PLAN OF ORGANIZATION. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Board: 
 
 It accords with custom that, previous to the opening of a new 
 institution, the president elect should present to the trustees his 
 views on all matters essential to its future success. I shall there- 
 fore propose to you, gentlemen, such plans for the organization 
 and management of the Iowa State Agricultural College as seem 
 to me adapted to secure the benign objects for which it was 
 > founded. These plans may either be accepted in their entirety or 
 serve simply as outlines to be filled up hereafter as occasion may 
 require. 
 
 OBJECTS OF THE IOWA STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 
 
 There can be no question as to the purpose of the Iowa Agri- 
 cultural College. The wording of the congressional grant from 
 which our endowment arises, is pointed and explicit. It declares 
 “ That the leading object shall be, without excluding other sci- 
 entific and classical studies and including military tactics, to teach 
 such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the 
 mechanic arts , in order to promote the liberal and practical educa- 
 tion of the industrial classes, in the several pursuits and pro-; 
 fessions of life.” 
 
 No doubtful construction of such language is possible. 
 The principal clause announces in precise English that “the leadr 
 ing object shall be, to teach such branches of learning as are 
 related to agriculture and the mechanic arts,” and the gist of the 
 adjuncts which set forth the final purpose is 11 To educate the indus- 
 trial classes for their pursuits in life.” 
 
 In accepting this munificent grant, which, under skillful man- 
 agement, already yields an income of thirty thousand dollars a 
 year, the State of Iowa accepted alio the conditions it imposes, 
 
[ 2 ] 
 
 and the trustees have no alternative but to fulfill these conditions 
 in an honest and liberal spirit. If the objects of the institution are 
 to teach the branches related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, 
 then the leading courses of study should be largely composed of 
 these branches, the leading professors should have these branches 
 in charge, and the whole equipment of the institution should help 
 to illustrate and give them prominence. But if the public faith, 
 jil edged in receiving the congressional grant, requires that this 
 institution be, in spirit and scope, a college of agriculture and me- 
 chanic arts, it also requires that these departments of study should 
 be co-ordinates — in other words, that each should be provided 
 with all the facilities which are needful for its complete develop- 
 ment. 
 
 The spirit of the law forbids that, in the organization, one 
 should be subordinate to the other, and if there should be found 
 any difference in the state of these departments in actual opera- 
 tion, let it arise from the nature and number of the sciences rela- 
 ted to each and from the educational necessities of the state as 
 revealed hereafter. The grant contemplates simply that full 
 opportunity should be given to both, and not that both should be 
 taught by an equal number of professors or attended by an equal 
 number of students. 
 
 The enactment of Congress provides further, that military tac- 
 tics shall be included among the branches to be taught, but does 
 not make instruction in it a leading object. I regard the lan- 
 guage employed as clearly implying that it was not the intention 
 of Congress to require that military science should be made a 
 separate department of instruction, but that it should hold a rank 
 subordinate to the main design. The purpose of the congression- 
 al enactment will in this particular be fully gained if military 
 tactics and engineering be thoroughly taught to advanced stu- 
 dents in all the departments. I need hardly add that the language 
 of the grant, in not excluding other scientific and classical studies, 
 implies simply that their instruction to an extent compatible with 
 the leading object, is not forbidden. Instruction in scientific and 
 classical studies not connected with agriculture or the mechanic 
 arts, is permitted if such studies are deemed necessary to give 
 range and completeness to the college courses, but the creation of 
 a department of general science and literature which should ov6r- 
 shadow the departments essential to the enterprise, would be a 
 manifest violation of the spirit and intent of the national law. 
 
[ 3 ] 
 
 Briefly then, in strict conformity to the conditions of the 
 congressional grant, the trustees must organize two co-ordinate 
 departments, namely, that of agriculture and that of the mechanic 
 ar ts— must make them the principal departments of the college, 
 and give them all proper facilities and means of illustration. 
 
 The trustees must further provide for instruction in military 
 tactics but may make it an adjunct of the principal departments. 
 
 The trustees may include other scientific and classical studies 
 but must make instruction in these subordinate to the main 
 design of the institution. 
 
 Before proceeding to determine specifically what kind, number, 
 and succession of studies will, when arranged into the two princi- 
 pal courses, answer this plain interpretation of the law, permit 
 me to notice briefly the causes which are producing the new 
 order of institutions to which this agricultural college belongs. 
 
 For some years past there has been among men of thought and 
 culture, a growing conviction that the old college course does not 
 answer the wants of modern life. It is indeed justly believed 
 that a course of study borrowed largely from antiquity and hav- 
 ing little connection with the immense activities around us, is out 
 of sympathy with the spirit of the times. The ordinary college 
 is seemingly indifferent to the achievements of modern science 
 and the useful arts, and admits these but sparingly into its cur- 
 riculum while it holds tenaciously to its favorite humanities, an 
 inheritance from the dead past. While many from the lack of 
 better means resort to it for higher education, it is, in fact, suita- 
 ble to the comparatively few only who are preparing for the 
 professions of theology, literature, or law. Since progress in 
 literary studies is its measure of scholarship the advantages it 
 offers to such students, though not without drawbacks, are many 
 and great. But as a mental gymnasium for the industrial classes 
 its faults are legion. It withdraws the student largely from the 
 great industries, isolates him from the world, withholds all incite- 
 ments to regular physical effort, gives him an aversion to manual 
 labor, a distaste for the habits and forms of business, and compels 
 him, without regard to individual adaptation, to study that 
 which he will never use. in any of the great industrial enterprises 
 of the day. His six years of mental toil, if successful, give him 
 a knowledge of heathen mythology, a familiarity with the liter- 
 ary wonders of the ancient world, an insight into the felicities 
 
and philosophy of the most perfect of languages, and a habit of 
 mind that fits him for the editorial chair or the studies of the 
 pulpit and . the bar, but certainly unfits him for success in any of 
 the great branches of industry and art which employ the most 
 intelligent and energetic minds of the country. What farmer’s 
 son returns from the college to the farm unless he has failed to 
 win the college diploma or to imbibe the college spirit ? What 
 valedictorian ever became the leader in any great industrial 
 enterprise by virtue of the peculiar attainments that made him 
 the leader of his class ? 
 
