as a part of a student's education that he be 
 taught the practical application, in the field and laboratory, 
 of the principles he studies in the class-room ; and manual 
 labor is also necessary for the preservation of health, and 
 the maintenance of habits of industry. An incidental, but 
 not unimportant result of the operation of these principles 
 is a reduction of the cost of tuition by the value of the 
 labor, so that the college can take students at the present 
 very low rates of admission. 
 
 All students without regard to pecuniary circumstances, 
 are therefore obliged to perform manual labor as an essen- 
 tial part of the college education and discipline and train- 
 ing. In these respects consists a most essential difference 
 between the idea associated with manual labor at this 
 college, and that of all other attempts made heretofore to 
 combine manual labor with study. Instead of the idea 
 of poverty and want being associated with those who labor, 
 that of laziness, worthlessness, and vagabond ry is asso- 
 ciated with those who refuse to work efficiently, and the 
 experience of the institution has already most assuredly 
 shown that no young man, of whom there is any hope for 
 future usefulness and efficiency in life at all, is insensible 
 to the disgrace which thus attaches to lazy vagabonds who 
 will work only as they are watched, and cheat their fellow 
 students by refusing to do their share of the labor assigned 
 
OF PENNSYLVANIA. 47 
 
 them; and nothing is more conclusively settled than that 
 those students who are the most studious and industrious 
 in class, work the most efficiently and are the most trust- 
 worthy in the performance of their daily three hours' work. 
 3d. As mi Experimental Institution, the Agricultural 
 College of Pennsylvania has an unbounded field for labor: 
 The principles of Agricultural science, which shall ulti- 
 mately constitute the subject of instruction in its class- 
 rooms, are as yet only very imperfectly developed, and so 
 great is the labor, expense, and time involved in making 
 scientific agricultural experiments, that as yet little has 
 been done in this direction. In the embarrassed condition 
 of the finances of the college, it has not been possible to 
 employ more scientific aid than was absolutely necessary 
 to maintain a proper degree of efficiency in the educational 
 and practical departments, nor could the other expenses re- 
 quisite for extended scientific investigation be met with 
 the means heretofore at the disposal of the Board; a few ex- 
 periments upon the manufacture, preservation, and use of 
 manures for the growth of crops, have, however, been in- 
 augurated, while corresponding initiatory steps have been 
 taken to experiment in other departments. It is most 
 earnestly to be hoped that the recent appropriation of public 
 lands by Congress to the state for agricultural purposes will 
 afford means for the development of this department of the 
 institution. The development of no other department 
 would yield richer and more lasting results, or would confer 
 more substantial benefit upon agricultural practice than 
 this. It must not, however, be supposed that these results 
 will manifest themselves at once, or that they will pay as 
 experiments are being made : as well might the farmer ex- 
 pect to reap his crop the day he sows his grain. They will, 
 however, ultimately pay a thousand fold, as have the prac- 
 tical application of the sciences of electricity, heat and 
 optics, in the present day, paid for the half century of ap- 
 parently unpractical, purely scientific investigations that 
 led to the results now obtained through them. 
 
 4th. As a means of protecting the industrial interests of the 
 State, and most especially the agricultural interest, from the 
 sale of bad or worthless or too high priced material (as 
 
48 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 
 
 manures, seeds, plants, and implements used in agricultural 
 practice.) The only efficient means of accomplishing this 
 object is to diffuse a higher degree of intelligence, and a 
 more extended scientific knowledge amongst farmers : for so 
 long as they are unacquainted with the principles of agri- 
 cultural science, there will be quacks and impostors, and 
 ignorant empiricists, who will prevail on them to in- # 
 vest at least a little money in some new manure, seed, 
 plants or other things, in the hope of realizing the large gain 
 from it, that they are told will follow its use. Farmers 
 have satisfactory means of testing agricultural implements, 
 and they also can test seeds and plants with a good de- 
 gree of satisfaction, but their methods of testing manures, 
 chemical salts, guanoes, phosphates, poudrettes and other 
 similar articles are very imperfect, and hence we find that 
 the market is filled with worthless or very high priced 
 manures, such as the farmer never would purchase, if he 
 knew their composition and real value. A beginning has 
 already been made towards making known the character of 
 some of these manures, and although it is not expected that 
 such work can be accomplished without opposition from 
 parties interested in their sale, there is no doubt that before 
 long all the bad manures will be driven from the market, and 
 good ones, better and cheaper than the best and cheapest 
 now sold, will take their place. In order to hasten this time 
 farmers are requested and particularly urged to purchase no 
 high priced artificial manures without having a legal gua- 
 rantee with it, that it shall contain a specified amount of va- 
 luable matter, equal in value to what is paid for the manure. 
 
