requires the Board of Trustees of the Iowa Agricultural College to approve and sanction the lands selected for this purpose. The Governor reported to the Board the amount of lands selected as follows: Number of railroad lands, acres, c. $2 50. 40,543.25 159,224.88 199,768.13 Total number of acres selected.. On the acceptance and approval of these selections of lands, the Board of Trustees passed the following, unanimously: "We have examined the same and concur therein, and adopt, confirm and rereceive them as the selection of lands granted to the State of Iowa under the act of Congress approved July 25, 1862." The Board also recommended that the Governor of this State be requested to take all the necessary steps to obtain the final and necessary certificates, and all requisite evidences of title, through and by such means as to him may seem advisable, so as to have in the proper offices at the earliest day practicable such certificates and titles. The Board having performed the duty imposed upon them by the law of the State accepting the grant of lands, it now rests with the Governor of the State and the Department at Washington to have the necessary titles completed. OBJECT OF THE INSTITUTION. The Iowa State Agricultural College has for its object, to associ ate a high state of intelligence with the practice of Agriculture and the industrial or mechanic arts, and to seek to make use of this intelligence in developing the agricultural and industrial resources of the country, and protecting its interests. It proposes to do this by several means: 1st. As a purely educational institution, its course of instruction 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 immediately around him, and with the powers of nature he employs, and with the material through the instrumentality of which, under the blessings 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 education of its principles more scientific knowledge 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 to be thorough, so that it will not only afford the student the facts of science, but will discipline his mind to habits of thought, and enable him fully to comprehend the abstract principles involved in the practical operations of life. In doing this it is not deemed possible to educate every agriculturist, artisan, 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 may enter. A single individual, who is thoroughly educated in the principles and practice of an art, followed by a community, will often exert a more salutary influence upon the practice of this art, by the community, than would result 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 generals and military men, and civil engineers. If one high school of this practical character is established, subordinate schools, affording the elementary education of the latter, will follow in due time. 2d. As a practical education the Trustees of the Iowa State Agricultural College have 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 attached to all labor, are dependent upon the talent and fidelity exhibited in performing it. It is further considered 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 the 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 very low rates of admission. All students, without regard to pecuniary circumstances, are therefore obliged to perform manual labor as an essential part of the college education and discipline and training. In these respects consists a most essential difference between the idea associated with manual labor 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 and worthlessness is associated with those who refuse to work efficiently; and the experience of established institutions has already most assuredly shown, that no young man, of whom there is any hope for future usefulness in life, is insensible to the disgrace which thus attaches to the lazy, who will work only as they are watched, and cheat their fellow students by refusing to do their share of the labor assigned 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 trustworthy in the performance of their daily work. 3d. As an Experimental Institution, our college has an unbounded field for labor. The principles of Agricultural Science, which shall ultimately constitute the subject of instruction in its classrooms, will be a prominent and important branch of it. The development of no other department will yield richer and more lasting results, or confer more substantial benefit upon agricultural practice than this. Much time, however, is required to make thorough and reliable experiments-they will not pay at once; as well might the farmer expect to reap his crop the day he sows his grain. They will, however, ultimately pay a thousand fold, as have the practical application of the sciences of electricity, heat and optics, in the present day, paid for the half century of apparently unpractical, purely scientific investigations that led to the results now obtained through them. EXPENDITURES OF THE SECRETARY'S OFFICE FOR 1862 AND 1863. Seeds, plants, cuttings, roots, freight on and packing same,. Printing, binding, and paper for 3,000 copies of Report of 1862, Total for 1862 and 1863,. $ 677 68 99 11 170 31 40 07 73 60 151 00 38 93 1,250 70 PURCHASE AND DISTRIBUTION OF SEEDS, PLANTS, &c. The duties of the Secretary of the Agricultural College in regard to the purchase and distribution of seeds, &c., embraced in section 21 of the law providing for the Agricultural College, are as follows: "He shall also have the custody of all books, papers, documents and other property which may be deposited in his office, including specimens of the vegetable and animal kingdoms of the State or county; also keep and file all reports which may be made from time to time by County and State Agricultural and Horticultural Societies, and all correspondence of the office from other persons and Societies, appertaining to the general business of husbandry; address circulars to Societies and the best practical farmers in the State and elsewhere, with the view of eliciting information upon the newest and best mode of culture of those products, vegetables and trees, etc., adapted to the soil and climate of this State; also, on all subjects connected with field culture, horticulture, stock-raising and the dairy. He shall encourage the formation of