quired to drill. A course of farmers' lectures are delivered every year, which are free to the public. In connection with the usual studies of the class-room, we find that there is carried on a very extensive and progressive system of practical training in the applications of knowledge, which, for extent and thoroughness, is equaled by few, if any institutions, of which we have information. The student in agriculture, for example, goes into the laboratory until he becomes a well-trained analyst, and into the field and barn to observe processes or to conduct investigations. The student in horticulture works in the gardens and vineyards. The student in mechanic arts goes into the shop, and is trained in the use of tools, as well as the principles of mechanics. The student in civil engineering acquires a knowelge of the instruments and the methods of his profession by actual work in the field; and similarly, in every department that admits of it, subjects are taught with constant reference to their practical application in the various industries of life. When the institution was first opened to students, a considerable amount of manual labor was required of all. This system was abandoned after a trial of several years, and the practical work now required is regarded as educational, rather than a matter of manual labor, though it evidently serves the two important ends of giving physical exercise and skill in manipulation. Whether the abandonment of compulsory manual labor was wise or unwise, the committee did not feel called upon to decide. As it is not required by any existing law of the United States or of this State, it would seem to be a matter wholly within the discretion of the trustees.

But, except in this particular, (about which there may exist natural differences of opinion.) we are compelled to say, in simple accordance with the facts as we find them, that the State college is furnishing a liberal and practical education for the industrial classes, and that its leading object is to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts. The chemical laboratories especially are in a most admirable condition of completeness and efficiency. The physical laboratory has a fine (though still inadequate) collection of the most approved apparatus of instruction; and the other departments of instruction relating directly to the industries of life, such as civil engineering, mechanic arts, &c., have received from the trustees small annual appropriations which have equipped them fairly for the requirements of ordinary teaching. There is great need, however, in all these departments, and in the library, for a large immediate outlay which the means at the command of the trustees does not enable them to make. Of the twelve (12) professors and assistants now constituting the teaching force in the college departments, only two give instruction in the classics; one of them, also, has charge of English literature, and other branches which necessarily enter into every course of liberal education. In the same connection it should be noted that the appropriations made by the trustees for the purchase of apparatus and appliances for the several class-rooms have been almost exclusively for the industrial departments. Out of the appropriations of this kind, be

tween the years 1866 and 1881, aggregating nearly six thousand, ($6,000,) less than one hundred dollars was given to the classical department, and that was for the purchase of maps.

With regard to the character and conduct of the students of the institution, the testimony before the committee is so explicit, and so nearly unanimous, that it is impossible not to be convinced by it, and without attributing to any of the witnesses a conscious purpose to misrepresent the facts, it is easy to see to what an extent personal disappointments and resentments colored the views of the two individuals who alone gave disparaging testimony. The statements of present and former students, and parents of students, of professors, citizens of the neighborhood, and of officials who now are, and for many years have been, engaged in the administration of the law in Centre county, all unite in contradicting the generally vague assertions of the individuals referred to. Their unqualified testimony is, that the students of the State college are as manly and honorable in their conduct, and as correct in their morals, as any similar body of young men in any institution in the State or the country. Several of the witnesses go further, and express their strong conviction, based upon observation and knowledge, that the standard of these students in these respects is exceptionally high.

II. Financial Management.

The next three branches of inquiry which the committee proposed to investigate relate to the financial management of the institution; the use made of the various funds placed at its disposal, either from the proceeds of the United States land grant, the appropriations made by the State of Pennsylvania, or the contributions of individuals and receipts from students, and ascertain if they have been honestly appropriated.

On this important point it is extremely gratifying to find that the testimony is absolutely unanimous. Whatever differences of judgment have been expressed by witness respecting the general management and policy of the institution, all, without exception, when questioned have expressed the fullest confidence in the perfect integrity with which all the funds have been expended and accounted for. Considering the well-known financial embarrassments of the institution in its earlier days, and the extent of the interests involved, it is a matter of just pride to find that no shadow of suspicion of dishonesty rests upon the administration of this great public trust. This is no more than was to have been expected from the known character of the many eminent citizens of the State who have constituted the board of trustees; but it is none the less satisfactory and none the less due to them and to the State to record the fact.

The different sources of income, the amounts received from each, and the various uses to which they have been applied, are given in detail, in the full and elaborate summaries from the books of the college, which were furnished to the committee by Professor Hamilton, the business manager, and which accompany this report. A brief summary is all that is required

here. The total proceeds realized by the State from the land scrip were $439,186 80; the sum of $115,136 having come from sales under the acts of 1863 and 1866, and $288,186 80 from sales under the act of 1867. The sales of scrip were made under the direction of the Legislature, by a State commission appointed for that purpose, and the income, as it accrued, appropriated to the State College. In accordance with the provisions of section five of the act of Congress, the sum of $43,886 50 (slightly less than the ten per cent. authorized) was expended in the purchase of three experi-. mental farms, leaving $395,330 30 to be productively invested.

