xt7sxk84nj8k_156 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7sxk84nj8k/data/mets.xml https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7sxk84nj8k/data/L2021ua019.dao.xml Kentucky University 18.26 Cubic Feet 32 document boxes, 5 flat boxes, 21 bound volumes archival material L2021ua019 English University of Kentucky Property rights reside with Transylvania University.  The University of Kentucky holds the copyright for materials created in the course of business by University of Kentucky employees. Copyright for all other materials has not been assigned to the University of Kentucky.  For information about permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Special Collections Research Center.  Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Transylvania University Library. Record Group 5:  Collection on Kentucky University Report concerning the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky text Report concerning the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky 2024 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7sxk84nj8k/data/L2021ua019/Box_5_27/Folder_22/Multipage6140.pdf 1872 February 7 1872 1872 February 7 section false xt7sxk84nj8k_156 xt7sxk84nj8k REPORT

 

CONCERNING THE A

AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL CCLLLCL CF LCNTCCLL "

BY THE

REGENT OF KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY,

 

TO

GOVERNOR P. H. LESLIE, FEBRUARY 7, 1872.

FRANKFOWL KY3
PRINTED AT THE KENTUCKY YEOMAN OFFICE.
S. I. M. MAJOR. PUBLIC PRINTER.

1872.

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

    

    

REPORT

____.__

9

KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY, REGENT’S OFFICE,
LEXINGTON, KY., February 7th, 1872.

To His Excellency, P. H. LEsLIE, Governor of Kentucky .'

DEAR SIR: In accordance with official duty,l have the- honor to
submit to you, and through you to the General Assembly of the ‘
Commonwealth of Kentucky, a repert concerning the Agricultural
and Mechanical College, of Kentucky, one of the Colleges of Ken- -
tucky University.

The relation which this Institution sustains to the system of Indus— ,
trial Colleges founded by the munificence of the National Govern—-
ment, its important position in the general educational system of the
State, and its liberal and benevolent provisions for the education of
young men from every county therein, render it an object of growing ‘
interest to the people, and of special fostering care on the part of
their Representatives. ‘ '

I desire, therefore, to present a concise statement of its history, its-
plan of operations, its advantages and facilities for education, its
wants, and its claims upon your consideration.

Congress, in the midst of a period of great social and political.
convulsion, consequent upon our unfortunate civil war, made a dona-
tion of public lands—30,000 acres for each Senator and Representa-
tive in Congress—to each State, for the founding and endowment of
Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges in the several States of the
Union which chose, within a specified time, to avail themselves'of
the advantages of this magnificent grant. Land scrip was low in the
market just then from the causes above enumerated, and the State, , -
‘ knowing that the proceeds of this donation at that time would be in—
adequate to found and endow an Institution such as the appropriating
act contemplated, invited proposals from the various corporations of
the State, municipal and collegiate, for its augmentation by supple~
mentary local grants,or consolidation with existing collegiate endow-
ments, subject to restrictions as the Legislature might impose. The
only collegiate corporation of note, which offered anything like avail-
able endowment on which to ingraft this Agricultural and Mechanical
College Fund, was Transylvania University, whose assets, cash and

  

4 AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE.

1 real estate, were worth about $160,000. This, however, was felt to
be insufficient, and the probability was that the grant would be for
I :feited through inability or indisposition to comply with it. At this
juncture, observing what was likely, if properly managed, to prove a
,munificent bequest, in danger of passing out of the hands of the
State by default, and in harmony with my own plans for the found-
ing and upbuilding of Kentucky University, a consolidation of the
endowments of Kentucky and Transylvania Universities, it was
proposed, upon the united endowments, that the Agricultural and
Mechanical College should be ingrafted as one of the Colleges of
gKentucky University. The advantages offered were manifold. In
order to constitute an efficient and fully manned institution, such as
contemplated by Congress and desired by the State, a large expendi-
ture in buildings, experimental farm, Philosophical and Chemical
Sapparatus, Geological and Mineralogical cabinet, with Museums of
Natural History, would be required. All of this, if adequately pro-
- vided, would have absorbed more than could be realized from 330,000
1acres of land, even at its nominal value of $1 25 per acre. More-
over, means must be provided for paying the salaries of competent
Professors, not mere literary hacks, amateur Scientists, and dabblers
in Language and Mathematics, but theoretical and practical scholars,
educators worthy of the trust committed to their charge. , This would
involve an outlay, the facts and figures of which we here present:

