The New York State Agricultural 
 
 College at Ovid, N, Y. and Higher 
 
 Agricultural Education 
 
 An Historical Paper 
 
 By Diedrich Willers 
 
 of Varick, N. Y. 
 
 1907 
 
o 
 w 
 
 o 
 
 -1 
 <; 
 
 Di O 
 ^ 2 
 
 <; w 
 
 CO '^ 
 
 O 
 
The New York State Agricultural 
 
 College, at Ovid, and Higher 
 
 Agricultural Education. 
 
 AN HISTORICAL PAPER 
 
 Read at a Meeting of the Seneca County Historical Society 
 Held at Romulus, Sept. 5, igo6, 
 
 BY 
 
 DIEDRICH WILLERS, 
 
 OF VARICK, N. Y. 
 
 1907. ^ 
 
Gits 
 Author 
 
 
THE N. Y. STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, 
 AT OVID, N. Y., AND HIGHER AGRICUL- 
 TURAL EDUCATION. 
 
 It has been well said by an eminent New York Statesman, that 
 "the cultivation of the soil is the foundation of all public pros- 
 perity." From the time when the first man AdaxTi, the father of 
 the human race was driven from the Garden of Eden, and was 
 commanded to till the i^round in the sweat of his face, until the 
 present time, farming has been a prominent and leading industry. 
 It is not the purpose of the writer however, to trace its various 
 stages and the advance made in farming from its primitive con- 
 ditions up to the methods of farming now practiced in the Twen- 
 tieth Century. 
 
 In our own country — the United States — farming as carried on 
 by white men, dates back less than three centuries. A portion of 
 New York State, on Long Island, and bordering on the Hudson 
 River and Long Island Sound, was settled a little more than 250 
 years ago. At the time of the Revolutiunary War, the popula- 
 tion of this State was still principally located on Long Island and 
 Manhattan Island, and localities adjacent to the Hudson River 
 and Long Island Sound. Central and Western New York at the 
 time of, and during the Revolutionary War, was an unbroken 
 forest inhabited by its Aboriginal owners, the Iroquois. Settle- 
 ments began to be made in this part of the State, soon after 1785, 
 (say 1787), and by 1790 some advance had been made; but by 
 reason of labors necessary in clearing the forest, and the develop- 
 ment of a newly settled country, slow progress was made. It 
 may, therefore, be trtily said, that farming in the Western and Cen- 
 tral part of this State, had its real beginning only about one 
 hundred years ago. 
 
 Already in the early years of the last century, the question of 
 higher and scientific agricultural education, was sometimes advo- 
 cated by public men of this State (of whom Governor Clinton, 
 
 3 
 
Hon. Simeon DeWitt and Elkanah Watson may be mentioned) 
 and by farmers of advanced views. 
 
 A Society for the promotion of agriculture had, it is true, been 
 organized in this State as early as 1 793, but very little was accom- 
 plished bv it. In 18 1 9 an Act was passed to improve the agricul- 
 ture of the State, which expired already, by limitation, in 1826. 
 The Legislature of 1836 passed an Act to incorporate the New 
 York State Agricultural School, upon a stock basis, which resulted 
 in failure. While Agricultural Societies were from time to time 
 organized in different parts of the State, nothing permanent was 
 arrived at, until the organization of the "New York State Agri- 
 cultural Society," Feby. 16, 1832, of which Society, Hon. Robert 
 S. Rose of Fayette, was included in its first Board of Officers. A 
 re-organization of this Society took place in the year 1841. This 
 was followed soon after, by the formation of County Agricultural 
 Societies in most of the Counties of this State — the Seneca County 
 Agricultural Society having been organized, June 19th, 1841. 
 
 A State Agricultural Fair has been annually held for many years 
 and County Fairs in most of the Counties of the State. One of 
 the features of these Fairs, has been Agricultural Addresses and 
 discussions, in which topics such as geology, botany, agricultural 
 chemistry, analysis of soilsand kindred subjects were conspicuous, 
 as indeed also the subject of higher Agricultural Education. 
 
 The discussions thus inaugurated were further advanced and 
 carried forward in several Agricultural Newspapers published in 
 this State. In an Agricultural Address published in the Transac- 
 tions of the New York State Agricultural Society in 1856, refer- 
 ence is made to the existence of a number of Agricultural Colleges 
 in Europe as early as 1844, and that one each, had been chartered 
 in the States of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Maryland. 
 
 Among the prominent farmers in this State, who early took a 
 deep interest in advancing the subject of higher agricultural edu- 
 cation by the State, and who frec^uently deli^'ered public addres- 
 ses upon this subject, was the Hon. John Delafield, of the Town of 
 Fayette, Seneca County, a native of Ravenswood, Long Island, 
 (now a part of Greater New York), and a graduate of Columbia 
 College. After serving five years as President of the Seneca 
 County Agricultural Society, he was in 185 1, elected President of 
 the New York State Agricultural Societv. In his address on 
 
entering upon the duties of his office, he forcibly presented the 
 question of the estabHshment of an Agricultural College in this 
 State, which had already been unsuccessfully presented to the 
 State Legislatures in 1849 and 1850, and indeed earlier. Mr. 
 Delafield had been ably seconded in his efforts in behalf of higher 
 agricultural education by Gov. John A. King, Hon. Louis F. 
 Allen, Hon. Henry Wager, Hon. \Vm. Kelly and others, who con- 
 tinued to the end, his steadfast co-laborers and supporters. 
 
 The question of the incorporation of an Agricultural College 
 with Experiment Farm, was brought before the State Legislature 
 in the years 185 1 and 1S52, but again failed. 
 
 It was not until April 15th, 1853, that greatly through the 
 efforts of Mr. Delaffeld, the Legislature passed an Act to incor- 
 porate the New York State Agricultural College. This Act or 
 Charter, named John Delafield, Henry Wager, B. P. Johnson, 
 William Kelly, John A. King, N. B. Kidder, J(jel W. Bacon, 
 William Buel, Tallmadge Delafield and Robert J. Swan, as Incor- 
 porators and Trustees of said College. 
 
 The Act of Incorporation provided, that the plan of instruc- 
 tion shall embrace the following branches of knowledge: Practi- 
 cal and Scientific Agriculture; Chemistry and its Manipulations, 
 (so far as it may be usefully connected with agriculture) ; Mathe- 
 matics and Mechanics ; Surveying and Engineering ; Geology and 
 Botany; the practical management of the farm, of the dairy and 
 of the various kinds of live stock, also such other branches of 
 knowledge as may be deemed useful and proper. The Act fur- 
 ther provided, that the farm and grounds of the College shall con- 
 sist of not less than three hundred acres of land. The Act of 
 Incorporation made no State appropriation in aid of the College, 
 leaving it to the Trustees to procure private contributions in order 
 to carry out its provisions. 
 