By the act of April 3, 1872, the Legislature, in partial consideration of the small price received from the land scrip, directed the issue of a single bond of the Commonwealth for the sum $500,000, bearing interest at six per cent., running fifty years from date, and the interest meanwhile to be paid to the State college. It will be seen from the foregoing statement that the proceeds of the land grant on which the college is now receiving interest is $395,330 30. The remainder of the $500,000 was made up of $14,960 20 premium on the securities in which the last-mentioned amount had been invested, $89,709 50 contributed by the State. The income of the last two amounts, aggregating $104,669 75, constitutes the only fund on which the college can draw for repairs, improvements, new construction, and all other necessary demands of a similar kind. The income from the land-grant fund must be used, under the act of Congress, for strictly educational purposes. The total amount of this income, from 1866 to 1831, we find to have been $343,757 12; while the amount actually expended for the support and maintenance of the college during the same period was $458,676 82. Of the last-named sum $57,040 was devoted to the maintenance of the experimental farm, which, under the act of Congress, seemed to be properly regarded as a point of the educational equipment of the institution. It is evident, therefore, whether this item be deducted or not, that not only the income from the land-grant fund but a large sum in addition, has been legitimately expended in compliance with the requirements of the United States law. The remaining contributions of the State to this college have been as follows: Fifty thousand dollars in 1859 and $49,900 in 1861, for the erection of buildings; $5,000 in 1870 for building on the Eastern Experimental farm, and $80,000 in 1878 for the removal of a mortgage debt upon the property. This debt has been incurred owing to the great increase in the cost of building occasioned by the war, and after the original contractors had been forced to abandon their undertaking. We find no question in any quarter that the above-named appropriations were applied to the uses for which they were intended.

Other donations to the college, chiefly by the State Agricultural Society and citizens who were interested in starting it, have amounted to $154,288. On summarizing these statements, it appears that the principal sum contributed to the college, aside from the endowment fund, amounts to a total of $383,071 50, as follows: Appropriated by the State, $184,900; expended for experimental farms, $43,886 50; contributed from private sources,

$154,285, and the college has to show for this, farms, buildings, and apparatus, regularly, and, as we believe, fairly inventoried at $451,615 77.

It is not necessary to dwell at greater length on this branch of the subject. The details are given in full in the accompanying papers, and we believe that no impartial mind, on examining them, can fail to reach the same conclusion, that the financial trusts of the institution have been honestly and judiciously administered.

III. The Experimental Farms.

The questions connected with the conduct of the experimental farms, this committee found in some respects to be more perplexing than any others in the course of their inquiry. It is clear, from the testimony, that these farms have conducted many valuable experiments, and served a useful purpose, though they have come short of the anticipations which were indulged in at the time provision was made for them. This result may be accounted for partly on the ground of insufficient appropriations from the college funds, and partly from the fact that the trustees, in order apparently to gratify local sentiment, entrusted the general management of one of the farms almost entirely to a committee of gentlemen in its neighborhood. The purpose of the arrangement seems to have been entirely honorable to both parties. The college authorities were willing to confide their plans to the scrutiny and control of a body who had nothing but pride or public spirit to stimulate and reward their efforts, and the local committee was willing to perform an unrequited public service. But divided responsibility could hardly fail to result in divided counsels; and divided counsels resulted, as might naturally have been expected, in diminished efficiency and something of mutual criticism. We can find, however, no reason to doubt that while larger appropriations would have added to the usefulness of the Eastern and Western farms, the trustees of the college have in good faith expended in that direction fully as much as their income would justify, considering the large and growing needs of the departments of instruction in the college.

The amount appropriated to the Eastern farm, in Chester county, from 1869 to 1881 is $18,800; to the Western farm, in Indiana county, $16,050, and to the Central farm, near the college, $14,250. In our opinion it would be unjust to the college, as an institution of higher education, to cripple its resources by taking from the funds now at its disposal any larger appropriations to the farms than have heretofore been made; while, on the other hand, it is evident that they can never be made to meet public expectation without a much larger expenditure. If one or both of the outlying farms are to be retained, we believe it would be a sound and wise policy for the State to make a fair annual appropriation to the maintenance of them. But it is extremely doubtful, in the light of recent agricultural knowledge, whether three or a dozen farms are enough better than one for the purposes of scientific investigation to compensate for the increased expense. For the purposes of practical experimentation, the more farms the better; but

it seems to us not unreasonable to suppose that the end could be nearly as well and much more cheaply reached by a system of voluntary coöperation among individual farmers, carrying on their operations and working out their experiments in correspondence with the college, and to some extent under its direction. The tendency of opinion as to the best means of advancing agricultural knowledge for practical use seems to have undergone an important change within a comparatively recent period. Formerly it was thought that a sufficiently extended range of field experimentation would yield the results needed as a guide in successful farming. But agriculture, like every other branch of applied science, has been influenced by the rapid and wonderful advance in every department of scientific knowledge during the last twenty-five years; and, as a consequence, the investigations of the laboratory have come to occupy a far more important relation to the practice of the farming community than ever before. A large number of agricultural experiment stations have accordingly been already established in Europe for the sole purpose of conducting such investigations, and the number is rapidly increasing. In this country five StatesConnecticut, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Ohio--have established such experiment stations, and movements in the same direction are on foot in other States. In our own there are indications of a widespread public interest in the matter, and the State Board of Agriculture, at its last meeting, unanimously adopted a resolution urging the establishment of such a station "at the earliest practicable time." In view of the facts and considerations.suggested, we are of the opinion that the trustees of the college should be authorized, in case they should deem it advisable, to sell the two outlying experimental farms, and required to apply the income from the fund thus obtained to the support of an experiment station of the kind referred to. It would, then, be necessary for the Legislature to make an additional annual appropriation in order to enable the station to prosecute work of equal scope and extent with that done by similar stations in the four States mentioned. If, as the course of legislation indicates, it is to be a part of the established policy of the State to lend its aid to the advancement of agricultural knowledge and practice, it would seem to be the dictate of sound policy to concentrate its experiments and efforts, both in the interest of economy, efficiency, and ease of control. The State College has already in use a large part of the appliances and equipment necessary for the successful maintenance of an experiment station, and is now doing a larger amount of valuable work in that direction than at any previous period of its history, and is now publishing its results in a series of popular bulletins.

IV. Conclusions and Recommendations.

The fact remains, notwithstanding the condition of things above stated, that the college for a long time has been subject to an amount of public criticism, which has resulted in a wide-spread distrust, if not hostility, towards it, and the committee have constantly directed their inquiries with