 It will require some years to fully develop and perfect 
 all these departments, but the success which has thus far 
 already attended the undertaking, and the progress that has 
 already been made, afford the most satisfactory reason for 
 hope that all that was anticipated by the founders of the 
 institution, and much more, will ultimately be realized in it. 
 
THE COLLEGE 
 
 AS IT WILL BE IN OPERATION NEXT YEAR, 1863. 
 
 3d! 
 
 The main college building is a stately and substantial 
 edifice constructed of a silicious magnesian limestone of ex- 
 cellent quality for building purposes. It consists of a cen- 
 tral part and two wings connected with the latter by cur- 
 tains. The central part and the wings facing on the same 
 line, 234 feet long in front, and the central part resting on 
 54 feet of the front line, and extending back 130 feet, the 
 two wings each resting on 42 feet of the front line, and ex- 
 tending back 81 feet. "While the two curtains ea,ch occupy 
 48 feet on a line parallel to the front line, but ten feet 
 back from it, the curtains extend back 56 feet. The 
 building has five stories above a commodious basement. 
 Each story has a large hall running from one end to the 
 other, parallel with the front line, and extending through 
 the middle of the curtains. From this hall, and at right 
 angles with it, three halls extend back, one on the middle 
 line of the central part, and one in each end wing; on each 
 side of these halls, doors opens into dormitories, recitation- 
 rooms, museums, &c. The entire building embraces 165 
 dormitories, ten by eighteen square and nine to eleven feet 
 high; a library room, twenty-four by forty-six; geological and 
 mineralogical museum, twenty-four by forty-six ; anatomical 
 museum, twenty-six by thirty -six; museum of agricultural 
 productions, twenty-four by twenty; chemical laboratory 
 for beginners, in basement twenty-four by fifty-six, and two 
 laboratories on the first story, each twenty by forty, for more 
 advanced students ; two lecture rooms, each twenty-six by 
 thirty-four feet; four recitation rooms, each twenty by 
 thirty-four feet ; and several smaller rooms for apparatus for 
 special scientific investigations, and for store rooms; also a 
 large room ^ghty feet long and twenty-eight feet wide for 
 
50 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 a chapel, and two rooms, each fifty-six feet long and twenty 
 wide, for society halls ; and the entire back central part, 
 forty-eight feet wide and eighty feet long, on first story, for 
 kitchen and dining-room, and a room on the first story 
 twenty by thirty-six feet, for an elementary or preparatory 
 department, with an adjoining recitation-room, fifteen by 
 twenty feet. The basement is mainly to be devoted to coal 
 and hot-air furnaces, of which there will be sixteen of the 
 largest size, from which heated air is conveyed in separate 
 flues to every room in the building. All the rooms are also 
 ventilated by flues extending to the top of the building 
 from each room. The basement also contains the laboratory 
 abov? noted, in addition to store-rooms, bake-house, and 
 kitchen for culinary department, and three other laborato- 
 ries for the rougher kinds of scientific work. The above, in 
 addition to two reception parlors, and commodious apart- 
 ments for one professor with family, and for the family of 
 the culinary department, constitute the extent of internal 
 arrangement of the buildings. For commodiousness, com- 
 pleteness of detail, and stability of construction these build- 
 ings are not equalled by the buildings of any Agricultural 
 College in the world. 
 
 The other buildings embrace, 
 
 1st, An excellent double-decked barn, fifty -nine by 
 seventy-five feet, and constructed upon the most approved 
 plan, with wagon shed, corn crib, water cisterns, &c. 
 
 2d. A large hog pen, with a granary over it, twenty- two by 
 eighty-three feet, including also a complete slaughter-house. 
 