, President and Professor of Metaphysics and History, including Political Econ-

omy, etc., say _ -__.- ___- ____ ____ _-__ ____. _-____ -__ 1---- ____ -______-___ $2 , 250
Professor of English, in(luding Logic _-__ _-_____-.1__- -.______- ___- __..-_.._ 1.750

1 Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy _._______ __._-___-________________ 1,750
‘ Professor of Ancient Languages ________________________________________ 1,750
Professor of Mode in Lanouuges ________________________________________ 1,750
Prof1~s01 of Chemistn _________________________________________________ 1,750
Pxofessor of N: 1t11111l History ____________________________________________ 1,750
_‘PI‘€)fQSSOl‘ of 1\’lilit11ry Science ____________________________ ; _____________ l 750
Professor of Horticulture _ ____ ______ ____ ____ -___ ____ ___, ____ _...._ _____- _ 11000
Professor of Ag1ic11it11re ____ ,___ ________-_______ 1--- -__- __ _ -___.-___ ___- 1,000

_ Professor of P1 11ctic 11 Mechanits ____ ______ -__- -__-_-___-___-__~_ ___-- __ 1,500
Plincipal of l’1'1ep11atory Department __________-_______ ____- ____ ..._____ __ ,1150

‘ Assistant in P1eparato1y Department ____________________________________ 800

An actual annual outlay of $20,000, exclusive of contingent expenses
for Museum, Apparatus, Chemicals, janitor’s fees, repairs of build-
ings and fuel, which aggregate not less than $4,000 per annum. This
:is no fanciful computation, but based on actual facts and salaries.
. This would have required an additional endowment fund of $400,000,
{at six per cent. per annum. To establish then an Agricultuml and
Mechanical College, such as would have been an honor to the State,
would have 1equi1ed no less than $800, 000, viz—$400, 000 for farm,

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

by the existing ar1ang ement in which the Kentucky Agricultural
and Mechanical College 1s one of the Colleges of Kentucky Univer— ,

College should become one of the Colleges of the University, the

Chemistry, Geology, Botany, Zoology, Physiology and Compara-

 

AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE. 5

mechanical works, museums, laboratories, etc., etc;, and $400,000.
for permanent endowment. Let us see how these conditions are met- ;

sity. It possesses for experimental purposes the finest estate in
Kentucky, purchased for its use by subscriptions raised by myself as
one of the conditions on which the Agricultural and Mechanical

cash value of which, including buildings and subsequent improve-
ments, is not less than $250,000, use of Libraries, Law, Medical,
Scientific, and General, use of Chemical and Philosophical Apparatus
and Museum, all of which accrued from the consolidation of Tran-
sylvania, and the value of which, especially the Libraries, cannot be
expressed in dollars and cents; for there are there copies of books
which money could not purchase. The students have access to all
and every class taught in the College of Arts. They are furnished
with instruction in all the various departments enumerated above,
viz: Metaphysics, including Mental and Moral Philosophy, Civil
History, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern ; Political Economy, Mathe-

matics, and Astronomy, French and German, Latin and Greek, i

tive Anatomy, English Literature and Logic, Civil Engineering,
Military Tactics, Agriculture, Practical Mechanics, and Horticultureg
No course west of the Alleghenies is more thorough, more complete ;;
a six years’ course, it is true, for those beginning with their educa-i‘
tion; but boys are not made scholars in a day. When the course i
completed, the degree of Bachelor of Science is given. It has been?
made a matter of complaint that the students of this College were:
debalrcd from taking a deglee in the College of Arts by a certain}
obnoxious course of Bible History. Iventure to say in reply, thati
the Bachelor of Science who has gained his degree, after pursuing '
the course above mentioned, stands on a plane at least equally?
elevated with the Bachelor of Arts; and we submit to all con-J: '
cerned, whether anything should be added to a curriculum already;
so ample; moreover, the degree of Bachelor of Arts was never: '
contemplated eithe1 by Congiess or the Legislature of Kentuckyi
in the plan of organization of a College, whose chief mission