 Soon after the passage of this Act of Incorporation, the Trus- 
 tees of the College unanimously elected John Delafield as its 
 President, and also designated his fine farm of 352 acres, in 
 Fayette, known as"Oaklands Farm"as the location of the College 
 and Experiment Farm, to become effective as soon as money 
 sufficient shotild be raised to purchase the same and then to go 
 forward with the instruction. 
 
 Considerable progress had been made toward raising the neces- 
 
 5 
 
sary amount of money, when Mr. Delafield suddenly died, Oct. 22, 
 1853, at the age of sixty-seven years. The death of Mr. Delafield, 
 for a time, checked the prosecution of work for an Agricultural 
 College. It was revived, however, in 1855, bv citizens of Ovid 
 and vicinity, under the leadership of Rev. Amos Brown and others, 
 and brought before the Legislature of 1856, which authorized a 
 loan by the State, of Forty Thousand Dollars to such College, 
 provided a like amount be raised by private contribution — such 
 State loan to be secured by mortgage upon the lands of the Col- 
 lege. It was hoped by many, that the Legislature would appro- 
 priate this amount as a gift to the farmers of the State, but it will 
 be seen later on, that the State Authorities held strictly to its lien 
 therefor. 
 
 The subscription of Forty Thousand Dollars having been 
 obtained for purchase of a College Farm, the Trustees of the 
 College, after examining three different groups of land, (two near 
 Ovid Village, and one near Sheldrake and Kidders, adjoining Cayuga 
 Lake), selected 686 acres, including 175 acres of wooded land, for 
 such College Farm, situate in the Towns of Ovid and Romulus, at 
 a cost of only about Five Thousand Dollars above the amount 
 raised by private subscription. 
 
 The lands thus purchased in 1856, for such Farm, with the 
 names of Grantors, the number of acres conveyed by each one and 
 the prices agreed to be paid therefor, were as follows to wit : 
 
 1. Morris E. Kinne 233. So acres $13,794.20 
 
 2. Mrs. Sarah Sutton 66.72 " 4,336.80 
 
 3. Cor. Bodine and others i7-97 " 1,078.20 
 
 4. A. S. Purdy and D. Dunnett 126.36 " 8,213.40 
 
 5. A. Bray Johnson 116. 21 " 6,972.60 
 
 6. Romaine Barnuni 50-3 " 3,849.95 
 
 7. Elijah Barnum 61.44 " 3,993.60 
 
 8. Elizabeth Kirkpatrick (Lot) i. " 1,000.00 
 
 9. Lewis Swarthout, (Lot) i. " 800.00 
 
 10. A. L. Furman, (Lot) i. " 1,000.00 
 
 \ Late Burying Ground ) 
 
 I C. Bodine and others ) 
 
 "686^23' '• $45,038.75 
 
 Parcels 4, 5, 6 and 7 were purchased subject to individual mortgages 
 assumed by the College Trustees. 
 
 This group of land was bounded at its East end by the Village 
 
 6 
 
Corporation Line of Ovid ; west by Seneca Lake, and North by the 
 road leading from Ovid to Seneca Lake, at the locality ori^^inally 
 called Lancaster, then known as "0\'id Landing" or "Baleytown" 
 being about two and one-half miles long East and West and about 
 half a mile wide on Seneca Lake, varying in width from 1 20 to 180 
 rods. 
 
 In their first Annual Report to the Legislature, the Trustees 
 mention that the land thus purchased, contains a building spot or 
 site on that part of the farm lying in the Town of Ovid, about one 
 mile east of Seneca Lake, rising 583 ft. above the Lake, and 
 "commanding a view of great beauty and grandeur" with Geneva 
 at the North and more than twenty miles of the Lake, and the 
 College Building was afterwards located on this site. 
 
 With the farm thus acquired, the Trustees of the College took 
 early steps in preparation for the erection (»f the C(-)llege Building. 
 Stone for erection of its f(Jundation and basement and for building- 
 lime, was quarried upon the College Farm; bricks were made from 
 clav found upon the Farm, and timber from the wooded lands 
 of the farm, was prepared, for use in part, in the proposed 
 building. Plans for the College Building were also |)repared and 
 steps were taken to secure competent College Officers and Instruc- 
 tors. 
 
 The Trustees, from the beginning, met with manv delays and 
 discouragements in the erection of the College Building. At first, 
 a whole vear was lost, when the vState Authorities found that the 
 loan of Fortv Thousand Dollars authorized bv the Legislature of 
 1856, from the income of the United States Deposit Fund, coi;ld 
 not be made, on account of shortage in that Fund, and the Legis- 
 lature of 1857 had to authorize the loan to be made from another 
 'Fund. 
 
 It was early ascertained, that the moneys available, would be 
 insufficient to erect the College Building as originall_v designed for 
 three hundred and fifty or more students, and the Trustees, in the 
 Summer of 1858, adopted a modified plan, for the erection of a 
 Brick Building with slate roof, the South Transverse Wing, four 
 stories high, 56x128 ft., and the lateral wing, three stories high 
 and an attic, 60x84^/2 ft. A contract for the erection of such 
 building (S. E. Hewes, Architect) was entered into with Thomas 
 Crawford, a competent builder of Geneva, N. Y., in September, 
 
 7 
 
1858, for the sum of $33,500 including preparations for heat- 
 ing, hghting, ventilation and water. Water to be brought to the 
 building from a spring in the East end of the Farm. Such build- 
 ing to accommodate one hundred and fifty students — the plan 
 being so arranged that additions could thereafter be made to the 
 building. 
 
 The first President of the College, appointed by the Trustees, 
 was Hon. Samuel Cheever, of Waterford, Saratoga County, N. Y., 
 a former Judge of the Court of Common Pleas and President of 
 the State Agricultural Society in 1855, also a College Trustee. 
 Judge Cheever arrived and took charge of the College Farm, April 
 7th, 1857. The date of his appointment as President has not 
 been ascertained. In his report as President to the Legislature of 
 1858, (the first annual report of the College) he recounts his 
 experience in conducting the farm operations of the year 1857 and 
 the many difficulties which he encountered. 
 
 In the second annual report to the Legislature of 1859, by the 
 Trustees, Hon. John A. King, Chairman, mention is made of the 
 resignation of Judge Cheever as President, which took eft'ect 
 June 30th, 1858. The Farm operations of part of the year 1858 
 and i859,were largelv conducted under the direction of one of the 
 Trustees, Hon. Henrv Wager of Oneida County, a former Presi- 
 dent of the State Agricultural Society and Chairman of the Farm 
 Committee and the Building Committee of the Board of Trus- 
 tees. The number of Trustees had been increased to seventeen, 
 under an Act of the Legislature of 1857, i\rad Joy of Ovid (who 
 served several years as Treasurer of the Board) being one of the 
 additional Trustees. Major Marsena R. Patrick of Sacketts 
 Harbor, N. Y., a graduate of West Point Military Academy, and 
 a man of rare qualifications, who had entered the U. S. Army in 
 1835, serving in the Florida Indian War and the Mexican War, 
 advancing to the rank of major, was appointed President of the 
 College, September 23, 1859, and soon afterwards entered upon 
 the duties of his office. 
 
