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Caption: Book - History of the University (Powell)
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414 History University of Illinois of the next sale of lands for taxes be appropriated to the erection of an institution which shall stand as a lasting memorial of our munificence, and contribute to the diffusion of intelligence among the producing classes, during all future time. 9 ' Similar sentiments expressed by our own late Chief Magistrate, Governor French, will be remembered by all. Says the Hon. Marshal P. Wilder, before the Berkshire Agricultural Society, Mass.: " F o r want of knowledge, millions of dollars are now, annually lost by the commonwealth, by the misapplication of capital and labor in industry. On these points we want a system of experiments directed by scientific knowledge. Are they not important to our farmers ? Neither the agricultural papers, periodicals or societies, or any other agents now in operation, are deemed sufficient for all that is desirable. We plead that the means and advantages of a professional education should be placed within the reach of our farmers. This would not only be one of the most important steps ever taken by the commonwealth for its permanent advancement and prosperity, but would add another wreath to her renown for the protection of our industry and the elevation of her Sons. Said Rev. Mr. Hitchcock, president of Amherst College,— while advocating the endowments of such institutions before the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, 1851: " I have been a lecturer on chemistry for twenty years. I have tried a great many experiments, in that time, but I do not know of any experiment so delicate or so difficult as the farmer is trying every week. The experiments of the laboratory are not to be compared to them. You have a half dozen sciences which are concerned in the operation of a farm. There is to be a delicate balancing of all these, as every farmer knows. To suppose that a man is going to be able, without any knowledge of these sciences to make improvements in agriculture by haphazard experiments, is, it seems to me, absurd. He spoke of the 350 similar schools of which he gave some account on his return from Europe, mostly of recent origin, and says:
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