   
     
  
  

was to give instruction in the sciences related to Agriculture and
the Mechanical A1ts. When Kentucky University agreed to re-'
ceive the Agricultural and Mechanical College as one of the Golf

l'.

 6 AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE.

leges of the University, the land scrip had appreciated from its ..
minimum value, when the donating act was passed by Congress, to ‘7

about $1 per acre. It was, of course, expected that 330,000 acres of
land would yield, when sold, a principal of $330,000. This amount,
at six per cent., would have yielded an annual income of $19,800,
and this was expected to be the available yearly fund for the sup-

' port of the Agricultural and Mechanical College. But, instead of ’

, this, the land scrip was virtually thrown away. It was sold through
I State Agency—be it remembered I had nothing to do with this—for
, fifty cents per acre, and realized only $165,000, which sum was then
5' invested by the State in her own six per cent. bonds, and yields but
$9,900 annually. For this annual pittance, the Agricultural College
I has been maintained, and its work done thoroughly and well. The
- State of Kentucky has given not one dollar besides, either for the
inauguration or maintenance of her Agricultural College, which has,
today, an attendance larger than any similar College in America.
" We say given, for the $20,000 advanced was but a loan, the pay—
' ment of which she may, at any time, demand, out of the interest
arising from the invested fund.
Other States either sold all their scrip at a fair price, investing the

' proceeds for the use of their Colleges of Agriculture and the Me-

chanic Arts, or else sold part and retained part, locating the part
: retained in such places as are most likely to make them largely
valuable, and furnish a yearly increasing income. There is not a.
single State which has realized so little, proportionately, from the
‘Congressional grant as Kentucky. 1 select from the published
‘ financial statements of some of the principal Agricultural Colleges
East and West, a few facts and figures for comparison with our
. own:

 

 

Land received by Massachusetts from Congress (acres) ______________________ 360,000
Amount realized by sale of same ___..__ __._..-- _-__._-____ .-.____ ______-_-.-_ $236,307
A’mount expended for farm from above __________________________________ 29,778
Amount given by town of Amherst ______________________________________ 75,000
Amount given by Legislature __________________________________________ 70,000
Amount given by Messrs. Mills _______________-_______ ____________-______ 10,000
"Amount given by Dr. Durfee __--__ -_____ ______ ___- ___._ ______. -______-___ 10,000
' Total, less $29,778, for farm _________________________________________ 361,529

‘ Expanded in buildings -..__ _____-___..____ 125,000
, No. of students _____ ___.. ___._ ________________________ 85
. No. of professors ___--_-___---_,,____-___ -_-_ ________ -___-_ _____-_..___ ll
Tuition ______________________________________________________________ $36
Room rent _--_- _..-_.... --__ .___... ___--.. ____..- __._____-__.._ ..__.. ____ _____-__. l5

Expenses of laboratory ___- __..- ......- --.._ .._..- -__.. ___.- ....__ -__- -..-_ -_.__ -..-_ 1 5

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

,: AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE. . 7

 

 

 

 

 