 Major Patrick, in the third annual report of the College to the 
 Legislature of i860, as President, sets forth the progress made 
 during the year 1859. He mentions the fact, that the Corner 
 Stoneof the College Building, was laid July 7th, 1859, by Hon. John 
 A. King, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, "in the presence of a 
 
vast concourse of people who had gathered to testify their deep 
 interest in the cause to which the Structure is dedicated." 
 
 The Ovid Bee newspaper, contained an extended account of the 
 corner stone laying. Its editor estimated the number of persons 
 present, as fully three thousand, coming from all parts of Seneca 
 County, and from distant villages and cities. Col. John Y. Man- 
 ning of Ovid, a veteran of the War of 1812, acted as Marshal of 
 the procession, which formed and moved to the College site, pre- 
 ceded by a Cornet Band. After prayer, a box was deposited in 
 the corner stone containing a copy of the Holy Bible, newspapers 
 of the da\', with Legislative reports and agricultural pamphlets, 
 etc. The corner stone was then laid by Ex. Governor John A. 
 King, after which he delivered an able and appropriate address. 
 He was followed bv ^lajor M. R. Patrick in an address brief and 
 eloquent, in which he made happy allusion to the metamorphosis 
 of Ovid, in classics, in comparison with the transformation which 
 had taken place in our Town of Ovid, since General John Sullivan's 
 Army had marched across the College Farm, eighty years previous, 
 in 1779. Other addresses were delivered by Hon. A. B. Conger, 
 of Rockland County and Hon. Josiah B. Williams of Ithaca, and 
 every one present returned home with bright anticipations as to 
 the future of the College. 
 
 In his report. President Patrick also refers to the financial 
 difficulties encountered by the Trustees, wliich retarded the 
 progress of the work upon the Building. In the same report, 
 President Patrick presents an outline of the Terms and General 
 Course of Study proposed to be pursued in the College. There 
 were to be two terms of study in each year — the Summer Term 
 from April 15th to November ist, and the Winter Term from 
 December ist to March ist. The full course of study to cover a 
 period of three years, both theoretical and practical. The classes 
 to be known as the Freshman, Junior and Senior Classes, and no 
 students to be admitted under sixteen years of age. 
 
 Time and space will not permit a recapitulation of the details 
 of the proposed course of study. Suffice it to say, that with the 
 exception of ancient classical and certain modern languages, it com- 
 prised a course of study, nearly or quite equal to that of the best 
 literary and scientific Colleges. Charges for board and instruc- 
 tion were fixed at a verv moderate rate. 
 
In subsequent reports to the Legislature, it is stated that the 
 Agricultural College had been so far completed that it was opened 
 for the reception of students December 5th, i85o, when a class of 
 twenty-seven voung men entered the Institution. In addition to 
 President Patrick, the Trustees had secured the services as 
 instructors and lecturers, of Rev. Dr. George Kerr in mathematics, 
 philosoph}- and astronomy; of Dr. James P. Kimball as professor 
 of Agricultural Chemistry; of Prof. Mitchell in engineering and 
 military drill; and of Prof. Horton in botany and assistant in 
 mathematics and chemistry. 
 
 Dr. Wm. H. Brewer, for several years Principal of Ovid Aca- 
 demy, was an early appointee of the College Trustees for the 
 Professorship of agricultural chemistry — but in \-iew of long 
 delavs in opening the school, he resigned his professorship in Oct- 
 ober, i860. In after vears, he was prominently connected with 
 Yale College and is still living at Xew Ha\-en, Connecticut, at the 
 advanced age of seventy-eight years. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Kerr assumed charge of the duties of President during 
 the frequent absence of President Patrick in the latter part of his 
 connection with the College. 
 
 The number of students after the opening of the first term, 
 increased from time to time and in April, 1861, numbered about 
 forty. 
 
 A considerable number of students were residents of other 
 States (one from Florida). Among the students from Seneca 
 County, so far as ascertained, were Andrew Dunlap, of Ovid, (now 
 an officer of high rank — Rear Admiral — in the United States 
 Navy) ; William L. Eastman of Ovid, (afterwards a prominent 
 farmer and stock raiser who died in 1902) ; Willard B. Rising of 
 Romulus (now a professor in the State University of California, 
 at Berkelev); Chas. W. Rising, his brother, of Romulus, (who 
 afterwards served as Supervisor of that town) with several stu- 
 dents from Geneva and Ithaca and different parts of the State. 
 
 Among the students from localities outside of Seneca County, 
 who afterwards became prominent, were T. Chalmers McLean of 
 New Hartford, Oneida Co., N. Y., wdio became a distinguished 
 officer in the United States Navy, and is now a Captain in com- 
 mand of the United States armed cruiser, Pennsvlvania. 
 
 The small number of strident s in attendance at the College at 
 
its openini^r, was somewhat disappointing, but there were special 
 causes which tended to produce the same. One important cause 
 was the long delayed opening of a New Institution, which really 
 was an experiment in this country. In any year when a Presi- 
 dential Election is in progress, business generally suffers and the 
 attendance at Colleges is aft'ected thereby. The exciting triangu- 
 lar contest for the Presidency in i860, caused by a split in one of 
 the great political parties of the countr}-, clearly foreshadowed 
 the result, and the Planters of the Southern States who had been 
 liberal patrons of Colleges at the North, to a great extent, then 
 and later, withdrew their patronage, seriously aft'ecting the 
 Agricultural College. There were other causes which induced 
 the small attendance, not necessary to be recapitulated here. 
 
 After President Patrick had conducted the College for two 
 partial Terms, the Civil War broke out, in April, 1S61, and from 
 this cause and financial difficulties, the Trustees suspended instruc- 
 tion at the College — Major Patrick having been called into the 
 service of the State by Governor E. D. Morgan, Mav 4th, 1861, in 
 the capacity of State Inspector General, a position which he held 
 vmtil April, 1862, when he entered the service of the United States, 
 ad\-ancing in rank therein to that of Brigadier General, and later 
 to Brevet Major General of Volunteers. Had Major Patrick 
 continued in charge of the College, it might possibly have main- 
 tained its existence, although Colleges generallv languished during 
 the Civil War. 
 
 Before closing the College officially, however, in the spring of 
 1862, the Trustees asked from the Legislature an appropriation 
 of the small sum of Five Thousand Dollars annually for five years, 
 in aid of the College, which request was denied, as mentioned by 
 President Faile in his address before the State Agricultural 
 Society in 1864. 
 