 3d. A blacksmith shop, twenty by twenty-eight feet, with 
 all the appliances for doing smith work. 
 
 4th. A carpenter shop and tool house, sixteen by forty- 
 four feet. 
 
 5th. Wash house. This building is sixteen by forty feet, 
 situated near the barn, and is fitted up for washing the 
 students' clothes. 
 
 6th. Two frame dwelling-houses, one twenty-eight by 
 twenty-eight feet, now occupied by the carpenter and Su- 
 perintendent of the washing department, and the other, 
 thirty-two by forty -four, occupied by the professor of botany; 
 in connexion with the latter house is a small gfeen-house, 
 with choice native and foreign plants. 
 
OF PENNSYLVANIA. 51 
 
 The full course embraces four years, but students can 
 enter any part of the course dependent upon their degree of 
 advancement. 
 
 The first year the Student studies Arithmetic, Ele- 
 mentary Algebra, Horticulture, Elementary Anatomy and 
 Physiology, Physical Geography and Elementary Astro- 
 nomy, English Grammar and Composition, Elocution, His- 
 tory, Practical Agriculture and the details of management 
 on the College Farm. Students, who have mastered the 
 common school branches, will be prepared to enter the 
 classes of this year. In order to be fully prepared for it, 
 they are advised to pay particular attention to Grammar, 
 Geography, Reading, Writing, Spelling and Arithmetic. 
 
 Second year — Advanced Algebra and Geometry, Gene- 
 ral Chemistry, Vegetable Anatomy and Physiology, Zoo- 
 logy and Veterinary, Geology, Paleontology, Practical Agri- 
 culture and Horticulture, Logic and Rhetoric. Students 
 who are sufficiently far advanced in Algebra, Geometry 
 and English Grammar, are admitted to this class, without 
 respect to the other studies of the first year. 
 
 Third year — Surveying, Navigation, Levelling, Drafting 
 with the use of Instruments, Analytical Geometry, Trigono- 
 metry, Elementary Calculus, Natural Philosophy, Chemi- 
 cal Analysis, Veterinary Surgery, Entomology, Agricultu- 
 ral Botany, Practical Agriculture and Pomology, Political 
 and Social Economy. Students who have mastered Davies' 
 Legendre and Trigonometry, and who possess a corre- 
 sponding degree of knowledge of the English branches 
 generally, and who have gone through a good academical 
 text book course of Natural Science, are admitted to this 
 class. 
 
 Fourth year. — Analytical Geometry, Differential and 
 Integral Calculus, Engineering, Drafting, Mechanical Draw- 
 ing, Quantitative Chemical Analysis, Veterinary Phar- 
 macy, Gardening, Agricultural accounts and Farm Ma- 
 nagement, Moral and Intellectual Philosophy. 
 
 The abi^ty to enter this year's courses, is dependent so 
 
52 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 much on the Students having gone through the studies of the 
 preceding year, and the latter being peculiar to an Agri- 
 cultural College, of which there are no others in the coun- 
 try, no students prepared to enter it are likely to arfply. 
 Students who successfully complete this course of studies, 
 and pass a satisfactory examination, and prepare a disser- 
 tation of not less than fifteen pages of foolscap paper, upon 
 some scientific or literary subject, (if scientific, it must em- 
 brace an original investigation) approved by the faculty, 
 and whose general standing in the school shall have been 
 good, shall upon the recommendation of the faculty, have 
 the degree of Bachelor of Scientific and Practical Agricul- 
 ture, B. & A. conferred upon them by the Board of Trus- 
 tees of the College. 
 
 Fifth tear.*— Students w T ho after having taken the de- 
 gree of B. S. A. shall devote three years to Practical Agri- 
 culture, or to any intellectual pursuit or profession, shall 
 take the degree of Master of Scientific or Practical Agri- 
 culture, M. S. A., or, if they remain another year in the 
 Institution, and devote their time to special investigation, 
 they can take this degree at the terminatien of the year. 
 