‘ The last annual report recommended that a fund of $100,000 be
,\ raised, the proceeds of which should assist in sustaining indigent
students. ' ‘
MISSOURI. _ ,
This State has located the bulk of her Agricultural College lands, '
the revenues of which will eventually amount to hundreds of thou-
sands of dollars annually. Meanwhile, by State, county, and indi- A
a. \» vidual liberality,.the University of the State has the following: ‘
Gifts'of persons in Boone county for securing location _____________________ $117,500
Rollins’ Aid Fund ______..-___- -_____-_-_-..__..__..---.._---.._.._-..-....__-__ 30,000
Gift of Boone county __________________________________________________ 80,000
Gift of Columbia ______________________________________________________ 10,000 "i
Gift of Phelps county for mining school _________________________________ 130,545
(Total ___________________________________________________________ $368,045 L
Income of Seminary Fund _____________________________________________ $7,220 68 :
Income from State (annually) __________________________________________ 12,767 86 .
Tuition fees ___________________________________________________________ - 5,331 50
Rents _______________________________________________________________ 734 85 ‘r
Total income_.__-___-______.._.-_....___.._..__..____...._-_..--_..--.._-_...._- $26,054 89 V'
4. —————-—-——-

Students in Agricultural and Mechanical Department, 13. This
department recently organized. $100,000 more is asked for im—
provements in farm, buildings, etc.

KANSAS. - ,

The land endowment of this new State was but 90,000 acres. One |
half of this, or 45,000 acres, has been sold, and from which has been a
realized $180,000. The income from this fund is $16,000. The re--:
'mainder of the land has been located, and will, in time, make the. :
Agricultural College of Kansas abundantly rich.

 

m...“ «WWW...

No. of professors _____________________________________________________ 8~ ,

Students (male) ____-_____-_-___...__-________-_.._-..___-_..--____.________ 113., ‘
Students (female) _..__._--_____-_._..__....-_.._ -___ 60

IOWA. ,

Appropriations for buildings by the Legislature _________________________ $227,250. ‘

Annual income from 209,309 acres (leased) ______________________________ 31: 000:

, Students paid 3 t0 9 cents per hour on farm. ‘ '
1. Students paid 3 to 7 cents per hour in garden. .
3 Average annual earnings of those who labor _____________________________ $54.
Students paid in shops same as on farm. .
No. of students, many of whom are females ______________________________ 218

No. of professors, some of whom are females _...._ -__..__-_.___--...._....__-_..__ 12; 1

Total expenses for the year _- __.... ___.._- -_____ _..____ __.-_ ___- __..- ____ _____ 49,006 92

 

MISSISSIPPI. - ;'
1. This State appropriates $50,000 annually, for ten years, to re;
establish her University. ' .. .. - ,

 

 

  

8 AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE.

2. Two fifths of the proceeds of the fund donated by Congress for
maintaining the Agricultural and Mechanical College, ingrafted on
it by the Legislature.

3. $100 annually appropriated for expenses of one student from
each county. Mark this liberal provision of this State.

VIRGINIA.

Virginia, desolated and impoverished though she was by the late
war, made recent appropriations to her University of $82,545. Total
appropriations by Virginia, $1,044,304.

ILLINOIS.

This State, besides the princely gifts previously made to her State
Industrial School, has lately given $265,200 to the same Institution.
Champaign county gave $400,000. State gave 480,000 acres of land.
Disbursements last year, $70,746.

CALIFORNIA.

This State gave lately to her University, in coin, $245,000.

We might go on and multiply facts and figures. We will add a
few more :

The endowment of Harvard, five years ago, was over $2,000,000,
and income $180,000. Yale had, at the same time, over $1,000,000.
Columbia College, New York, over $2,000,000. The annual income
of Michigan University, since largely increased, was, in 1866,
$60,000.

Kentucky University receives from the State an annual sum of
$9,900 for the support of her Agricultural College. For this she ob—
Eligates herself to furnish tuition, free of charge, to 300 State students,
or three from each representative district. Her halls are open. If
:not sent, she is not to blame. These. students are selected by the
Justices and County Judge of each county; and how urgently I have
endeavored to get the several counties in the State to do their duty,
the following circular, copies of which have been sent from time to
"time to every County Judge in the State, will show:

THE AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE OF KENTUCKY.
'To the County Judge of County :

DEAR Sm: The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky
is in successful operation as one of the Colleges of Kentucky Univer-
sity, with an able corps of professors, at Ashland, the home of Henry
:Clay, near Lexington. ‘