 It was then the intention of the Trustees, upon the close of the 
 war, to secure means, if practicable, to put the Institution again 
 into active operation. The war, however,was protracted four vears, 
 and in the meantime, important events affecting the College 
 transpired, notably the passage by Act of Congress of the "Morrill 
 Act," so called, and action taken under the same by the Legisla- 
 ture of this State. 
 
 This Act introduced in the House of Representatives by Hon. 
 
Justin S. Morrill of Vermont, became a law, July 2nd, 1862. It 
 provided for a grant or appropriation to the several States, of 
 thirty thousand acres of the Public Lands of the United States 
 for each Representative and Senator in Congress, for the benefit 
 of agriculture and mechanic arts, under which Act. the State of 
 New York became entitled to thirty-three quotas or 990,000 acres 
 of land, which, even at the government price of One Dollar and 
 Twenty-Five Cents per acre, was worth nearly one and a quarter 
 million of dollars. 
 
 The Fund derived from the sale of these lands, was to be 
 invested in each State, and the interest therefrom devoted to the 
 endowment, support and maintenance of at least one College in each 
 State, where the leading feature or object would be the teaching of 
 such branches of agriculture and the mechanics arts, as the 
 Legislature shovild prescribe. 
 
 The passage of this Act revived the hopes of the friends of the 
 State Agricultural College, that this munificent grant of Con- 
 gress would be received by the State Institution at Ovid, the only 
 College in the State fully organized for the distinctive purpose of 
 Agricultural Education. Some rivalry arose, however, but the 
 friends of the Agricultural College confidently believed that this 
 fund entrusted to the State, would"not be misapplied or perverted 
 to any other use or purpose whatever." It was generally antici- 
 pated and believed, that the State Agricultural College, which 
 had been in full operation, if not allotted the entire grant, would 
 receive one-half or at least one-third thereof, and that it would 
 thus be placed upon an easy and safe financial basis-. But all 
 these hopes proved fallacious, it will be seen! 
 
 The Legislature of 1863, already on March 4th, formally 
 accepted the Land Grant made to this State, under the provisions 
 of the Act of Congress of the preceding year. At this Session of 
 the Legislature, Charles Cook, a resident of Havana, (now known 
 as Montour Falls) in the County of Schuyler, represented that 
 locality in the New York State Senate. He was a man of reputed 
 large wealth, prominent in political and business life, and in 
 political accord with the majority, in both Houses of the Legis- 
 lature. 
 
 Several years previous (1853) an Institution known as the 
 Peoples' College, had been incorporated in this State, which was 
 
located at Havana, Jany. 8th, 1857. In the year 1863, its 
 College Buildings were unfinished and it had very little claim to 
 consideration as a College. 
 
 It was for this Institution which had accomplished so little to 
 commend it to the friends of higher agricultural education, and 
 the location of which was in no way to be compared with that of 
 the Ovid Agricultm-al College, that Senator Cook succeeded in 
 obtaining from the State Legislature the benefits, income and 
 revenues of the great Agricultural Land Grant by an Act passed 
 May 14th, 1S63. This Act, required the Trustees of the Peoples' 
 College, within three years after its passage, to provide a Farm 
 and College Btulding, properly arranged and furnished for at 
 least 250 students together with certain other reriuirements. 
 
 Thus was seeminglv consummated, an act of great injustice to 
 the Agricultural College at Ovid! Legislators, who boasted of 
 their patriotism, voted with Senator Cook, and forgot that the 
 absence of President Patrick in the Military Service, had preci- 
 pitated the closing of the State Agricultural College. 
 
 At the Annual Meeting of the State Agricultural vSociety held in 
 February, 18(34, a Resolution offered by Hon. Wm. Kelly was 
 adopted, "deploring the action of the last Legislature, in bestovv'- 
 ing upon a single Institution, and that not the representative of 
 the Agricultural interests of the State, the wliole of the vast Land 
 Grant made by Congress," etc., and also urging the Legislature 
 of that year "to repeal or modify said law, so that the State x\gri- 
 cultural College shall receive a full share of this noble grant, and 
 that thus the intention of Congress may be fulfilled in the advance 
 ment of Agricultural Science." 
 
 The Legislature of 1864, however, failed to repeal or modify the 
 Act of 1863. But the triumph of the friends of the Peoples' Col- 
 lege was of short duration, and it soon became evident, that the 
 requirements of the Act <A 1863, would not be complied with. 
 
 Already at a meeting held during the State Agricultural Fair 
 at Rochester, in 1864, Hon. Ezra Cornell, a wealthy resident of 
 Ithaca, Tompkins County, submittedaproposititm, that if thenext 
 State Legislature would appropriate one-half of the United States 
 Land Grant and locate an Agricultural College at Ithaca, he would 
 further endow it in the sum of $300,000, and a Farm of not less 
 than two hundred acres of land. 
 
 13 
 
This offer, had it been carried into effect, might still have left 
 the other one-half of the Land Grant to the Agricultural College 
 at Ovid, and thus have happily and justly solved the question of 
 its existence. 
 
 However, already on the twelfth day of January, 1865, only a 
 few days after the convening of the State Legislature, Senator 
 Ezra Cornell (who then held a seat in the New York State Senate, 
 both Houses of the Legislature and the State Officers being also 
 in poHtical accord with him) changed his proposition, so as to ask 
 for the entire College Land Grant, offering to make his proposed 
 endowment $500,000 — and a Bill to give eff'ect hereto was intro- 
 duced in the Legislature. 
 
 Disheartened by delays and disappointments during the 
 struggles of twelve years for existence, the friends of the State 
 Agricultural College at Ovid were unable to overcome the efforts in 
 behalf of the Ithaca movement, and Senator Cornell's Bill convey- 
 ing all the benefits, income, revenue and avails of the United 
 States Land Grant, became a Law. Legislators who had refused 
 practical financial aid to the Ovid Agricultural College, evidently 
 beheved, that with the great United States College Land Grant 
 and the proposed special endowment of the New College, the 
 State would, for all future time be relieved from making any 
 appropriations for the erection of buildings or for maintenance of 
 the Agricultural School located at Ithaca. 
 
 It must be borne in mind, that in January, 1865 (when the pro- 
 position of Mr. Cornell was presented to the Legislature) Cornell 
 UniversitA- had }io existence whatever and the same Act which 
 bestowed the entire Land Grant passed by the Legislature, April 
 27 th, 1865, contained also the Charter or Incorporation of Cornell 
 University. 
 
 And thus the State Agricultural College at Ovid received its 
 final death blow ! 
 
 Our topic relating also to the subject of "Higher Agricultural 
 Education" generally, in this State, calls for a further statement 
 however, as to subsecjuent legislation (after April, 1865), not only 
 in connection with Cornell University, but also as to other action 
 taken by Congress and our State Legislature relative to Agricul- 
 tural instruction, research and experiment, in this State. 
 