 Private Laboratories with means for investigation, will 
 be fitted up for graduates of this or any other College, in 
 which to pursue prolonged, special, scientific investigation. 
 Graduates of Literary Colleges, who may only have pur- 
 sued an ordinary text book course in science, and who wish 
 to devote some time more especially to science, in connex- 
 ion with agricultural practice, can take any part of the 
 above course, or devote themselves to scientific investiga- 
 tion with the graduates of the fifth year, at the same time 
 they are familiarizing themselves with the details of agri- 
 cultural practice on the farm. 
 
 SCIENTIFIC EXCURSIONS. 
 
 The valley and neighboring mountains afford rare oppor- 
 tunities for botanical study ; and for Physical Geography, 
 Paleontology and Geology. This district is unsurpassed 
 
OF PENNSYLVANIA. 53 
 
 by any other in the country. The great Synclinal and 
 Anticlinal Palreozic waves east of the Alleghenies, are 
 here shown in every variety of position and angle of inclina- 
 tion, while good outcrops of nearly all the subdivisions of the 
 palaezoic rocks from the lowest to the coal measure, are to be 
 seen. Frequent excursions are made with classes to observe 
 them. 
 
 Mathematics. — A transit instrument of first quality for 
 field work, ordinary surveying apparatus, with compass, for 
 the use of Students, and Mathematical figures and forms for 
 illustrating Geometrical and Crystallographic principles. 
 
 Natural Philosophy. — Large Electrical Machine, Air- 
 Pumps, Magnetic Machine, Galvanic Batteries, an exten- 
 sive collection of apparatus for illustrating the principles 
 of Optics, Statics, Dynamics, Mechanics, Pneumatics, &c, 
 and opportunities are offered for Students learning to use 
 this apparatus themselves. 
 
 Chemistry. — A large collection of apparatus adapted to 
 the lecture room and class recitations, for illustrating prin- 
 ciples by experiments; also, a large Chemical Laboratory 
 for beginners, and two other smaller Laboratories, each 
 affording room for twenty-four more advanced Students, 
 and several private Laboratories for special agricultural 
 scientific investigation, all fitted up with the aids and 
 appliances of the best German Laboratories, where the 
 Students may pursue a thorough course of qualitative 
 and quantitative analysis. Also, collections of Marls, 
 artificial Manures, Limestones, Ores, Minerals, &c, from 
 different localities of America and Europe. 
 
 Botany. — Herbariums with extensive collections of Ame- 
 rican and European plants; microscopes; a botanical 
 garden and green house with native and foreign plants; 
 nursery for practice in budding, grafting, &c. ; and anato- 
 mical preparations for illustrating vegetable structures. 
 The neighboring flora, embracing, as it does, the wide range 
 of the valley and mountain soil, affords excellent opportu- 
 nities for botanical excursions. 
 
 Geology and Paleontology. — A collection of nearly six 
 5 f 
 
54 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 thousand specimens of rocks, limestones, fossils, ores, &c., 
 collected from all parts of the State, — together with a large 
 collection from Europe. The neighborhood is one of the 
 finest in the world for the study of the numerous subdivi- 
 sions of the Palaeozoic rocks, from the "primal" to the 
 "serai" of Rogers, in all of which the Student will have 
 an opportunity of obtaining good specimens on geological 
 excursions. 
 
 Mineralogy and Crystallography. — A good collection, 
 embracing specimens 'of all the ordinary minerals known, 
 and many rare specimens; also, collections of models, of 
 crystals, blow-pipe apparatus for mineral testing, &c. 
 
 Practical Agriculture and Horticulture. — A farm of four 
 hundred acres limestone land of excellent natural quality, 
 coming into a good state of cultivation, with all the tools, 
 implements, and machines for efficient farm practice, (see 
 P. 60) Experiments with all the chemical elements of 
 manures are carried out every session, for the purpose of 
 illustrating the effect of each element alone and in combi- 
 nation, as also experiments as to the time of planting and 
 sowing seeds, and applying manures. Each Student "will 
 have an opportunity of learning all the varied operations 
 of ordinary farm, garden and nursery work, in connexion 
 with the management of farm stock. A small nursery 
 is especially devoted to practice for Students. There are 
 also extensive vineyard, orchards, &c. 
 
 Library. — An extensive collection of choice literary and 
 scientific works, with maps, diagrams, and charts, are ac- 
 cessible to the Student. 
 