Bya provision of the act incorporating the College, each legisla-

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE. ‘ 9

tive district in the State is entitled to send, free of cha1ge for tuition,‘
three properly prepaled students, who shall have access also to the,
other Associated Colleges of the University without cha1 ge

The law requires that the selection of the students shall be made
by the Justices of the Peace in each legislative district. This should
be done at the regular meetings of your coUrt, and the orders ap-
pointing them duly certified by the clerk. _

The appointees should be at least sixteen years of age, of good
character and industrious habits, and should be versed in the ele-
ments of the English branches. It is earnestly recommended that
the system of competitive examinations be adopted, and that one or
more competent teachers be selected in each distlict as a Boald of
Examinels, thus giving all, especially the poor young men, a chance
for the State hono1.

Until the next meeting of your quarterly court, your own recom-
mendation, together with that of a majority of the Magistrates, will
entitle them to admission.

Boarding can be had under the club system at $2 per week, the ‘
students furnishing thei1 rooms; or they can secure good boaiding

in p1ivate families at $5 per week, including eveiything except
washing. ‘

All students are allowed to work either two hours per day without
compensation, or four hours at five to ten cents per hour (according '
to industry and proficiency); those adopting the latter course can
defiay a large p01tion of the expenses of theii education, especially '!
whe1e they adopt the club system of boarding. It is 1ecommended,
to such young men, as a matter of economy, that they bring with
them, as far as practicable, their beds and bedding, and other articles
necessary for their rooms. All students are under military regula-
tions, and are required to have the uniform for dress parades, which .
can be obtained in Lexington at reasonable rates. They should '
bring not less than $75 in cash for necessary outfit.

The session opens the second Monday in September, and closes on
the second Friday in June following, the second term beginning the ,
first of February.

A summer school is provided during the vacation for the benefit of
students Wishing to remain upon the grounds. ‘

It is earnestly requested that you will call the attention of your I
citizens to the liberal advantages of this College, and that you will

 

  

  

10

 

 

AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE.

see that some worthy young men are appointed as the recipients of
its blessings.
For catalogue or further information, please address
J. B. BOWMAN,
Regent Kentucky Universi/y. ,
N. B.———Other young men from this and other States are admitted
to the same privileges of the A. and M. College, except that of free
tuition. ' J. B. B. ,

During the past year about seventy counties have been repre-
sented in the College, and there is a prospective increase for the
current session, a. much larger number being in actual attendance
at this time than at the corresponding period of any previous year.
The entire number last year in this College was two hundred and
twelve, and in the entire University, six hundred and sixty, from
twenty-eight different. States and countries. ‘

The general health, discipline, and progress of the students, was
highly commendable, and under the able and successful administra-
tion of the accomplished presiding officer, Prof. James K. Patterson,
and his faithful, laborious colleagues in the Faculty, the most satis-

 

factory results were attained.

The rnoral and religious character and standing of the students
has been satisfactory. A large number of the young men were
members of the various Protestant and Catholic Churches, and the
provisions of the charter in regard to religious tolerance, and free-
dom from sectarian bias, have been sacredly regarded. Although a
majority of the Curators are, by the charter, members of the Chris-
tian Church, the composition of this Faculty, under restrictions im-
posed by the State Legislature and respected by the Board, is wholly
undenominational, as the following will show:

Presiding Officer, Jas. K. Patterson, Presbyterian Church.

Prof. of Chemistry, Dr. R. Peter, Episcopal Church.

Prof. of English Literature, John Shackleford, Christian Church.

Prof. of Mathematics, Jas. G. White, Christian Church.

Prof. of Natural History, H. J. Clark, Congregational Church.

Prof. of Modern Languages, F. M. Helveti, Lutheran Church.

 

Primary Preparatory Depar’t, D. G. Herron, Presbyterian Church. ’ i
Commandant, Col. S. M. Swigert, Methodist Church. ‘3
Tutor in Preparatory Department, E. E. Smith, Christian Church.