 The State Charter and Land Grant Act of 1865 to Cornell 
 
 14 
 
Universitv "declared that" the leading ohjcct of the Corporation 
 shall be to teach such branches of learnin^^ as are related to Agri- 
 culture and the Mechanics Arts." It also provided that the 
 Trustees of the University shall within two years from the passage 
 of said Act, make provision in respect to buildings, fixtures and 
 arrangements generallv, to fulfil the provisions of the Act of Con- 
 gress. The farm to be connected with the College, to consist of 
 not less than two hundred acres of land. 
 
 The Act further provided, that the Institution shall annually 
 receive one student from each Assembly District of the State, and 
 shall give such students, instruction in any or all of the prescribed 
 branches of study, free of any tuition fee, and the manner of 
 selecting students is prescribed. The number of these students 
 permitted, was not always filled, however. 
 
 From the beginning it was understood, that (as the name 
 "Universit}''" indicated;, an Institution of large proportions was 
 to be established, somewhat upon the plan of Universities in 
 Europe. This proved to be the case, and Departments were from 
 time to time established under a number of Faculties, for a Classi- 
 cal Course, Scientific Course, Engineering Course, Law, Medicine, 
 Architecture, Agriculture, etc., etc., and in later years a Veteri- 
 nary College. 
 
 Soon after the acceptance by the State of the (Morrill) United 
 States Land Grant, the State Comptroller received the Land 
 Script thereffjr. 
 
 Only a part of the lands covered thereby, (seventy-six thousand 
 acres), were however sold, soon thereafter, by the State. 
 
 In the fall of the year, 1865, Hon. Ezra Cornell purchased at the 
 low price of fifty cents per acre, one hundred thousand acres for 
 Cornell University, followed in 1866 by the further purchase by 
 him of the remaining eight hundred and fourteen thousand acres, 
 at a still lower price per acre with certain stipulations, in case 
 of profits accruing on sale thereof, by him. The terms and 
 conditions surrounding the several sales and investments need 
 not however, here be stated at length. In the Register of Cor- 
 nell University, 1905, it is stated that Senator Cornell made his 
 purchases of land from the State for "general purposes" of the 
 University, at a very small and nominal price, indeed, and the fact 
 remains, that Cornell University by reason of acciuiring this large 
 
 »5 
 
land grant from this State and the United States, received all 
 the benefits therefrom, then and thereafter, and secured a very 
 large and valuable endowment from the same. The cause of 
 Agricultural Education, may, therefore, equitably lay claim for 
 deserved and just consideration and support therefrom. 
 
 In the year 1874, the University still held four hundred thou- 
 sand acres of these landslocated in a Western State, chiefly valua- 
 ble pine lands. 
 
 At the time of the death of Mr. Cornell, December g, 1874. only 
 about six years after the opening of Cornell University, it already 
 gave promise of attaining a high rank among the institutions of 
 learning of this State. It may here be mentioned, that during 
 j\Ir. Cornell's life time, the University was maintained without 
 calling upon the Legislature for any aid, either for the erection 
 of buildings for any purpose, or for the mainteuance of the Univer- 
 sit_v in its school of agriculture. 
 
 Previous to the death of Mr. Cornell, there had been received 
 for the benefit of the University, from the sale of part of the U. S. 
 lands, nearlv one million of dollars. In the Register of Cornell 
 University 1 905-1 906 — from which this data has been ascer- 
 tained, it is mentioned that the University has already realized 
 a net return of about four million eight Inmdred dollars, 
 from sales of these United States lands, since 1S74, leaving 
 some land still unsold and increasing in value. 
 
 The University has also received many gifts and bequests, 
 from persons other than Senator Cornell. 
 
 The original Charter of the University, authcjrized it to hold 
 real and personal property, in amount not exceeding 
 three millions of dollars, but this limitation v\'as removed by Act 
 of the Legislature, passed May 12th, 1882. 
 
 The New York World Almanac for 1906, publishes statistics 
 of Colleges and Universities of the United States for the year 1905, 
 from which it appears, that the total income of Cornell University 
 for the last year, including tuition fees, amounted to $1,020,500. 
 
 Its productive funds are reported as amounting to $7,924,912. 
 The number of students of the University for 1905, as published 
 in the New York World Almanac, is given as 3,841 — a number 
 exceeded by only five or six Universities in the United States. 
 The Register of Cornell University, 1905-1906, however, gives 
 
 16 
 
the number of regular students for the year as 3,385, with the 
 addition of 619 for Summer session and iig for Winter session, 
 in 1905. Of this number of students, 121 are given as regular 
 students in the College of Agriculture in 1905 and 102 as special 
 students in same school. In addition to these, 87 students, are 
 reported as instructed in the New York State Veterinary College, 
 allied to the Agricultural College. 
 
 If the total number of sttidents instructed in the College of 
 Agriculture and the Veterinary College, regular and special, are 
 combined, the total number is three hundred and ten (310) and 
 this does not indicate, that Agricultural Science is a leading 
 object of study at Cornell University. 
 
 The number of students graduated June 22, 1905 at College 
 Commencement, from the Agricultural College, was nineteen and 
 from the Veterinary College, twenty-six, a total of forty-five (45) 
 — a small percentage of the entire number of graduates frcjm the 
 several Departments of the University. 
 
 The Trtistees of the State Agricultural College at Ovid, were 
 evidently not far from correct, in their estimate, in planning a 
 building for three hundred and fifty regular students, for a dis- 
 tinctive Agricultural College and Experiment Station. 
 
 The liberality of the Legislature of this State to Cornell Uni- 
 versity, in the bestowment of the United States College Land 
 Grant, and in special legislation for its benefit, has been further 
 manifested in various wavs. In the vear 1887, the Congress of 
 the United States, passed an act to establish Agricultural Ex- 
 periment Stations, in connection with Colleges, established in the 
 several vStates, under the United States Land Grant act of 1862. 
 Already in 1889, the Legislature of this State, designated Cornell 
 University to receive all appropriations, money or benefits aris- 
 ing under said Act of Congress, in aid of Scientific investigation 
 and experiment in Agriculture. 
 
 These benefits and appropriations amounting to fifteen thou- 
 sand dollars per annum, were solely received by Cornell University 
 up to the year 1894. In that vear, the Legislature allowed a 
 slight change to be made in the distribution of benefits under 
 this Act, so that nine-tenths thereof should be received by Cornell 
 University, and the remaining one-tenth by the New York 
 Agricultural Experiment Station, established at Geneva in 1881. 
 
 17 
 
This concession, to the Geneva Experiment Station, v%-as made as 
 it is stated, to secure to that Institution, the franking privilege 
 for its Farm Bulletins and other publications. 
 