 Reading Room. — A comfortable room with all the lead- 
 ing scientific and literary papers and journals, is set apart 
 for a reading room in the building. 
 
 Students' Societies. — There has been in the Institution 
 from the time of its first organization, two Students' Socie- 
 ties, the " Cresson Literary " and the " Washington Agri- ' 
 cultural" Societies. Each Society has a large and com- 
 modious room in which to hold its meetings, as also adjoin- 
 ing rooms for libraries, all fitted up in appropriate style by 
 the members of the respective Societies. 
 
OF PENNSYLVANIA. 55 
 
 The character of the full Course of Studies is sufficiently 
 indicated by what has just been given in relation to them. 
 They are arranged to combine the study of Scientific prin- 
 ciples with their practical application. 
 
 The Student studies each of the several sciences purely 
 as a scientific study, and then his attention is devoted to 
 their practical application to agriculture and the industrial 
 arts. For example, he studies the science of Chemistry 
 in the class-room and laboratory, until he is able to analyze 
 all the substances that will be presented to him, as ores, 
 rocks and minerals for the miner; slags, fuel, metals and 
 alloys for the furnace operator; residual products for the 
 manufacturing chemist ; poisonous substances and abnormal 
 secretions for the physician; adulterated articles for the 
 consumer; and soils, marls, limestones, phosphates, guanoes, 
 ashes, and all other articles used or consumed in agricul- 
 ture for the farmer. 
 
 His attention is then devoted to the agricultural bear- 
 ings of the science. The manures found in the market 
 are put in his hands. He learns by analyzing them, to 
 distinguish between the good and bad, and his labors are 
 so superintended that his results will be valuable to the 
 farmers of the country when published. A large number 
 of the analyses of manures found in the market, have 
 already been published. A course of experiments upon 
 the farm, with different kinds of manures for different 
 plants, is also being carried out, from year to year, upon a 
 large scale; while smaller plots, with suitable manures, are 
 allotted to students, that they may repeat for themselves 
 the experiments of the larger plot on a small scale, and 
 thus familiarize themselves with the experimental pro- 
 cesses by which, with the use of a few simple manures, 
 they may ascertain what soils need to bring them to the 
 highest degree of perfection — a desideratum once sought 
 by soil analyses, but never attained by them. 
 
 fartial JRctartiffc m& § mctial (&mx$t 
 
 Experience has often demonstrated that many students 
 who are incapable of making progress in mathematical 
 
56 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 studies, are well qualified for making successful students 
 of the natural sciences. In order not to prevent those 
 who may not be able to go through the higher mathema- 
 tics of the full course, from enjoying the benefits of the 
 natural sciences of the whole course, the "Partial Scien- 
 tific and Practical Course" has been instituted. Students 
 in this course will pursue the same studies as those of the 
 full course, excepting analytical geometry, the differential 
 and integral calculus, and the higher mechanics. 
 
 This is designed for such students as may wish to remain 
 for a limited period of time, in order to see the various 
 arts and operations of the Farm, Garden and Nursery; 
 and at the same time attend some of the classes in the Col- 
 lege, and thus get a general idea of the subjects taught, with- 
 out studying them with sufficient thoroughness to graduate. 
 
 It is intended more particularly for such as may have be- 
 come too old, or who are too delicate to take the entire 
 course, but who wish to acquire special practical and gene- 
 ral scientific knowledge, preparatory to going upon a farm. 
 
 It will be seen from the above, that the Agricultural 
 College of Pennsylvania is designed to occupy a place in 
 our educational system, not heretofore occupied, rather 
 than to come into competition with any Educational Insti- 
 tutions already in existence. Its course of studies and 
 practical operations are such that the student may, with 
 profit, go through the last two years of the latter, either 
 before or after he has completed the ordinary course of a 
 literary College. 
 
 $\nt\\\\ fMulmritte mut gwtafap£ *rf t\xt (Sarnie. 
 