Supt. Mechanical Department, David Calder, Presbyterian Church.
Supt. Horticultural Department, Joseph Walter, Catholic Church. ,

 

  

 

 

AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE. . 11

Each student is required to go to the church of his choice on Sun.
day morning. At three P. M., each Sunday, services are held in the ‘
College Chapel by clergymen of the city, of all denominations, who
ofliciate in succession. The Presiding Officer conducts the daily
morning chapel exercises, or invites one of his colleagues to do so in
his stead.

Work is furnished in the machine-shop or on the farm to such as
desire to supplement their otherwise slender resources by labor.
About one hundred students were so employed last session. These‘
work one half the day, and recite the other half. The rates of com—
pensation are from 30 per cent. to 80 per cent. higher than in any
Agricultural College in the country, and many sustain themselves
easily by this means. The rates of compensation are, on the farm, 5
to 10 cents per hour. In shop, 6 to 15 cents per hour, in proportion to
experience and capabilities. Students have come to this College on
foot, without $5 in the world, sustained themselves during the year,
and gone home with some surplus means. These, of course, are
exceptional cases; but they exhibit the fruits of indomitable will and
heroic efforts in securing an education.

The patronage of this College is only limited by the accommoda-
tions, which are being increased as fast as the means can be secured.
But no Slate student has been turned away; applicants for admission
from other States, we regret to say, we have sometimes been unable
to receive on account of insufficient attainments and inability to
defray expenses. Yet, to the honor of the University, let it be
known that in its various departments, about 250 young men re-
ceived free tuition last year, and a large number of others paid
less than $10 per session of nine months.

The adoption of the club system has, by cheapening board, enabled
young men of small means from this and other States to avail them-
selves of the advantages afforded, without employing part of their
time in labor; many deserving poor young men from Kentucky, and
the States in the South, have received at this College, since established,
a good education, who,but for its existence, would, in all probability,

‘never have been inside of College walls.

Many of those who are members of this College prefer to board in
private families; and in all cases, when the means of the student will
justify, he is advised to do so. Although the act of the Legislature
establishing this as one of the Colleges of the University did not
require us to furnish facilities for boarding onthe ground, yet it early

 

   

 

12 AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE.

became apparent that many would be compelled to forego the ad-
vantages ofl‘ered, unless provision was made for cheapening board as
well as tuition. To meet this want, comfortable accommodations
have been improvised for a large number of students, some of which
are substantial brickbuildings, others wooden structures less durable,
but still quite comfortable, which will give place ere long, we hope,
to others more so. These have answered quite well our present
necessities. Their general comfort may be inferred from the fact, in
that though all well filled, and though the winter has been one of

unusual severity, there has been no case of serious sickness since the
session began in September.

Comfort for our students secured, we have subordinated the ques-
tion of external appearances to securing a competent staff of pro-
fessors, and multiplying our facilities for giving the student what he
has mainly in View, a good education. And yet that we have not been
behind even in the matter of buildings, the fact that we have ex-
pended between $40,000, and $50,000 in this direction, is sufficient
evidence.

Under the military regime, proper police regulations are enforced
in order to secure cleanliness of club-houses and surroundings. '

Daily, semi—weekly, and tri-weekly recitations are held in all the
departments of study mentioned above, viz:

In English Literature, embracing Structure of English Language,
Rhetoric, Criticism, Logic, and History of English Literature, daily.

Metaphysics, Moral Philosophy, and Evidences of Christianity,
daily.

 

Mathematics, Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior Classes,
daily.
French and German, Junior Classes, daily.

French and German, Senior Classes, tri-weekly.
Chemistry, daily.

 

Civil Engineering, daily.

Classes in Natural History, tri-weekly.

Recitations in Preparatory Department, daily.

Agriculture and Mechanics, daily.

For this amount of instruction, the State furnished no farm, no
work-shops, no buildings, no means for enabling poor young men to
sustain themselves, no libraries, no museums, no cabinets. For none
of these has she ever given one dollar. All the State has given is
the annual proceeds ($9,900), at 6 per cent., of the moiety of a mag-

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE. 13

nificent Congressional donation worth several hundred thousands,
had it not been sacrificed, and for which sacrifice the Institution was
in no vvay responsible.