 Let us be just, however, to our American colleges. They have 
 been almost our only institutions of higher learning. Their fac- 
 ulties comprise scholars of the finest culture, earnest and faithful 
 workers, loving their noble work. They have produced many 
 distinguished men who are eminent in divinity or law, but the 
 simple truth is, that the single line of studies they insist upon, 
 unvarying, inflexible, and remote in its bearings on many of the 
 prominent pursuits, does not suit the variety of minds nor meet 
 the multiplied wants which modern progress has developed. 
 
 Of late years, the colleges themselves, made aware of this defect, 
 have endeavored to find a remedy in the establishment of scien- 
 tific courses adjunctive to the classical department. But as the 
 weight of college influence is still strongly in favor of the tradi- 
 tional studies, the scientific course.has held an inferior rank and 
 had consequently but a partial success. 
 
 The crowning effort to meet these educational needs which the 
 old curriculum does not supply, has been made by Congress in a 
 magnificent grant of public lands to each State for the founding of 
 institutions in which the sciences relating to agriculture and the 
 mechanic arts shall be prominent branches of instruction. And 
 it is interesting to notice that the regime of these new schools 
 reverses many of the traditionary maxims of the common college. 
 The latter makes ancient classics the leading studies and admits 
 modern sciences in limited amounts. The former makes modern 
 sciences the leading studies and does not forbid the ancient clas- 
 sics as subordinate branches. The latter divorces labor and study 
 and gives intellectual culture often at the expense of bodily sound- 
 ness. The former unites labor and study and makes their union 
 conduce to the attainment of health, practical knowledge and 
 manual skill. The one proceeds upon the theory that study 
 
is valuable chiefly for its reflexive effect, and that in the arrange- 
 ment of a curriculum the main question is what branches will be 
 most conducive to the discipline of the student. The other bases 
 its system on the belief that knowledge is valuable chiefly for its 
 uses— that discipline is an incidental result of great importance 
 indeed, but depending more on the manner of studying than on 
 the matter studied, and that in the selection of studies the main 
 question is what branches will be most valuable in the pursuits of 
 life. Both have worthy objects. The aim of one is to make 
 thinkers, of the other to make thinkers who are workers as well. 
 I regard that discipline, moreover, the most genuine both in qual- 
 ity and extent which fits the student for the employments and 
 duties of after life. 
 
 Such, gentlemen, is the beneficent purpose we are called to ful- 
 fill in organizing the system and courses of study of the Iowa 
 Agricultural College. To make it do its part towards the filling 
 of a hiatus in the existing facilities for advanced education ; to 
 uphold the dignity of labor and to promote industrial progress ; 
 to give to the young men and women who resort hither, the 
 means of a culture which shall be unstinted in measure, liberal 
 in range, and especially available in the industries which underlie 
 the prosperity of this broad and beautiful state — these are the 
 benign objects that will shape our courses of study and system 
 of government and control our plans in the selection of a corps 
 of efficient instructors. 
 
 The following courses of study selected and arranged according 
 to the principles referred to, are proposed for the parallel depart- 
 ments of agriculture and the mechanic arts : 
 
 COURSE OF STUDY. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. DEPARTMENT OF MECHANIC ARTS. 
 
 FIRST YEAR. 
 
 FIRST TERM. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Physical Geography. 
 
 Rhetoric. 
 
 Bookkeeping. 
 
 SECOND TERM. 
 
 Geometry. # 
 
 Physiology and Hygiene. 
 
 English Language and Literature. 
 
f6] 
 
 SECOND YEAR. 
 
 FIRST TERM. 
 
 Trigonometry, Mensuration and Surveying. 
 
 General Chemistry. 
 
 Botany and Vegetable Physiology. 
 
 SECOND TERM. 
 
 Mechanics. 
 
 Analytic#*! Chemistry. Analytical Geometry. 
 
 Zoology, Practical Agriculture. Descriptive Geometry. 
 
 THIRD YEAR. 
 
 FIRST TERM. 
 
 Analysis of Soils. Mechanics of Engineering. 
 
 Entomology, Practical Agriculture. Shades, Shadows and Perspectives. 
 
 Botany, Horticulture and Forestry. Differential and Integral Calculus. 
 
 SECOND TERM. 
 
 Chemical Physics. 
 
 Geology and Mineralogy. Mechanics of Engineering. 
 
 Comparative Anatomy and Physiology. Machine Drawing. 
 
 Practical Agriculture. 
 
 FOURTH YEAR. 
 
 FIRST TERM. 
 
 Agricultural Chemistry. History and Principles of Architecture. 
 
 Landscape Gardening, Architectural Drawing.* 
 
 Rural Architecture. Carpentry and Masonry. 
 
 Political Economy and Logic. 
 
 SECOND TERM. 
 
 Mental Philosophy. 
 
 Constitutional Law. 
 
 Veterinary Science and Art. Civil Engineering. 
 
 The French and German Languages, Music and Free-hand Drawing are option- 
 al studies throughout the course. 
 
 SELECTION AND SUCCESSION OF STUDIES. 
 
 If it be the aim of our Agricultural College to educate the 
 industrial classes by giving instruction in the sciences related to 
 agriculture and the mechanic arts, the programme of studies 
 should, I repeat, be arranged with special reference to this object. 
 
 The selection and succession of studies should be guided by the 
 following considerations : 
 
 1st. Many of the sciences related to agriculture and the 
 mechanic arts involve in a greater or less degree mathematical 
 proces^s. The mathematics should be thoroughly taught as 
 preparatory to these. 
 
[7] 
 
 2d. The terms agriculture and mechanics embrace a great 
 variety of operations based on different sciences. Each of these 
 sciences should receive attention in ratio to its relative import- 
 ance. 
 