 At the recent session of the Fifty-ninth Congress, an act was 
 passed, which received the a])proval of the President, March i6, 
 1906, to provide for an increased appropriation for the more com- 
 plete endowment and maintenance of Agricnltiiral Experiment 
 5/a/20M5, established in the several States. This act provides for 
 the pa_yment to the Experiment Stations as recognized in each 
 State by its Legislature, of the sum of five thousand dollars on 
 June 30, 1906, in addition to the present appropriation (author- 
 ized by Congress in 1887 as aforesaid) and an annual increase of 
 the amount of such appropriation, thereafter, for five years, by an 
 additional sum of two thousand dollars over the preceding year 
 — the anntial amount to be paid thereafter to each State to be 
 thirty thousand dollars. 
 
 From and after June 30, 191 1, therefore, the annual appropri- 
 ation to Experiment Stations, as recognized in each State, will 
 reach the full sum of thirty thousand dollars, under legislation of 
 Congress, to be applied in paying the necessary expenses of con- 
 ducting original researches or experiments bearing directly on 
 Agricultural industry. 
 
 Already on April 16, 1906, the New York State Legislature 
 designated Cornell University to receive nine-tenths of this in- 
 creased appropriation and the remaining one-tenth to be paid to 
 the New York Agricultural Experiment Station at Geneva. 
 Under the provisions of these Acts of 1887 and 1906, the total 
 amount which the Geneva Experiment Station will receive 
 therefrom, will be three thousand dollars annually. 
 
 By an Act of the Fifty-first Congress of the United States, 
 approved by the President August 30, 1890, for the more com- 
 plete endowment and support of Agricultural Colleges established 
 in the several States under the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1S62, 
 there was appropriated to each State, the sum of fifteen thousand 
 dollars for the year ending June 30, 1890, and an annual 
 increase, thereafter, for ten years, by an additional sum of one thou- 
 sand dollars over the preceding year. 
 
 The annual sum to be paid to each State, from and after 1900, 
 to be, therefore, $25,000. (See x\ddenda page 27.) 
 
 18 
 
Cornell University, has since 1890, received the entire amount 
 appropriated for the State of New York, under this act of Con- 
 gress, which prescribes the manner of application, — iiistntction 
 in Agriculture, being the first named subject of instruction. 
 
 It will be seen that, the aggregate amount received by Cornell 
 Universitv under the Acts of Congress in aid of Agrictdtural 
 Experiment Stations and under Act of 1890 in aid of Agricultural 
 Colleges, alreadv amounts to about fifty thousand dollars annually. 
 
 Although Cornell University had received tlie College Land 
 Grant and the large benefits arising under Acts of Congress in aid of 
 Agricultviral Colleges and Experiment Stations — together with 
 many large private gifts and bec[uests — the Trustees of the Uni- 
 versitv have in the past fifteen years or still earlier, been annual 
 applicants to the State Legislature for financial aid — the only 
 Universitv or College in this State, which has received regular 
 annual aid, for that period. These applications have usually 
 been made in aid of s<jme s]iecific agriculttiral object, as for the 
 erection of buildings for agricultural uses, or for the maintenance 
 and support of certain Departments of Agriculture or special 
 work connected therewith. These appropriations by the State, 
 in aid of the University, in the past fifteen or twenty years, 
 including appropriations for a Forestry school, authorized by 
 Chapter 122, Laws of 1898 (which pro\-ed unsuccessful and has 
 been dropped from the College Register) aggregate, including 
 the year 190b, fully one and a quarter ^Millions of Dollars — of 
 which amount, four hundred thousand dollars ha^■e been appro- 
 priated for buildings — including dairy buildings, veterinary 
 college, machinery and horticultural buildings and (by acts of 
 1904 and 1906) for an Agricultural College Building. 
 
 The last named legislation (passed forty years after the bestow- 
 ment of the United States Land Grant and chartering of Cornell 
 University) is entitled "An Act to Estabhsh a State College of 
 Agriculture at Cornell University." 
 
 The Annual Appropriation and Supply bills passed by the 
 Legislature in the past eight years, to go back no further, show- 
 annual appropriations averaging about Seventy Thousand Dol- 
 lars ($70,000) per year, for Agricultural niainte)iance and in- 
 struction (including Veterinary Science) at Cornell University. 
 
 The Legislature of 1906, however, in the Annual Ajjpropriation 
 
 •9 
 
Bill increased the appropriation to the New York State College of 
 Agriculture at Cornell, for the promotion of agricultural know- 
 ledge and for mai)itenance of the College of Agriculture, to One 
 Hundred Thousand Dollars, and in addition appropriated the 
 sum of twenty-five thousand dollars for the Veterinary College at 
 Cornell University. (See Addenda pages 26, 27.) 
 
 Chapter 218 Laws of 1906, provides new features for the 
 administration of the New York State College of Agriculture at 
 Cornell University, by a nen' statement of its objects and pur- 
 poses, quite different from the provisions and requirements of the 
 Cornell Charter of 186 j, and Acts of Congress applying to same. 
 This act provides, that Cornell University "with whatever 
 State money which may be received for the purpose" shall 
 administer the said College of Agriculture. 
 
 In view of the large financial benefits received by Cornell 
 University from the College Land Grant and the subsequent 
 favorable legislation and benefits received from Congress and the 
 Legislature of this State — the provisions of the above act, re- 
 ferred to, seem indeed remarkable. With an annual appropri- 
 ation of Thirty-four Thousand, four hundred twenty-eight and 
 eighty one-hundredths dollars ($34,428.80) from the State College 
 Land Script Fund, and Fifty Thousand dollars from the United 
 States Congress — it would seem that Cornell University owes a 
 great dutv to the cause of Agricultural education, which cannot 
 be lightly set aside, even if the State shotild decline to make an- 
 nual appropriations for maintenance. 
 
 In order to continue the history of legislation as to Institutions 
 established in this State, to promote agricultural education — 
 reference must be made to the incorporation of the New York 
 Agricultural Experiment Station at Geneva, by the Legislature, 
 in the year 1881 and which has been in operation since March i, 
 1882. 
 
 Notwithstanding the vast financial benefits bestowed upon 
 Cornell University, it was deemed necessary, in order to promote 
 agricultural knowledge (probably, in part, on account of the 
 small farm connected with the University) to establish a sepa- 
 rate experimental farm, already in i88i,b\^ act of the Legislature, 
 approved by Hon. Alonzo B. Cornell, then Governor of this 
 State. The objects of the Experiment station at Geneva, were 
 
declared to be "for the purpose of promoting Agriculture, in its 
 various branches by scientific investigation and experiment" 
 objects which the charter of the Ovid Agricultural College 
 covered and which the requirements of the State Charter of Cor- 
 nell University and Acts of Congress applying thereto, also 
 seem to include. 
 
 In connection with the Geneva Experiment Station, a number 
 of Sub-Stations, or test stations, have been established, in dif- 
 ferent parts of this State. 
 