Agricultural Societies throughout the State, and purchase, receive and distribute such rare and valuable seeds, plants, shrubbery and trees as may be in his power to procure from the General Government and other sources, as may be adapted to our climate and soils. He shall also encourage the importation of improved breeds of horses, asses, cattle, sheep, hogs, and other live stock; the invention and improvement of labor-saving implements of husbandry, and diffuse information in relation to the same; and the manufacture of woolen and cotton yarns and cloths, and domestic industry in weaving, spinning, knitting, sewing and such other household arts as are calculated to promote the general thrift, wealth and resources of the State. He shall make a report in writing to the General Assembly at every session thereof, and to the Governor in each year when the Legislature is not in session, on the first day of February, of all transactions of his office of a public character, including a full statement of the receipts and expenditures of the college and farm, and of his own office, and at such other times as the Governor or Legislature may require." In pursuance therewith, I have the honor to submit a report of the transactions of this office for the past two years, and since my last report to the Legislature of this State. In 1862 there were packed and distributed 600 two-quart bags of Sorgho and Imphee; 200 bags of barley, containing from two to three quarts; 10 bushels of Soule's Winter Wheat, in bags of from one to two pecks; 6 bushels Mediterranean (winter) Wheat; 50 packages of several varities of Winter Wheat from Patent Of fice; 450 Concord Grape roots; 150 Linnæus Rhubarb roots; 900 Houghton Seedling Gooseberry roots; 2,000 Osier Willow cuttings; 300 packages of African Spring Wheat in bags of about two or three pints; 4,550 packages of vegetable seeds, and 1,000 packages of seeds from the Patent Cffice, making in all about 7,000 packages of all kinds. About three-fourths of these were distributed through the members of the General Assembly of that year. In 1863 there were packed and distributed 1500 packages of Tobacco seed, in from one to eight ounce packages; 500 packages of Egyptian Spring Wheat, in three to eight ounce packages; 500 packages of Sorgho and Imphee seed, in six to twenty ounce packages; 400 packages of Cranberry Plants, from twenty to thirty in each; 200 packages of Hemp Seed, in three to six and eight ounce packages; 500 packages of Cotton Seed, in two to eight ounce packages; 15,000 White Willow cuttings, from twelve to thirty in a package; and 4,000 papers of vegetable seeds, one-third of which were from the Department of Agriculture, Washingtonbeing about 8,000 packages of all kinds. Distributed for the year 1862 and 1863, 15,000 packages. In regard to the success of the distributions of 1862, I regret that I have no specific reports, except verbally. Of the grapes, rhubarb and gooseberry roots, I learn that they generally succeeded well in every section of the State, the Concord proving very hardy and a variety which may safely be recommended as one worthy of general cultivation. They were procured from the nursery of James Smith & Son, near Des Moines, who have fruited them for several years, and been eminently succesful in their cultivation. It will not be many years until we see this favored variety, as well as many others, growing upon every farm in the State. In regard to the Sugar Cane seed distributed from this office, especially in 1862, we have the most gratifying reports, that it was the best ever grown in the State since it was first introduced. The product of that seed promised to supply all the wants of the State this year, and would in all probability, have done so if the extraordinary frosts in 1863 had permitted the seed to ripen. After diligent inquiry I have succeeded in securing about two barrels of two approved varieties of Sorgho, one of which is the Otaheitan, which will be distributed this Spring principally through the members of the Legislature. Of the distribution of plants, cuttings, seeds, &c., in the year 1863, I can present the experiments of many of the recipients, yet not as many as there should have been from the pledges made to this office, when they were applied for, that full reports would be given. They were sent to from between 600 and 700 parties, societies and clubs, in ninety-two counties of the State, on special application. Of these about 300 were especially addressed in September last, for reports, and replies received from only the following parties, embracing fifty-two counties. As they are referred to by their initials in the subjoined extracts from their reports, it is deemed appropriate and due to them that their responses should be thus acknowledged, especially where so many have failed in their duty in this matter: Adair County-J. Loucks, Jefferson township; G. F. Kilburn, Fontanelle. Boone County-J. H. Boggs, Boonsboro Buchanan County-S. Croxton, Jessup; Harvey Griswold, Winthrop. Cass County-John C. Carmon, p. o. address, Hamlin's Grove, Audubon county. Cerro Gordo County-Leonard G. Parker, Mason City; Thomas Perrett, Shellrock Falls. Chickasaw County-Buel Sherman, Fredericksburg. Clayton County-George Christ, Elkader. Clinton County-A. C. & S. C. Brown, Elk River. Dallas County-Ephraim Williams, Adel; L. D. Hewitt, Redfield. Davis County-Geo. N. Rosser, Troy. Decatur Connty-Samuel Forrey, Leon Delaware County-A. Mead and A. S. Blair, Manchester; Isaac Littlefield, Hopkinton. Dubuque County-Oliver Wheeler. Rossville; E. Jewett, Tivoli. Fayette County-E. W. Fox and Chas. Hoyt, Fayette; Joseph Marsh, Taylorsville; Joseph Pritchard, Eden; James George, Dover. Franklin County-A. F. Townsend, Union Ridge; Samuel Carbaugh, Maysville. Fremont County-D. S. Ackerman, McKissock's Grove. Hardin County-J. D. Thompson, Eldora; W. H. Gager, Union; A. M. Mulford, New Providence. Harrison County-L. D. Landon, Little Sioux; A. M. Servis, Jeddo City. Humboldt County-Eber Stone, Lott's Creek. Iowa County-N. Baldwin, North English, Ezra Tufts, Stellapolis. Jackson County-D. J. Bonham, Maquoketa; E. L. Umbarger, Monmouth. Johnson County-Abel Evans, Shueyville; C. C. Townsend, Orphans' Home, Iowa City. Keokuk County-L. Ellis. Kossuth County-Joseph Raney, Irvington. Lee County-A. Wright, Dover. |