 3d. As each branch of science belongs to a group of sciences to 
 which it is closely related, it is impossible that the student should 
 attain the mastery of a single branch without studying also its 
 cognate branches. For example, no profundity can be reached in 
 geology without a knowledge of mineralogy, botany, and com- 
 parative anatomy. 
 
 4th. Sciences or arts evolved from or dependent on other 
 sciences should follow these in the arrangement of studies. Hor- 
 ticulture, for instance, should follow botany and vegetable physi- 
 ology — architecture, descriptive geometry. 
 
 As instruments of discipline there is much less difference 
 between the various studies than is generally believed. Discip- 
 line is the result of intellectual effort, prolonged, successful, and 
 oft-repeated, upon appropriate objects. Any study whose classifi- 
 cations are philosophical and accurate, becomes an instrument of 
 discipline if prosecuted with interest, while, on the other hand, 
 any study pursued in a desultory manner, conduces neither to 
 discipline nor to the acquisition of valuable knowledge. 
 
 It must be conceded however, that each of the great groups of 
 scientific knowledge, while it exercises, in study, all the faculties 
 of thought, appeals with more direct force to faculties of a single 
 class. The natural sciences which classify the objects of the 
 external world, train powerfully the faculties of perception, 
 inductive reasoning, and classification. 
 
 Mathematics, which is the science of abstract ideas, and psy- 
 chology, which classifies the powers of the human mind, call into 
 intense action the reflective energies, while the study of language 
 and literature stimulates the imagination and the faculty of 
 expression. It is well, therefore, that our peculiar purpose 
 requires the liberal introduction of mathematics and that we 
 must accept, to some extent, literature and psychology as subor- 
 dinate branches in order to give to our courses of study a health- 
 ful variety. 
 
 I am gratified to add that simply as a matter of broad and 
 generous culture, it is fortunate that, in our programme, the 
 natural sciences greatly predominate, because outside of the value 
 
of the knowledge they, supply, they are as simple instruments of 
 discipline more effective than all other studies together, and this 
 for the reason that unlike other branches, they stimulate intensely 
 the perceptive powers and furnish food for all the other faculties 
 as well. 
 
 It is impossible in the limits assigned this report to discuss the 
 merits and bearings of each of the branches laid down in the 
 scheme above. I will confine myself, therefore, to a brief com- 
 ment on such points as seem to need further notice. * 
 
 There is, in our high schools and colleges, a very general lack 
 of instruction in the forms and customs of business. It is proba- 
 bly because book-keeping is not among the abstruse studies, that 
 it does not find favor with the majority of teachers. Yet few 
 branches are more important in their bearing upon the success of 
 the various industrial and other pursuits. Every undertaking, 
 whether it involves a few hundreds or millions of dollars, should 
 be conducted strictly according to the principles of business. In 
 larger enterprises no talents or learning can compensate for the 
 absence of good business habits and right business views. Now, 
 the foundation of business efficiency, is skill in accounts and a 
 practical knowledge of the forms and instruments employed in 
 the different departments of business. The acquirement of such 
 knowlege is of high value, whether in its application to house- 
 keeping, farming, or to the more complicated transactions. I 
 propose, for these reasons, that book-keeping should find a place 
 as a regular study early in the course, not only of the leading 
 departments, but also of every subordinate department of study 
 taught in this institution. 
 
 STUDY OF LANGUAGE. 
 
 We may reasonably anticipate that those who go forth as grad- 
 uates from this institution, will, as the years pass, become prom- 
 inent in social and industrial affairs. The real success of this 
 institution will consist not so much in the number that throng its 
 halls, as in the number of men and women who go out from 
 thence to become high-minded, influential, earnest workers in the 
 world. We should see to it then, that while we train students for 
 special pursuits, we give, at the same time, opportunity for such 
 collateral attainments as will enable them, if needful, to do good 
 service in any public capacity. No knowledge contributes more 
 to personal influence than that which enables its possessor to use 
 
[9] 
 
 the language with habitual force and correctness. It is true the- 
 study of the natural sciences, with their extensive and accurate 
 vocabulary, adds greatly to the student’s resources in this regard, 
 but, in order to attain the rare power of speaking or writing pure 
 English with readiness, the forces and literature of the language 
 must be thoroughly studied. To meet this necessity the studies of 
 Rhetoric, English Literature, and Logic are laid down in the 
 programme at the proper intervals and early provision should be 
 made for teaching them thoroughly. 
 
 It will be wise to provide in these departments for giving in- 
 struction in French and German, so that students may carry liter- 
 ary studies beyond the English if they so desire. 
 
 But to meet more directly the necessity of fitting our students 
 for their future duties as citizens of this great republic, I recom- 
 mend that our scheme of instruction embrace Political Economy 
 and Constitutional Law. These sciences carefully taught will 
 prepare our educated farmers and mechanics for an intelligent 
 decision of all the great questions of public utility and also for the 
 creditable discharge of their duties as legislators, if called to rep- 
 resent the industrial classes in the councils of the state or the 
 nation. 
 
 IDENTICAL STUDIES OF THE DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS. 
 
 It will be noticed that the first studies in each of the parallel 
 courses proposed are identical. This arises from the following 
 considerations : 
 
 1. That all students intending to graduate should pursue the 
 commercial and literary studies specified above ; and, 
 
 2. That most of these branches, which are the same in both 
 departments, are properly introductory to the special or profess- 
 ional course in each. 
 
 An inspection of the programme and a little reflection will 
 show that these branches ought to precede a special course in any 
 of the industrial sciences or arts. Moreover, while prosecuting 
 these general branches, the student will gain a maturer judgment 
 to settle intelligently which of the special departments he will 
 subsequently enter. For these reasons, I commend them to 
 you as proper for the earlier ‘studies of nearly every department 
 now or hereafter established. An incidental advantage arising 
 therefrom will be, that professors in any one of these branches 
 can supply the earlier instruction in it for all the courses. 
 
[ 10 ] 
 
 DEPARTMENT FOR LADIES. 
 
 The action of the trustees in admitting girls and young ladies 
 to the College and giving them full participation in all its privi- 
 leges, has my most hearty concurrence. In fact this policy is 
 simply a recognition of their rights under the national law. The 
 endowment was evidently made for the noble purpose of educa- 
 ting the industrial classes without distinction of sex. The time 
 is rapidly approaching in this republic when the human mind 
 shall be free to follow its own promptings in seeking a full devel- 
 opment. Amidst the various opinions on this subject expressed 
 of late, one proposition stands unquestioned. Every human being 
 of either sex or any race who has reached the years of discretion, 
 has the right of election as to the means of self-culture. It is the 
 glory of this state that it stands among the first of the states 
 to meet in the organization of its various institutions, the obliga- 
 tions which this right imposes. Let the Agricultural College in 
 common with all the schools of Iowa, of whatever rank, be 
 opened to the admission, under proper conditions, of both sexes 
 and all races. The trustees will of course supplement their action 
 admitting girls and young ladies, by supplying all the facilities 
 for instruction which their special needs may require. But while 
 their special needs are fully met, they should, in harmony with 
 the principle noticed above, be left entirely free to engage in any 
 of the studies of other departments. 
 
 I would accordingly advise that adequate provision be made for 
 teaching French and German, Vocal and Instrumental Music, 
 and Drawing. Still while opportunity for thoroughness in these 
 branches should be given by engaging the best instructors which 
 the country can furnish, they should be regarded as subordinate 
 to the more solid acquirements made by progress in mathematics 
 and the natural sciences. Just as the amusements of life, import- 
 ant as they are, should be subordinate to its serious employments, 
 so the ornamental portion of education for either sex should be 
 made secondary to more solid attainments. Accordingly, the 
 first twelve studies, common to all of the departments already 
 arranged, will be equally appropriate for young ladies, while the 
 study of some of these, such as Book-keeping, Physiology, Hy- 
 giene, and Physical Culture, will be of especial value. To these 
 should be added instruction as proposed above in French, German, 
 
Music and Drawing as optional studies. The more special prepa- 
 ration for industrial pursuits may be found in the addition to this 
 department, of the study of Domestic Economy. Other studies 
 from the departments of agriculture and the mechanic arts, such 
 as Political Economy and Horticulture and Mental Philosophy, 
 may complete the course. 
 
 SUBORDINATE DEPARTMENTS. 
 
 Other departments of instruction may be added to answer de- 
 mands not provided for by the studies of the departments pro- 
 posed. Among the most important perhaps are the Department 
 of Civil Engineering, the Department of Business and the Nor- 
 mal Department. To each of these departments the first twelve 
 studies on the regular programme will serve as an appropriate 
 introduction. 
 
 The course of Civil Engineering will consist of such additional 
 studies as Descriptive and Analytical Geometry as in the 
 Department of the Mechanic Arts. Theory and use of 
 Instruments and Field-Works, Geographical Drawing, Higher 
 Astronomy, Theory of Motors, Plans of Elevations of Engin- 
 eering Structures. Also Architectural Drawing, Analytical 
 Mechanics, as in the Department of Mechanic Arts, and Ge- 
 ology and Mental Philosophy, as in all the other departments. 
 This department will be a school of preparation for many young 
 men who make choice of civil engineering as a future pursuit. 
 
 The Department of Business will be established for the benefit 
 of such students as desire to fit themselves for engaging in any of 
 the various employments of business. The special course, 
 besides the twelve studies common to all the departments, 
 will comprise Commercial Arithmetic, Business Forms, Com- 
 mercial Law, Political Economy, Exchange, Banking, Cur- 
 rency. 
 
 The Normal Department will aim to give special training 
 to those of both sexes who choose to teach, either for a long or a 
 limited period in the schools of the state. This institution, 
 while accomplishing its special mission, ought to make some 
 contribution to the educating forces outside its walls. No state, 
 however it may multiply normal schools, can make provisions 
 adequate to its wants in this regard. Shall we not do our part 
 among the noble workers who are striving to increase the num- 
 ber of efficient teachers for the public schools ? Probably many 
 
[ 12 ] 
 
 students from all our departments will employ the annual winter 
 vacation in teaching. There should be arranged for such a short 
 course of normal instruction. 
 
 The course of study for the Normal Department should include, 
 
 1. The branches common to all the other departments. 
 
 2. The following subjects : Organization and Government of 
 Schools ; Methods of Teaching; Primary Instruction; Natural order 
 of studies corresponding to the order of evolution of the intellect- 
 ual powers, Mental Philosophy as applied to the w T ork of the 
 school-room ; Pigid review of the common branches. 
 
 ALL COURSES OF STUDY OPTIONAL. 
 
 It is generally conceded by experienced instructors that com- 
 pulsory study is fatal to progress. The genuine motive for ap- 
 plication is a hearty interest in the science pursued. The pleasure 
 arising from the acquisition of knowledge, is, perhaps, the only 
 condition on which the habit of studying 'intensely can be formed. 
 Not one-half the students who are compelled to pursue the studies 
 of a single inflexible course, attain to a respectability therein, even 
 under such inferior incentives as prizes and the marking system. 
 There is in such cases a deal of intellectual dawdling, especially 
 in the studies of Latin and Greek. Better by far that a student 
 should apply himself even to an inferior study with a manful 
 earnestness than that he should pursue a superior one with a 
 vacillating purpose. The one is the true educating process ; the 
 other, if continued, will make scholarship forever impossible. 
 
 Many earnest educators believe that this evil will find remedy 
 in giving, to all students, freedom to select between the series of 
 studies of different departments or even between the studies of 
 any single one. From the above considerations, I believe this 
 position is correct. It is in any event worthy of trial. I there- 
 fore recommend that all applicants of both sexes, who are 
 admitted to the college, be allowed a liberty of choice in studies, 
 limited only by the fact that some branches are necessarily ante- 
 cedent to others. If it be thought that many applicants will be 
 too young, on entering, to decide intelligently so important a 
 matter, the objection disappears when we consider that the study 
 of the series common to all the departments, are, in the main, 
 necessarily antecedent to the special courses that follow, and that 
 the tyro before accomplishing these, can, with an improved 
 
[ 13 ] 
 
 judgment, make choice of the department to which he will sub- 
 sequently attach himself. Even beyond this, it may be well to 
 admit those who desire to pursue a single study, to attend any 
 course of lectures, or after finishing the studies necessarily ante- 
 cedent, to make combinatiqgis of their own from the studies of 
 the different departments. 
 
 GENERAL METHOD OF INSTRUCTION. 
 
 A liberal and practical education in the several pursuits and 
 professions of life, implies not only a knowledge of the sciences 
 on which these pursuits are based, but power and skill also to 
 apply this knowledge in the corresponding arts. It will be our 
 earnest purpose to promote the practical education of our pupils 
 in this elevated sense. 
 
 Throughout the various departments, the sciences related to the 
 industrial pursuits, will be taught in their actual application. 
 The science and the art will be learned in succession, — the first by 
 study, the second by actual practice. Botany, for example, will 
 be studied and its principles at once applied in the practice of the 
 horticultural art. The mathematical principles involved in sur- 
 veying will be reduced to immediate practice with the instrument, 
 in the field. Chemistry will be made to reveal to the persevering- 
 student, by personal experiment, the elements of the various soils 
 and the art of fertilization. 
 
 Along with such study and practice, there should be given, by 
 the proper professors, familiar lectures on the various handicrafts 
 brought into exercise on the farm, in the garden, and in the work- 
 shop. These lectures should embrace, manufacture and manage- 
 ment of implements ; methods of plowing, sowing, cultivating, 
 and gathering of crops; processes in planting, grafting, and 
 pruning of trees ; treatment in breeding, feeding, housing, and 
 training of domestic animals ; raising of vegetables ; rotation of 
 crops ; laying out of farms ; fencing of fields ; methods of con- 
 structing roads, drains, and bridges; plans for farm-buildings; 
 management of machinery; processes and plans in household 
 economy, and numerous other topics of a similar character. 
 
 MANUAL LABOR. 
 
 The system and method of instruction proposed make manual 
 labor by the students indispensable. It is impossible to illustrate 
 the application of the principles of science to the processes in the 
 
[ 14 ] 
 
 various arts without daily practice of the eye and the hand. 
 Evidently the intention of the framers of the statute which re- 
 quires the students of the Iowa Agricultural College, to work two 
 hours a day in winter and three in summer, was, that manual 
 labor should be one of the educating forces of the institution. It 
 will be the earnest endeavor of the President and Faculty to 
 make it subserve this worthy object. To accept of manual labor 
 as a dignified auxiliary in our noble enterprise — to render it sub- 
 servient to physical culture— to the preservation of health by pre- 
 vention of the multitude of diseases to which sedentary life is 
 liable — to the giving of a salutary variety to the employments of 
 the day,— these are valuable but collateral objects. They do not 
 include the main purpose which was to make scientific knowledge 
 practical and familiar to the last degree by applying it to its various 
 uses. There may be some doubt whether daily compensated 
 manual labor on the part of the students will be pecuniarily 
 profitable to the institution, but there is not the shadow of a doubt 
 that it will be profitable to the students themselves. The Michi- 
 gan Agricultural College has had a successful trial of manual 
 labor, as required daily, for several years, and I am glad to know 
 that the Industrial University of Illinois has adopted it as a 
 prominent feature of its organization. 
 
 The young ladies and girls of the Agricultural College will, of 
 course, in fulfilling the requirements, engage, by rotation, in all 
 the different processes of the housekeepers’ art, while the young 
 men and boys will, before they graduate, gain experience in the 
 various employments of the farm and the garden, or the work- 
 shop. 
 
 In the exercise of all these handicrafts, the student will have the 
 encouragement and supervision of those professors who have them 
 more immediately in charge. I recommend that the arrangement 
 for daily manual labor be extended to all the working days of the 
 week except Saturday, and that it be limited to two hours during 
 the months of March, April, October and November, and three 
 hours during the remaining months of the college year. 
 
 PROFESSORSHIPS FOR ALE THE DEPARTMENTS PROPOSED. 
 
 The number of professorships necessary for all the departments 
 will be less than might be expected. In providing instruction for 
 the earlier studies of one course you provide for them all. A pro- 
 fessor of any branch will be a vailable for any of the departments 
 
[ 15 ] 
 
 in which such branch is taught. The following list comprises all 
 the Professors that will 'be needed under the- organization contem- 
 plated : 
 
 A Professor of Human Physiology, Hygiene and Physical Cul- 
 ture. 
 
 A Professor of Mathematics. 
 
 A Professor of English Language and Literature. 
 
 A Professor of Political Economy and Constitutional Law. 
 
 A Professor of Logic and Psychology. 
 
 A Professor of Botany and Horticulture. 
 
 A Professor of Practical Agriculture and Veterinary Science. 
 
 A Professor of Zoology and Entomology. 
 
 A Professor of Chemistry, General and Analytical. 
 
 A Professor of Geology and Mineralogy. 
 
 A Professor of Physics and Mechanics. 
 
 A Professor of Descriptive Geometry and Architecture. 
 
 A Professor of Civil Engineering. 
 
 A Professor of the Science and Art of Teaching. 
 
 A Professor of Military Engineering. 
 
 A Professor of French and German. 
 
 A Professor of Vocal and Instrumental Music. 
 
 An Instructor in Drawing. 
 
 A Matron, who will instruct in Domestic Economy and House- 
 hold Duties. 
 
 The full catalogue contains seventeen professors who will be 
 needed when all the departments are in complete operation. 
 From the nature of the enterprise, several years will elapse, how- 
 ever, before we can organize the higher classes, and some of the 
 professorships, moreover, will be filled probably by non-resident 
 professors. The professorships in Mathematics, in Practical Agri- 
 culture, in English Literature, in Chemistry and in Geology are 
 already filled. The professor of Botany and Horticulture should be 
 a man who adds fine attainments in these branches to several 
 years of successful experience. 
 
 I suggest that, so fast as the necessities of the departments 
 require, the remaining professorships be filled with young men 
 styled assistant professors who, in their energy, scholarship, and 
 teaching ability, shall give promise of great usefulness, and who 
 will serve for diminished salaries under the expectation of at- 
 taining to full professorships after a few years of approved labor. 
 
[16] 
 
 Let the advancement of the teachers and the growth of the insti- 
 tution go forward together. 
 
 NON RESIDENT PROFESSORS. 
 
 Beside the regular working force, the trustees have adopted 
 the views of the committee on organization, in appointing men 
 eminent in special sciences and arts, to deliver courses of lec- 
 tures before the students and such citizens as desire to attend. 
 Six of these non-resident professorships have, I learn, already 
 been filled by the selection of distinguished gentlemen from dif- 
 ferent institutions of the country. 
 
 We may safely anticipate that their lectures delivered during 
 the winter, will attract prominent farmers and mechanics from 
 all parts of the state. 
 
 KIND OF MEN NEEDED IN THE FACULTY, 
 
 Of the professors to be appointed, the number is of far less im- 
 portance than the quality. I can not forbear expressing my 
 hearty sympathy with the committee on organization, in their 
 views respecting the character of the men required for the fac- 
 ulty. No list of professional chairs, however formidable, will 
 avail to secure the prosperity of the college, if they be filled with 
 incompetent, inefficient professors. We want a corps of earnest, 
 energetic, scholarly workers, men harmonious in action, loving 
 their work, self-sacrificing, if need be, men up to the times, pro- 
 gressive yet cautious, attracted to this enterprise by sympathy 
 in its objects and faith in its success. 
 
 It is a matter for congratulation that three of the chairs are 
 filled so worthily. Dr. Townshencl, who fills the chair of Practi- 
 cal Agriculture, was raised on a farm in northern Ohio, studied 
 medicine and graduated in 1840 from the medical department of 
 the University of the State of New York. He then spent a year 
 or more in European hospitals at the same time visiting most of 
 the agricultural and veterinary schools on that side of the 
 Atlantic. After a few years devoted to the practice of surgery, 
 he was elected successively to both branches of the Legislature 
 and to Congress. At the close of his political services, he settled 
 upon one of the largest and finest farms in Northern Ohio. 
 Becoming impressed with the necessity of a scientific education 
 for young farmers he associated with three other gentlemen and 
 for some years sustained an agricultural college at Cleveland, 
 
Ohio. For several years before the outbreak of the rebellion, Dr. 
 Townshend was a member of the State Board of Agriculture and 
 twice President of that body. He Was again a member of that 
 board at the time of his election to the chair of Practical Agricul- 
 ture, No better man for the position he holds could be found in 
 the country. 
 
 Prof. George W. Jones graduated at Yale in 1859. The class 
 of which he was a member numbered one hundred and five 
 students, and yet he took half of all the prizes offered for 
 superiority in mathematics. After his graduation he taught 
 three years successfully in General Russell’s Military School. He 
 then accepted the professorship of Mathematics in Franklin 
 Institute, New York, and after two years’ service in that insti- 
 tution, became its Principal. This office he filled with great 
 success for several years until he was elected to the chair of Math- 
 ematics in the Iowa Agricultural College. No man ever brought 
 to such a post higher recommendations or surer prospects oi 
 success. 
 
 Dr. A. E. Foote, assistant professor of Chemistry, studied suc- 
 cessively in Courtland Academy, Madison University, Harvard, 
 and the Michigan University, graduating as a Doctor of Medicine 
 in the last-named institution in 1867. He studied chemistry 
 under Prof. Wolcott Gibbs of Harvard, and Prof. Silas H. Doug- 
 lass of Michigan University. Such was his unusual proficiency 
 in this science that he was appointed instructor in chemistry 
 immediately on his graduation, which position he held at the 
 time of his appointment in this institution. 
 
 The policy of the committee in scrutinizing the antecedents of 
 every candidate is a genuine one. Better that the remaining 
 chairs should be vacant long, and that the search should be 
 patient and protracted, than that a single occupant should prove 
 hereafter a hindrance rather than a help. 
 
 PREPARATORY SCHOOL. 
 
 You have already decided that a preparatory school shall be 
 opened in the building for the benefit of students not prepared to 
 begin the college courses. The instruction in such a school should 
 be limited to advanced Grammar, Higher Arithmetic, Local Geog- 
 raphy, Penmanship, Orthography and Elocution. I would sug- 
 gest that the preparatory school should be discontinued in the 
 
college building, whenever the number of regular college students 
 is large enough to occupy all the available rooms. If it be thought 
 best provision could be made for a preparatory school elsewhere. 
 The better class of common schools are the legitimate feeders of 
 an agricultural college. 
 
 QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED FOR ADMISSION TO THE DEPART- 
 MENTS OF THE COLLEGE. 
 
 For the prasent it is perhaps expedient that pupils who hold 
 the certificate of the County Superintendent, should be received to 
 any college department on passing a thorough examination in all 
 the branches taught in the preparatory school as noticed above. 
 It is my opinion that all other applicants should be admitted to 
 vacant rooms (if there be any) in the order of application until 
 the building is filled, and that of those who find board and rooms 
 outside, the number of admissions to the privileges of the institu- 
 tion be limited only by the capacity of the chapel and recitation 
 rooms. Let us hope that as the years pass, facilities for outside 
 board will be greatly increased. 
 
 LIBRARY, MUSEUMS, APPARATUS. 
 