 The student has an opportunity of seeing all the practi- 
 cal operations of the Farm, Garden and Nursery performed 
 
OF PENNSYLVANIA. 57 
 
 in the most approved manner, with the use of the best ma- 
 nures, seeds, tools, and implements ; and, what is of more 
 importance than this, he studies in the class-room and la- 
 boratory, the scientific principles involved in all he does, 
 and by becoming a scientific man, and analytical chemist, 
 he is enabled to protect himself and others against the 
 frauds and cheats that are continually being practised upon 
 the uneducated, by dealers who are themselves either igno- 
 rant of science, or who use it to impose upon the community. 
 He learns how to study the geology, mineralogy, and che- 
 mistry of the soil he cultivates, the botany of the plant he 
 grows, and the laws of health and disease of the animals 
 he uses. 
 
 In a word, he is made thoroughly acquainted with the 
 laws and phenomena of the material world with which he 
 is in immediate contact, and about which farmers are most 
 deplorably ignorant, but a knowledge of which is essential 
 to their material success, or intellectual pleasure, in the- 
 pursuit of the duties of rural life. 
 
 To persons in cities who may wish their sons to become 
 acquainted with the details of practical agriculture and 
 science, and at the same time to cultivate the associations 
 of rural life, either with a view to ultimately settling upon 
 farms, or to increasing their capacity for business in town, 
 by the associations thus cultivated with the habits of the 
 country, the Agricidtural College of Pennsylvania affords 
 excellent advantages. 
 
 Persons wishing a good scientific and practical know- 
 ledge of chemistry, with a view to druggistry, pharmacy, or 
 the manufacture of chemical salts or manures, or pursuing 
 the operations of mining, engineering, or any of the indus- 
 trial arts, will find rare opportunities at a comparatively 
 insignificant cost here. 
 
 All will find the advantages of a most healthy and plea- 
 sant location, in a neighborhood of good morals, free from 
 the allurements of city or village life, and of an oppor- 
 tunity for forming acquaintances with young men of re- 
 spectability from all parts of the State. 
 
58 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 Qualifications. — Applicants must have attained the age 
 of sixteen years, and present satisfactory certificates of 
 good moral character and industrious habits ; and must also 
 have a good knowledge of the elementary branches of the 
 common school course. 
 
 On entering, they must consider themselves pledged to 
 conform to all the rules and regulations of the Institution, 
 among which is the daily performance of three hours' 
 manual labor. 
 
 Expenses. — The sum of one hundred dollars must be 
 paid in advance, on entering. This, with the labor above 
 specified, will meet all expenses for boarding, room rent, 
 tuition and washing for the term of ten months. 
 
 Applications. — These may be made, either by addressing 
 the President of the Institution directly, or by applying 
 through the Agricultural Society of the county, in which 
 the applicant resides. 
 
 Certificates of Character. — These should be signed by 
 the student's last teacher, the officers of the Agricultural 
 Society of the county in which he resides, or by some other 
 friend of moral and agricultural improvement. 
 
 It is the earnest desire of the officers of the College to fill 
 it with industrious, trustworthy and gentlemanly Students, 
 whose sense of honor and appreciation of duty will be a gua- 
 rantee that they will conform to its rules and regulations. 
 
 It is their design to admit no other than such. 
 
 In addition to the one hundred dollars above specified, 
 Students will incur only the following expenses: 
 
 Books and Stationery. — These will be supplied at city 
 retail prices ; and will cost about eight dollars per term for 
 the third and fourth classes, and ten dollars per term for 
 the first and second classes. 
 
 Apparatus. — The Students of the second class will re- 
 quire about fifteen dollars' worth of apparatus, with which 
 to study chemical analysis in the laboratory. This, when 
 
OF PENNSYLVANIA. 59 
 
 not damaged, will be taken back, if desired, at the close of 
 the term, at a reduction of twenty-five per cent, on the 
 first cost. With ordinary care, when the apparatus is re- 
 turned, the cost of it per term will not exceed eight dollars. 
 
 Incidental Expenses. — A slight incidental expense will be 
 incurred for light, broom, towels, pitcher, wash basin, &c, 
 in all not exceeding five dollars per annum. 
 
 Economy. — As it is desirable to impress"*upon Students the 
 necessity of forming habits of economy, parents are ad- 
 vised not to be too liberal in giving them money; and 
 they are recommended to deposit such sums as they may 
 intend for their sons or wards in the hands of the Faculty, 
 who will see that it is not spent improperly. 
 