 Data is not at hand, to give the entire cost of the Experiment 
 Station at Geneva, with farm buildings and equipments, and 
 the expense of annual maintenance of the same to date — but it is 
 estimated, that the aggregate expenditure Ijy the State therefor, 
 fully reaches or exceeds the sum of one Million of Dollars. 
 
 The Geneva Experiment Station having had no share in the 
 United States Land Grant and no endowment therefi"om and 
 receiving no large gifts or Ijequests — must relv upon the State 
 Treasury principallv, for its continuance and maintenance, with 
 the exception of the small proportion of about three thousand 
 dollars received under the Congressional Experiment Station 
 Acts. This Experiment Station, however, has been devoted to 
 important experiments in the interests of the farmer and horti- 
 culturist, and its work and the results ascertained and accom- 
 plished and promulgated by Bulletins, puljlished and distributed, 
 are very highly spoken of. 
 
 Had the State Agricultural College at 0\-id, with its magnifi- 
 cent farm of nearly seven hundred acres, received proper en- 
 couragement from the State, with a portion o( the Morrill Col- 
 lege Land Grant and subsequent benefits conferred by acts of 
 Congress — the writer firmly belie\'es, that it could have been 
 successfully maintained on the basis upon which it was chartered, 
 and the necessity for the great outlay made for a separate Ex- 
 periment Station and farm, could have been avoided. 
 
 When the (Morrill) College Land Grant Act of 1862, was 
 passed, there were then already some persons interested in 
 Agricultural education, who favored a division of so large a 
 quantity of land, as was received by the State of New York, 
 under the same, into two or three parts, and to be bestowed upon 
 two or three Institutions to be located in dift'erent sections of the 
 
State. Genesee College at Lima, was one of the applicants for 
 a portion of this land Grant. 
 
 Had an equitable division been made in 1863, or prior to April 
 1865 — of the United States lands, with the Agricultural College 
 at Ovid, as one of the number of recipients, it might have settled 
 questions as to the claims of localities, which are likely to arise. 
 
 For a number of years past, there has been some dissatisfaction 
 with the location of a single agricultural school for this State, 
 at Ithaca — as not centrally located. 
 
 In the Legislature of 1906, applications were made for the 
 establishment of two additional Agriculttiral Colleges — one to be 
 located at Canton, St. Lav\-rence County, and another at Cobles- 
 kill, Schoharie County. The application for the Canton Agricult- 
 tiral school was successful in passing both Houses of the Legis- 
 lattire, aided largely it is alleged through political influence — 
 while the Cobleskill application failed to pass. The Governor of 
 this State, on the 31st of May, 1906, approved the Act to establish 
 a State School of Agriculture at Saint Lawrence University at 
 Canton (a Denominational College of the Uni\'ersalist Church) 
 with an appropriation of eighty thousand dollars, as an entering 
 vredge. 
 
 Tax payers of this State, may expect to hear, that this appro- 
 priation has hereafter been extended several hundred thousand 
 dollars, for additional btiildings with a large annual appro- 
 priation for maintenance of the College. The success of this 
 application will encourage a renewal of the application for an 
 agricultural school at Cobleskill — with another on Long Island, 
 or in the vicinity of New York City and still others, with large 
 additional outlays from the State Treasury. 
 
 What a marvelous transformation indeed, has taken place in 
 legislation in this State, as to agricultural education, since the 
 time when the State, by its Legislature, denied anv real financial 
 aid to the pioneer Agricultural College atO\'id — but only granted 
 a loan, secured by mortgage upon the College farm ! 
 
 In referring to the legislation in the past tifty-three years in 
 relation to Agricultural Schools for higher agricultural education 
 and the great liberality of this State to Cornell University, to the 
 New York Agricultural Experiment Station at Geneva, and to 
 St. Lawrence University at Canton — the writer must not be 
 
understood to hold any unkind or unfriendly feeling toward 
 either of these institutions. 
 
 As a citizen and resident in vSeneca County, in the past seventy- 
 three years, he felt at its inception, a deep interest in the success of 
 the Agricultural College at Ovid — and the contrast between the 
 liberality of the State by its Legislature, to the Institutions 
 named and its narrow, illiberal and arbitrary treatment and 
 action in relation to the Ovid State Agricultural College, has 
 been \-ery forcibly presented to him, from time to time. The 
 writer always favored an Agricultural School, the leading objects 
 of which should be similar to those included in the Ovid College 
 Charter, and he truly and sincerely believes, that an institution 
 organized upon that basis, as a distinctive Agricultural College, 
 with an ample experiment farm, was what the farmers of the 
 State required. He, therefore, never favored an Agricultural 
 School as a mere department in a University or College plan. 
 As to the success of an Agricultural College, in which the leading 
 object of instruction is agricultural education, with its allied 
 branches — reference may be made among others, to the Michi- 
 gan Agricultural College at Lansing, to the Mississippi Agricult- 
 ural College at Starkville and to the Massachusetts Agricultural 
 College at Amherst. Each of these institutions received the 
 small c^uota of its State under the Morrill College Land Grant 
 Act, and each of the same, instructs all students in Agriculture, 
 resident in the State where the College is located, free or sub- 
 stantially free of charge, for tuition. 
 
 The Ontario Agricultural College, located at Guelph, Canada, 
 is another example of a successful agricultural school, in which 
 agricultural education, is the leading object of instruction. 
 
 In these schools, especial attention is given to instruction in 
 agriculture, horticulture, dairy husbandry, forestry, veterinary 
 science and animal husbandry, also engineering and sur- 
 veying—while agricultural Chemistry, Geology, Botany, Ento- 
 mology, Astronon'iy, Metecjrology and kindred subjects, are the 
 principal branches of agricultural study. 
 
 It becomes (jur dutv, in concluding this sketch, to give an ac- 
 count of tlie "last days" of the State Agricultural College at 
 Ovid. As already stated, instruction in the College, closed to 
 pupils in 1 86 1 — the exact date of closing, has not been ascer- 
 
tained, but the College was not opened to pupils for the fall term 
 .in December of that year and the school was officially closed 
 early in 1862. 
 
 During the years 1862, 1863 and 1864, the farming operations 
 upon the College farm were in charge of the College Trustees. 
 
 It became evident in 1865 (after the success of the Ithaca 
 movement became apparent), that there was no further hope of 
 reviving the College at the close of the Civil war, and that the 
 College farm would have to be disposed of. In fact, already, in 
 1862, a portion of the State College farm (part of the lands which 
 were under personal mortgage, at the time when the Trustees 
 purchased the same) was sold under Foreclosure Proceedings, 
 leaving (including four acres acquired after the original pur- 
 chase of the farm) about 475 acres in possession of the Trustees. 
 
 Doubtless intended as a compensation and consolation to the 
 people of Ovid and vicinity, for the loss of the Agricultural Col- 
 lege, the Legislature of 1865, already on April eighth (nineteen 
 days before the passage of the Cornell University Charter and 
 Land Grant) passed an act authorizing the Governor to appoint 
 three commissioners for the purpose of selecting a suitable site for 
 the erection of an Asylum for the Chronic pauper insane of the 
 State. 
 