 It need not be said to this board that on the extent of its library, 
 its museums and means of illustration, depend, in great degree, 
 its reputation and growth. I learn with pleasure that liberal 
 sums have already been appropriated for the purchase of books 
 and specimens to serve as nuclei for a library and a museum, and 
 also for sets of chemical and philosophical apparatus. It is hoped 
 that our funds will admit of annual additions to these instruments 
 of progress. 
 
 In every institution of higher learning, the means of illustra- 
 tion are second in importance only to the men who instruct, and 
 in schools of science taught in its relation to the useful arts, an 
 ample equipment of books, models, apparatus, &c., has a special 
 value which can not be overstated. I propose that, if it meets 
 the views of the board, all our collections shall, for the present, be 
 special helps in the accomplishment of our leading purpose, and 
 that general collections be left to the future. Our library should, 
 at first, be mainly composed of works on agriculture and the 
 mechanic arts. Our museum should be made as early as possible 
 to illustrate completely the mammals, birds, fishes, reptiles, and 
 
19 ] 
 
 insects of this State, as also its fruits, grains, grasses, esculent roots, 
 and its productions in minerals and metals. 
 
 Bulky machines and perishable products may be represented 
 by models. 
 
 We have lately received Dr. Shaffer’s fine collections in orni- 
 thology, entomology, &c. 
 
 The trustees may be assured that the board of instruction will 
 engage with zeal and energy in this attractive portion of their 
 work. It will be their steady purpose that, at no distant day, the 
 Iowa Agricultural College shall stand foremost among the insti- 
 tutions of the West, not only in the range and thoroughness of 
 the instruction it gives, but also for the fullness and variety of its 
 equipment. 
 
 It is recommended that the Professors be invited to hand in 
 lists of books for reference, apparatus, and means of illustration 
 needed in their respective departments, and that a catalogue of 
 purchases be made from these. All the works in our language of 
 leading men, in modern science and art, should be gathered. 
 Books should be obtained from the publishing firms at the lowest 
 possible rates. 
 
 SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Many who have engaged in organizing the schools of science 
 established under the congressional grant, are anxiously enquir- 
 ing what system is best adapted to secure the purposes of 
 good government. The subject is beset with difficulties. It 
 is to be greatly regretted that in a matter of such moment, 
 we are without reliable precedents. Of all the various codes 
 submitted to experiment in the institutions of higher learn- 
 ing, many have failed disastrously, and few have had more 
 than a partial success. Schools of lower rank have been 
 more successfully controlled because instructors in these have 
 the pupils under their more immediate personal influence, 
 and regard it their province to govern as well as to teach. In 
 colleges and universities there are abundant examples of excellent 
 systems of instruction but examples within my experience of a 
 system of government that maintains a uniform discipline and 
 good order, are very rare. Indeed there are seasons in the history 
 of nearly all higher institutions in the land, when their laws are 
 set at naught, their authority defied — seasons when the demon of 
 
[ 20 ] 
 
 turbulence takes possession of the students and refuses to be ex- 
 orcised. Those institutions whose students are gathered in large 
 bodies under the dormitory system are most exposed to such 
 visitations. Buildings erected at great expense for their conven- 
 ience and comfort are generally defaced and their neatness and 
 beauty destroyed in a spirit of mischief, simple and pure. Recita- 
 tions and lectures are liable to gross disturbance and the professors 
 subjected to gratuitous rudeness. Not a few eminent instructors 
 regard these improprieties as incidents inseparable from college 
 life, and therefore accept them with what grace they can muster, 
 as remediless evils. Public opinion too seems to treat them with 
 a similar forbearance. Many a graduate narrates his college 
 “ scrapes ” to admiring listeners who applaud them as commend- 
 able achievements. 
 
 Now this is all wrong. The government of an institution of 
 learning is an educating force by no means inferior in its purpo- 
 ses, to the other educating forces. It aims not so much to secure 
 the present convenience of good order and system and quiet, as to 
 exert a salutary influence on the character of the pupil. It is 
 indeed the prime agency for promoting habits of industry, 
 promptness, earnestness and self-control. The intellectual forces 
 of a college are comprised in its system of instruction, but its 
 moral forces are to no small extent embodied in its system of 
 government, and no completeness in the former can compensate 
 for weakness in the latter. It is quite as important, to say the 
 least, that young men should attain gentlemanly manners, ex- 
 emplary conduct, and a wholesome respect for proper authority 
 as that they should attain a knowledge of geometry and the me- 
 chanics. Nor is there any peculiar reason why good government 
 should not attain its objects in college as well as out of college. 
 Young men engaged in literary and scientific pursuits are not by 
 nature less reasonable or less inclined to submit to salutary laws 
 than young men engaged in other pursuits. By far the majority 
 are studious, well disposed, and even in sympathy with the prin- 
 ciples of good government. It is only the disorderly few who are 
 the makers of mischief and give to the discipline of the college 
 its peculiar character. Now to leave the conduct of the minority 
 to their own manliness, according to the time-honored practice of 
 the German universities, would reverse all the maxims of gov- 
 ernment, and work to many young men, irreparable injury. On 
 
the other hand, a code of laws making numerous and petty 
 restrictions sure to be disregarded, is an evil almost as serious. 
 Surely, there is somewhere between the extremes of governing 
 too much or governing not at all, a middle course which will 
 constitute a basis for governing well. 
 
 All men need restraint. None ever reach such perfection of 
 self-control as to dispense safely with all external disciplinary 
 influences. When the finest cultured men of the nation meet in, 
 assembly they require a chairman to conduct business and keep 
 order, and if the chairman be inadequate to his duties, disorder 
 is the sure result. 
 
 Nothing could be more cruelly unjust than to withdraw a youth 
 at the early age of fourteen or sixteen from the restraints at home 
 and leave him unrestrained to the bad influences usually afloat in 
 the atmosphere of a university. The German students, with 
 their false codes of honor and their faces scarred by duels with 
 the sword, are proofs of the want of wisdom in such a policy. 
 