 Clothes. — Each Student should come prepared with an 
 additional suit of clothes, of common material, for wearing 
 while working on the farm. As warm weather will com- 
 mence soon after the beginning of the term, he should also 
 make arrangements, previous to entering, for a supply of 
 summer clothing. 
 
 Although not indispensable, some delicate Students have 
 found an advantage in bringing with them a thick com- 
 fortable for their beds during a few cold days just after the 
 opening of College, or near its close. 
 
 gtratwro. 
 
 The Institution is located in Centre County, near the 
 geographical centre of the State, at a distance of about 
 twenty-one miles northeast of the Pennsylvania Railroad 
 at Spruce Creek, and about the same distance northwest of 
 it at Lewistown, and nine miles southwest of Bellefonte. 
 Its site embraces a limestone soil of good natural quality, 
 in a fine healthy district, affording a view of the beautiful 
 Penn's Valley, in which it is situated, and which, at this 
 point, is about ten miles wide. On the northwest, at a 
 distance of about six miles, is seen the long range of the 
 Bald Eagle Mountains, and beyond these the smoky sum- 
 mits of the Alleghenies. In the opposite direction, at an 
 equal distance, are seen the rolling ridges of the Seven 
 Mountains; while to the southwest, as far as the eye can 
 
60 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 
 
 reach, extends the Perm's Valley, and in the opposite di- 
 rection, at the distance of abont three miles, Nittany Moun- 
 tain rises abruptly, and divides it into two valleys, Penn's 
 and Nittany. With these mountains in the horizon, and 
 an intermediate landscape of five to ten miles, interspersed 
 with farms and timbered lands, few points in the State af- 
 ford finer views than that from the cupola of the College 
 buildings. . 
 
 The school may be reached by students or visitors, 
 
 1st. By the Pennsylvania Pail Road to Spruce Creek, 
 Lewistown or Tyrone. From Spruce Creek a stage leaves 
 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, passing the school 
 for Bellefonte, and returning on the intermediate days. 
 
 Daily stages from Lewistown and Tyrone run to Belle- 
 fonte, which latter place is accessible to the school by the 
 Spruce Creek stage, or by livery accommodation. 
 
 2d. By the Sunbury and Erie Railroad to Lock Haven, 
 and thence by stage to Bellefonte and the school, as just 
 mentioned. 
 
 The Lock Haven and Tyrone Pail Poad which passes 
 within six miles of the College, will, it is hoped, be finished 
 before the opening of the next session. By it, Students 
 can come to Bellefonte from either the Pennsylvania Cen- 
 tral, or the Sunbury and Erie Pailroad. 
 
 " |avMwg^patemi 
 
 It is proposed here to notice some implements, machines, 
 &c, not before noticed in our catalogue, that have been 
 used upon the farm and are now to be seen on the premises. 
 
 REAPING MACHINES. 
 
 M-CormicKs Combined Self-raking Reaper and Mower. 
 This machine did not arrive at the college in time to be 
 tested as a mower, but two of the Trustees, Judge Watts 
 and H. N. McAllister, Esqs., speak of it in the highest terms 
 as a mower. As a reaper, we gave it a fair trial through 
 several days in succession cutting heavy wheat, the prin- 
 cipal part of which was lodged, and a great deal of it was 
 very much tangled. It was drawn by four mules, in charge 
 
OF PENNSYLVANIA. 61 
 
 of one of our most responsible students, (J. P. Alexander, 
 of Kishacoquillas) and did its work in the most satisfac- 
 tory manner. The raker not only performs its work of re- 
 moving the grain from the platform, but, by its well-adjusted 
 motions, in front of the knife, and near the ground, it 
 draws the tangled grain upon the knife, and removes it the 
 instant it is cut off; thus letting the machine down beneath 
 the lodged grain, should it by any means have got above 
 some of it, as often happens with reapers when cutting 
 grain in the direction in which it is lodged. The machine 
 was witnessed in operation by a large number of farmers, 
 many of whom owned other reapers, and all without excep- 
 tion admitted that it was the most complete reaper they had 
 ever seen. It is manufactured by McCormick & Brothers, 
 Chicago, Illinois. Cost of the reaper and self-raker attached 
 $175,00. 
 