 These commissioners, socjn after appointed by the Governor, 
 were directed by the Act — first to seek for and select any property 
 owned by the State, or upon which the State held a lien, etc. 
 
 The duties of these commissioners were thus so closely de- 
 fined, that thev could not well do otherwise than select the State 
 Agricultural farm and buildings at Ovid, upon which the State, as 
 already mentioned, held a mortgage lien, dated March 6, 1857, 
 for money loaned to the College under Acts of the Legislature of 
 
 1856-57' 
 
 The Commissioners, therefore, selected and designated the Col- 
 lege farm as the site for "Willard Asylum for the Insane" which 
 had been incorporated by Chapter 342 Laws of 1865, and now- 
 known as "Willard State Hospital." The title to the farm was 
 acquired and perfected under Mortgage foreclosure and the lo- 
 cation of the Asylum was completed in 1865. 
 
 A statement as to the foreclosure proceedings, may be interest- 
 ing: On Jtdv 5, i860, the Trustees of the State Agricultural 
 
 24 
 
College had obtained a loan of thirty thovisand dollars from the 
 Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, secured by 
 mortgage covering 475 acres of the College farm. This mort- 
 gage was foreclosed and the lands described therein, were sold at 
 the Court House in the Village of Waterloo, by Rezin A. Wight 
 as Referee, on December 15, 1865, to Hon. Charles J. Folger of 
 Geneva for $33,600 and who assigned his bid and piuxhase to the 
 State of New York. 
 
 The Referee, thereupon conveyed the said College property to 
 the People of the vState of New York, by deed, dated December 
 26, 1865, thus placing the entire interest and title in the said 
 property, in the State 
 
 There was, it is said, considerable dissatisfaction expressed on 
 the day of sale, by persons who had subscribed and paid money, 
 expresslv subscribed for, and used fur, the purchase of a farm for 
 an Agricultural College in Seneca County, and who were cut off 
 by this Foreclosure. There was no redress however, and the 
 State acquired full title and possession of the College, with its 
 farm land and premises. 
 
 This substantially closes the history of the old State Agri- 
 cultural College at Ovid. In the collection of material for this 
 sketch, the writer desires to express his thanks t(.) Mrs. H. G. 
 Hopkins, of Buffalo, N. Y. (formerly of Willard), to Dr. Wm. H 
 Brewer now of New Haven, Conn., to Dr. John B. Chapin, now of 
 Philadelphia, Pa., to the County Clerk of Seneca County and to 
 others, for information and favcjrs extended to him. 
 
 - It is not our purpose at this time, to follow up with a history of 
 Willard State Hospital, of which an historical sketch was pub- 
 hshed in 1887. The State Agricultural College building was 
 brought into use in 1870, and f(jr a time was known as the 
 "Branch," — the Administration Building having been erected 
 near the shore of Seneca Lake. The College or Branch Building 
 was subsequently, in 1886, greatly altered and reduced in 
 heighth, so that little is now left, to show its original handsome 
 architectural proportions. 
 
 Additional buildings have from time to time been erected and 
 additional lands purchased for the Asylum, by the State. 
 
 The Asylum was opened and the first patients were received at 
 Willard for treatment, October 13, 1869, with Dr. John B. 
 
 25 
 
Chapin as Medical Superintendent. It is sufficient to say here, 
 that this Institution is a worthy State Charity and has from the 
 beginning, been officered and managed efficiently, economically 
 and humanely, for the relief of the unfortunates committed there- 
 to, and in the best interest of the State. In recent years, there 
 are usually between 2 200 and 2,300 patients under treatment 
 there. 
 
 And yet, the writer is one of many persons who pre- 
 ferred and was strongly attached to the State Agricultural 
 College at Ovid, and who still conscientiously believes, that if it 
 had received a fair and just share of and portion in the bestowment 
 of the United States College Land Grant under Act of Congress of 
 1862, and under subsecpent Acts of Congress in aid of Agri- 
 cultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, that it would have 
 met with success and would have continued its existence from these 
 sources of support alone, without an annual call upon the State 
 Legislature for maintenance, as a distinctive Agricultural College 
 and Experiment farm and would have taken an honorable posi- 
 tion among the Colleges of this State and Country. 
 
 "Of all sad words of tongue or pen. 
 The saddest are these — 'it miirht have been!' " 
 
 26 
 
ADDENDA. 
 
 The publication of the foregoing Historical Paper having been 
 unavoidably delayed, opportunity is now given to add the appropriations 
 made to Cornell University by the State Legislature of 1Q07, to wit: 
 In annual appropriation bill : 
 
 For the State College of Agriculture for the promotion of 
 agricultural knowledge, and for maintenance and equip- 
 ment to conduct the College $150,000.00 
 
 (An increase of $50,000 over the appropriation of igo6 
 and $100,000 more than the appropriation of i()05). 
 
 For the Veterinary College, for maintenance, etc 30,000.00 
 
 (An increase of $5,000 over the appropriation of pre- 
 vious years) . 
 In the Annual Supply Bill : 
 
 An appropriation for completion of the equipment of the 
 buildings of the State College of agriculture and for ap- 
 paratus, etc., the sum of 50,000.00 
 
 (In addition to $250,000 heretofore appropriated for 
 Agricultural College building). 
 Also for erection and ecpiipment of barns for animals and 
 
 for farm implements 25,000.00 
 
 $255,000.00 
 To which add the regular annual appropriation from the 
 
 College Land Script Fund 34,428.80 
 
 ToT.AL $289,428.80 
 
 As anticipated, the Legislature of 1907, appropriated ten thousand dol- 
 lars ($10,000) for the Agricultural School at St. Lawrence University, 
 established last year, for salaries and maintenance — as a beginning. 
 
 Comment upon these appropriations is unnecessary, — they speak for 
 themselves! 
 
 By act of the Fifty-ninth Congress of the United States, approved by the 
 President, March 4, 1907, the sum of five thousand dollars each, was ap- 
 propriated for the more complete endowment and maintenance of Agri- 
 cultural Colleges, established in the several states under the College Land 
 Grant Act (in addition to the amount heretofore appropriated annually 
 under Act of August 30, iSgo) — and five thousand dollars in each of the 
 next four years. From and after June 30, igi i, the annual appropriation 
 to each State, for Agricultural C(.)l]ege. purposes by the Acts of Congress 
 of 1890 and 1907, will therefore reachfifty thousand dollars — inadditionto 
 moneys appropriated under Acts of Congress of 1887 and i9o6,inaidof 
 Agricultural Experiment Stations, as already stated. 
 
 Varick, X. Y., Aug. 20, 1907. D- W. 
 
 27 
 
m. 
 
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
 002 783 766 9 0,