 The only institutions within my knowledge, which, as a class, 
 sustain a good government, are those which admit students of 
 both sexes. The influence of boys and girls upon each other in 
 school, is, under proper restraint, salutary in a high degree. 
 Antioch College, Oberlin College, and, I am glad to learn, Iowa 
 University are examples. 
 
 The failure to maintain good government in any institution 
 arises from several causes, among which the following are prom- 
 inent: 
 
 1. Lack of gubernatorial ability on the part of the executive. 
 
 2. Lack of interest in the government on the part of the 
 faculty. 
 
 3. Conflicting policies among the professors in their treatment 
 of students. 
 
 4. Want of a single well-defined system which every professor 
 engages to maintain. 
 
 5. Dissensions among the faculty. 
 
 6. Antagonism between students and the faculty. 
 
 7. Lack of high moral sentiments on the part of students. 
 
 It is far easier to prevent these evils from germinating than to 
 eradicate them after they have taken root. I know of no subject 
 to which the trustees can more profitably give their attention 
 than to provide in the beginning against these sources of trouble, 
 
especially as they have crippled the growth of many institutions 
 as promising as this. I would urge, therefore, that in every 
 addition to the faculty made hereafter, satisfactory evidence 
 should be gathered, not only that the candidate is proficient in 
 his specialty, but that he has worked hitherto in harmony with 
 his co-laborers and been able to maintain perfect order in his 
 classes. He should agree also to interest himself, to any needed 
 extent, in carrying out the system of government provided for 
 the maintenance of discipline, and my long experience in such 
 matters leads me to urge, as a policy, that any member of the 
 faculty who shall hereafter prove himself inefficient or intractable 
 as a sustainer of the system of government, shall immediately be 
 requested to resign. 
 
 I would further advise : 
 
 1. That the president be regarded as the sole executive ; that he 
 be held responsible for the classification of the students and the 
 administration of the laws ; that the professors give him all neces- 
 sary aid in the performance of these duties ; that the superinten- 
 dent of the garden and the farm be instructed to report for his 
 confirmation, at stated intervals, their progress, wants and plans 
 in the furtherance of these departments of the enterprise, and 
 that he detail students for labor in accordance with these plans. 
 
 2. That each professor have charge and entire control of ap- 
 paratus and other facilities provided for the instruction of his 
 classes, that he be the sole arbiter in the selection of text- 
 books and methods of instruction, and that he keep a record of 
 the daily progress of each student, and report to the president for 
 general record at the end of the term. 
 
 3. That the faculty constitute a legislative body, meeting at 
 stated times, to make laws for the college ; that their proceedings 
 be regulated according to parliamentary usage, and that each 
 member including the presiding officer have the right to vote. 
 
 4. That the faculty be the judicial body meeting for the trial 
 of offenders when occasion requires. 
 
 5. That the board of trustees reserve the right to examine and 
 reverse the decisions of the president and faculty, when acting in 
 their respective capacities. 
 
 G. That the president and professors be required to promote, in 
 all jjroper ways, the religious, aesthetic and social culture of 
 their pupils, and that stated meetings be held for this purpose. 
 
7. That discussions or instruction in sectarianism or party pol- 
 itics are forbidden in the college. 
 
 8. That the president be required to make an annual written 
 report to the trustees on the condition and progress of the college, 
 together with his views as to additional facilities needful for its 
 further development, and embodying the report of the other 
 officers in their various departments. 
 
 November 5, 1868. 
 
 The institution opened on the 21st of October according to pub- 
 lic notice and has been in operation two weeks. Sixty-one stu- 
 dents have been admitted, fifty-four young men and seven young 
 ladies. Thirty-five of these have brought certificates of appoint- 
 ment from the Superintendents of schools in the various counties. 
 Others are coming in daily so that the number will probably 
 reach one hundred before the middle of the term. All students 
 admitted have been classified by examination. Many are pur- 
 suing one or more of the college studies, but none have, as yet, 
 gained complete admission to the college courses. So far all have 
 been found deficient in one or more of the branches re- 
 quired as preparatory to the college and are now engaged in 
 studying these. There will probably be, at the beginning of the 
 regular year (next March), a small class in the second year of the 
 college studies, and a class of between one and two hundred in the 
 studies of the first year. The faculty are greatly pleased with the 
 animus of the students thus far. They are quiet, orderly, studi- 
 ous and cheerful. Two hours every afternoon they engage in 
 manual labor with great spirit. They spend the evening (three 
 hours) in study — the forenoon (five hours) in study and recitation, 
 and the afternoon (four hours) in labor and recreation. Dr. E. 
 A. Foote, Dr. Townshend and Prof. Geo. W. Jones are here, 
 employed in giving instruction. The departments of labor, 
 boarding and study are being rapidly settled under an efficient 
 and permanent system. 
 
 THE OPENING OF THE REGULAR YEAR. 
 
 The present fragmentary term will close on the seventh of Jan- 
 uary, 1869. The vacation that follows will be shorter by nearly 
 one-half than the winter vacation of the regular year, if the first 
 regular college year should commence on the first Wednesday of 
 
r 
 
 112 105653304 
 
 [24] 
 
 March, 1869. I recommend that this first vacation be made two 
 weeks longer by opening the first regular year on the third 
 Wednesday of March instead of the first. 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 
 
 The progress of the institution thus auspiciously opened, will 
 necessarily be slow. A great enterprise, whose beneficent effects 
 are to last for ages, can not be built up in a day. The advantages 
 with which we begin our labors are many and great. Our fine 
 farm ; our noble building with all its conveniences and comforts ; 
 our ample fund and efficient corps of instructors, are full of prom- 
 ise ; but these alone will not achieve success. The confidence of 
 the public, earnest and protracted study, the patient toil of years, 
 and the careful and watchful management of every department, 
 are needful to the complete establishment of every great institu- 
 tion of learning. 
 
 May the Giver of all Good grant us wisdom to so guide the 
 affairs of this grand undertaking, as to secure for it, with His 
 blessing, a complete and permanent prosperity. 
 
 A. S. WELCH, President Elect .