 Pennocles Iron Harvester. — This is also a combined 
 reaper and mower. We used it for several days in our 
 grass. The ground was very rough, and contained an un- 
 due amount of stumps, roots, and stones, but the machine 
 did its work quite satisfactorily ; it was drawn by two mules. 
 As a reaper, it was also used to cut about twenty-five acres 
 of wheat, which it did very well. It required three mules 
 to draw it, and two students to attend to it. This machine 
 is remarkable for the simplicity of its construction, and its 
 consequent security against getting out of order, as also for 
 its light draft. 
 
 It is manufactured by Pennock & Brother, at Kennet 
 Square, Chester County, Pa., and the cost of the machine 
 is $135,00. 
 
 Through the liberality of the respective manufacturers of 
 the above machines, the college received them both as dona- 
 tions, for which its officers would here extend their most 
 cordial thanks. Each machine has its peculiar merits, and 
 speaks well for the energy and enterprise of the manufac- 
 turers. For large farms and extensive crops of grain, there 
 can be no doubt that M'Cormick's reaper is unequalled by 
 any other in the world. For smaller farms, and when the 
 difference of cost would be an item of importance, the iron 
 
62 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 harvester would assert its claims. As a matter of some in- 
 terest, it may be stated here that for every hundred feet 
 which the machine advances across the field the M'Cor- 
 rnick's reaper makes 264.7 strokes of 3.75 inches with its 
 knives, making 82.7 feet of lateral motion to 100 of the 
 longitudinal or forward motion of the cutting edge. 
 
 The Iron Harvester in the same distance makes 132.8 
 strokes of 6.6 inches each, making a total of 73.3 feet late- 
 ral for 100 of horizontal motion. The lateral motion of the 
 former is 12.8 per cent, greater than the other for the same 
 velocity of the machines. 
 
 Fans for Cleaning Grain. — One patented by Cyrus C. 
 Grain, of Addison, Steuben County, N. Y., proves a very 
 superior article; superior even to the climax machine which 
 has proved an excellent one wherever used. It is adapted 
 to cleaning clover seed, and to removing rye from wheat, 
 and for all the purposes of a grain fan, it is worthy of the 
 patronage of farmers. These fans are for sale at Miles- 
 burg, Centre County, Pennsylvania. Price $28.00. 
 
 Horse Hake. — This is a common iron-toothed horse-rake 
 differing from others principally in having springs to keep 
 the teeth down when in operation. It works well, and is 
 manufactured by Fred. Bletz, of Columbia, Lancaster 
 County, Pennsylvania. 
 
 An Ericsson Hot-Air Engine. — This is an engine with a 
 piston thirteen inches in diameter, and eleven inches stroke. 
 It is used to throw water through about 1,000 feet of pipe 
 to an elevation of ninety feet. It has been in use for two 
 years, and has worked very well, throwing water when in 
 operation at the rate of from ten to sixteen barrels per hour, 
 at an insignificant cost of fuel. It is very easily managed, 
 any careful student being able to take entire care of it. 
 
 Other Implements and Machines. — There is a large assort- 
 ment of all kinds of farming implements, &c, on hand, 
 such as are required for the extensive operations of a farm 
 of 400 acres, with gardens, nurseries, hot-house. 
 
OF PENNSYLVANIA. 63 
 
 Conclusion. — It is the design of the officers of the insti- 
 tution, as soon as practicable, to give attention to the raising 
 of improved stock, and to experiments npon the value of 
 different food under different circumstances for fattening 
 purposes, as, also, to have suitable arrangements for the pre- 
 servation and use of liquid manures. As yet these things 
 have been neglected to attend to the more strictly edu- 
 cational department of the institution. It is hoped, how- 
 ever, that they will soon all receive their due amount of 
 attention. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. &c. 
 
 The present session of the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania 
 ■will close on Wednesday, the 18th of December, 1862. 
 
 The session for 1863 will open on Wednesday, the 22d of Febru- 
 ary and close about the 19th of the following December. 
 
 Persons wishing further particulars in reference to the College, will 
 address Dr. E. Pugii, Agricultural College, Pa.