The Agricultural and Mechanical College has asked the State for
nothing additional hitherto. It proposed to make good its claim to
further aid by what it should do in a period of self-appointed proba-
tion. It now comes before your honorable body with a just pride in
What it has accomplished, so much on so little, and asks Kentucky to
do for this Institution, which has hitherto been thrown too much on '
its own resources, what a parent should do for a son. It asks that
the annual appropriation should be at least doubled by the issue of
its bonds, and that it should be made the equivalent of the proceeds
of 330,000 acres at $1 per acre, the value of the scrip when the
negotiations with Kentucky University were concluded. It asks for
this to enable it to extend its sphere of operations, to appoint addi-
tional Professors, to make the Agricultural and Mechanical College
of Kentucky in equipment, in strength, in all that makes an Institu-
tion great, the greatest in the South and West.

We do not forget, in this connection, to state, that while the Agri—
cultural and Mechanical College has received advantages from its
connection with the other Colleges of the University, some from the
College of Arts, some from the Commercial College, some even from
the Law College, that to these several Colleges it has given advan-
tages in return. All the students of the College of Arts, of the
Commercial College, of the Bible College, and of‘ the College of
Law, are admitted to its classes in return. Notably is this the case
in the Departments of Natural History, Modern Language, Political
Economy, Metaphysics, and Civil History and Chemistry. More
than forty from the Commercial College alone, mostly young men
from the Southwest, took the department of Political Economy in n
the Agricultural and Mechanical College annually.

We have thus secured the advantages of co—operation to an ex-
tent never before realized in Kentucky, exemplifying the old classical
lines,

“By mutual confidence and mutual aid,
Great deeds are done and great discoveries made.”

* We have also secured, to the full extent, the advantages resulting
.«from division of labor. Thesefltwo principles, whereby the fruits of
industry are cheapened and multiplied, and increased in value, the
great principleson which political, social, and, we may add, educa;

 

 .14 AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE.

tional economy rest, have been elaborated, applied, and realized
through this College for the State of Kentucky. Others, who had
neither the ability nor the will to inaugurate'and carry on this enter-
prise when the Congressional grant went begging, are now willing
to come forward, when the possibility of an Agricultural College has
been demonstrated, eager to reap the harvest which another has sow.n.
But I mistake the sense of justice and fair play which have always
characterized Kentucky if such eleventh-hour philanthropists (P) be
permitted to appropriate the credit which, of justice, belongs to those
who have borne the burden and heat of the day.

The State geological survey, began by Dr. Owen, has never yet
been completed. I beg leave to suggest to the Legislature that this
be continued till completion. Our Agricultural College can aid the
State materially in this respect. Dr. Peter, who made all the
analyses of soil for Dr. Owen, is with us. We can likewise furnish,
'a competent Botanist, perhaps the best in Kentucky, with a Zoologist
and Paleontologist equal to any in any State west of the Alleghenies.
We can likewise l'urnish many junior members of the scientific
corps.

A State with such vast mineral wealth, in these days of rapid
progress, cannot afford to be ignorant of her own resources. The
limits of our coal and iron fields are yet imperfectly determined, and
the geological formation of many counties is still a matter of the
vaguest conjecture. We must awake and place ourselves in the van
of progress, intellectual as well as material. By a specific appropria-
tion of the small sum of $5,000 per annum, for five years, the
geological survey of the State could be completed under the auspices
. of its own Agricultural College, with its corps of scientific and prac-
tical workers, at a very reduced cost. During the three summer
months of vacation the active work in [the field could be accom-
plished, large collections of Botanical, Geological, Mineralogical, and
other specimens, could be made for the Museums, and the results of
the field labor could be worked up in the laboratories during the
session, greatly to the benefit of the State and of the College. I
earnestly commend this suggestion to the consideration of yourself
and the Legislature.

The Legislature of Kentucky has made adequate appropriation
for founding and maintaining Asylums for her Deaf and Dumb,
Blind, and Insane. The