AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION (ante). In the United States the West Point academy, established in 1802, was the first provision by the general government for scientific education in any department; the naval academy followed in 1845. Two vdars later. John P. Norton, agricultural chemist, just returned from Europe, agitated the question of agricultural schools, and one school was begun. In 1860, it was liberally endowed by Joseph E. Sheffield, and is now attached to Yale college as the " Sheffield scientific school." In 1852, a legacy to Dartmouth college, by Abiel Chandler, laid the foundation of a similar branch at that college. Congress was repeatedly asked to set apart lands for the support of agricultural colleges, and a bill was passed in 1858 for that 'purpose, but the president failed to sign it. In 1862, the effort was successful, and a bill became a law appropriating about ten millions of acres to all the states, to be. divided according to the number of representatives from each state in congress. Mean time, New York and other states kept the question alive, and Michigan opened her agri cultural college in 1857; and now, under one or another name, nearly all the states have colleges or parts of colleges in which scientific agriculture is taught. On the 2d of July, 1862, congress passed an act donating public lands to the several states and territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of, agriculture and the mechanic arts, the amount Of land "to be equal, to 80,000 acres each. senator and representative in congress to which the states were then entitled. To guard against the loss of this fund by improvident investment, the actprovides that all moneys derived from the land granted shall be invested in stocks of the United States or of the state, or some other safe :tack yielding not less than five per cent. ; and that if any portion of the fund or the interest thereon shall be lost or diminished, it shall be replaced by the state, so that the capital shall forever remain undiminished, except that a sum not exceeding ten per cent. on the amount received by any state under the act may be applied to the purchase of lands for sites or experimental farms, whenever authorized by the legislature. The general object and character of the colleges to be established is briefly stated in the fourth section of the act, which provides that the interest of the fund shall be inviolably appro priated by each state which may claim the benefit of the act, "to the endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one college, where the leading object shall be (without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics) to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the states may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions of life." The states were not slow to avail themselves of
these advantages, and the important interest of A. E. suddenly sprang into life. The last report on this subject at hand shows that in 36 states there were, 1876, 39 colleges which have received the congressional land grant of July 2, 1862. There were also branch institutions in Georgia and Missouri. The. agricultural and mechanical college of Texas was opened during the year. All the colleges were in operation except that of Florida, which was expected to open early in 1877. In all these colleges the professors and assistants numbered 473, and the students 4211. Eleven states had not sold all the land scrip granted by congress. During the year 51,405 acres were sold at an average price of $4.41 per acre, and 1,463,505 acres remained unsold. The largest average price per acre obtained by any one state was $8.38 by Michigan, and the • smallest $2.20 by Iowa. The annual interest received by all the colleges for all the land sold amounted during the year to $525,735. Thirty-four of the colleges had farms, which contained in the aggregate 15,418 acres, valued at $1,321,092. The following table gives the names of the agricultural and industrial colleges and departments established in the United States up to 1877, with the number of students pursuing agricultural or mechanical branches: above institutions was 3354; the number of professors and assistants, Including all the departments for the collegiate year. was 516; the whole number of students in all departments was 6723; the number of acres of land-scrip yet unsold, 1,463,505; annual income derived from government endowment, $526,283; acres contained in the agri cultural and mechanical college farms, 11,338; value of these farms, $1,295,192: