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A SPECIAL REPORT

Ayah
| | The Board of Visitors of the Virginia
LO ae ae Military Institute

ON

AND
| THE VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE
| . AS A

Me Sahel of Agriculture, Including a Sketch of the Physical Survey
of Virginia by the School of Applied Science

By Colonel JENNINGS C. WISE
Professor of Law, Economics and Political Science

V. M. L*

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A SPECIAL REPORT

TO

The Board of Visitors of the Virginia
Military Institute

ON

The History of Agricultural Education in Virginia
AND
THE VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE
AS A

School of Agriculture, Including a Sketch of the Physical Survey
of Virginia by the School of Applied Science

By Colonel JENNINGS C. WISE
Professor of Law, Economics and Political Science

V. M. I.
September 11, 1914

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Agriculture is not only one of the most honorable pursuits
of man but it is undoubtedly the oldest legitimate one. Cin-
cinnatus, the farmer, was called from the plow to wield the
sword in defense of his country and for his military services
he has been accorded great honor. But the Holy Writ com-
mands men to refrain from strife among themselves and to
return to agriculture. ‘‘And He shall judge among the na-
tions and shall rebuke many people! and they shall beat
their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning-
hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither
shall they learn war any more.”’

While the early Virginians did not entirely forego strife
the wars they did wage were principally with the native and
the prize they sought was agricultural opportunity, for from
the first they saw that the character of Virginia was deter-
mined ‘by the nature of the soil, its adaptability to tillage
and to the raising of great agricultural staples.

History repeated itself in the settlement of America. So
amply rewarded were those who sought out the new conti-
nent that her once abundant storehouses were all but com-
pletely spoiled before the greedy horde came to see that
there was a limit even to the bounty of nature. Indeed, it
was not until the close of the eighteenth century that serious
alarm was felt for the future. Up tothat time there had
been very little intelligence shown by the:American agricul-
turist. The system pursued by him seems to have been very
generally a three field rotation—two of different grains and
the third of pasturage, without any plan of fertilization
whatever. Such was the condition in 1800 that an English
observer who published about this time a pamphlet containing
his observations on agriculture in this country, said: ‘‘Land
in America affords little of pleasure or profit and appears in

4

a progress of continually affording less. In New York land
which brought twenty bushels to the acre now produces only
ten.’’ (Strickland Pamphlet, London 1801, quoted by Lyon
G. Tyler in address on Edmund Ruffin, 1913.)

The conditions in Virginia were worse by far than those
in New York. The planter of Virginia for near two hundred
years had employed slave labor to drain the soil of its wealth
and he had all but succeeded. Nothing will so easily lead
one to understand the agricultural awakening which ensued
as to review the economic conditions which led up to it.

Among the petitions presented to the Virginia Convention
of 1829-30, was one from the citizens of Staunton, praying
the abolition of slavery and reciting the economic evils
brought about by its maintenance.

““We waive’’, the petition recited, ‘‘at present the consid-
erations of religion and humanity, which belong to this mo-
mentous subject, and present it asa naked question of policy,
wisdom, and safety. We affirm that the possession and man-
agement of slaves form a source of endless vexation and
misery within the house,and a waste and drain on the farm;
BTUs that the waste of the products of the land, nay, of
the land itself, is bringing poverty upon all its inhabitants;
that this poverty and the supineness of our population eith-
er prevents the institution of schools through the country or
keep them in the most languid and inefficient condition; ob-
viously paralyze all our schemes and efforts for the needful
improvement of the country ......

‘Tt is conceded on all hands that Virginia is in a state of
moral and political retrogression among the States of the
Confederacy .... We humbly suggest our belief, that the
slavery which exists, and which, with gigantic strides, is
gaining ground among us, is, in truth, the great efficient
cause of the multiple evils which we all deplore. We cannot
conceive that there is any other cause sufficiently operative
to paralyze the energies of a people so magnanimous, to

5

neutralize the blessings of Providence, included in the gift
of a land so happy in its soil, its climate, its minerals and
its waters and to annul the manifold advantages of our Re-
publican freedom and geographical position. If Virginia
has already fallen from the high state, and if we have as-
signed the true cause of her fall, it is with utmost anxiety
that we look forward to the future, to the fatal termination
of the scene.”’

The indictment contained in the Staunton petition was
not overdrawn. The political speeches and debates of the
day show that a realization of Virginia’s sad plight was
forcing itself upon her citizens throughout the length and
breadth of the State. Thomas Marshall, of Fauquier County,
Charles J. Faulkner, of Berkeley County, Philip A. Bolling,
of Buckingham County, Ex-Governor James McDowell, of
Rockbridge County, Dr. Henry Ruffner, President of Wash-
ington College, R. R. Howison,the historian, Bishop Meade,
the great Virginia divine, Ex-Governor Wise of Accomack,
and Jesse Burton Harrison, a political writer of note, fore-
fully express the convictions entertained by the Staunton
petitioners and all testified to the degraded state of Virginia
agriculture. (Read interesting extracts from their speeches
and writings collected in Virginia’s Attitude Toward Slave-
ry and Secession; Munford, pp. 128-138)

During the first quarter of the nineteenth century very
little had been done for agriculture in Virginia. The Vir-
ginia Agricultural Society had been formed and some inter-
est had been aroused through its efforts. As early as 1810
John Taylor of Caroline County, a United States Senator and
the President of the Society, published a series of articles
on agricultural conditions in the State and these articles
were in 1818 collected in book form and widely circulated.
This work passed through at lest six editions and was the
first serious treatise on agriculture published in the United
States.

6

Taylor’s writings were followed by those of Edmund
Ruffin. Ruffin was not only a learned and prolific writer but
a most determined campaigner in the interest of agricul-
ture. His first published exposition of his agricultural the-
ories and practices appeared in 1821 in the American Farm-
er and his ‘‘Essays on Calcerous Manures,’’ published in
1835, went through many editions, increasing in size and
popularity at each edition. Secretary of the United Agricul-
tural Society of Virginia in 1818, Secretary of the State
Board of Agriculture in 1840, President of the Virginia State
Agricultural Society in 1845, and Agricultural Commissioner
of Virginia in 1854, he claims to have been the first to have
outlined the course of study for an agricultural college in
the United States.

The first authentic record of a plan to establish a school
of scientific agriculture in Virginia is that of the action of
the Agricultural Society of Albemarle County in 1822. The
following correspondence possesses peculiar interest as it
contains the earliest proposal of the kind, not only in Vir-
ginia, but probably in the United States. (Copied from orig-
inal manuscript in Virginia State Library.)

To the President of the Agricultural Society of
October 21st, 1822.
Sir:

The enclosed Resolutions of the Agricultural Society of Albemarle,
explains the wish of the Society to provide for Agriculture the advan-
tage of a Professorship, to be incorporated in the University of Vir-
ginia; the means proposed for making the provision; and the hope
entertained of a general cooperation in the scheme.

The present seems to be an important crisis in the Agriculture of
Virginia. The portions of her soil first brought into cultivation, have,
for the most part, been exhausted of its natural fertility, without be-
ing repaired by ameliorating system of husbandry; and much of what
remains in forest and can be spared from the demands of fuel and
other rural wants, will need improvement, on the first introduction of
the plough.

These truths are not sufficiently impressed on the public attention;
and have led to the establishing of the Agricutural Societies among us,
which are so laudably promoting the work of reform.

és

As a further means of advancing the great object, it has occurred
to the Albemarle Society, that a distinct Professorship in the Univer-
sity of the State, if sanctioned by the proper authority, might be ad-
vantageously appropriated to the instruction of such as might attend,
in the theory and practice of rural economy, in its several branches.

To the due success of agriculture, as of other arts, theory and prac-
tice are both requisite. They always reflect light on each other. If
the former, without the test of the latter, be a vain science; the lat-
ter without the enlightening precepts of the former, is generally en-
slaved to ancient modes, however erroneous, or is at best too tardy
and partial in adopting salutary changes. In no instance, perhaps, is
habit more unyielding, or irrational practice more prevalent, than
among those who cultivate the earth. And this is the more to be la-
mented, as agriculture is still so far below the attainments to which
it may fairly aspire.

A professorship of agriculture might derive special advantage from
the lights thrown out from the chair of Chemistry in that Institution.
This science is every day penetrating some of the hidden laws of na-
ture, and tracing the useful purposes to which they may be made sub-
servient. Agriculture is a field on which it has already begun to shed
its rays, and on which it promises to do much towards unveiling the
processes of nature to which the principles of agriculture are related.
The professional lectures on chemistry, which are to embrace those
principles, could not fail to be auxiliary to a professorship having
lessons on agriculture for its essential charge.

The fund contemplated for the support of such a professorship, is to
consist of a sum drawn from unexpended subscriptions from special
donations, and from a diffusive contribution not exceeding a dollar from
an individual. It is hoped, that for a purpose of such general utility,
the number of contributions will more than make up for the smallness
of the respective sums; and that with the other resources, means may
be gathered not only adequate to the immediate views entertained; but
justifying an enlargement of them.

Should this prove to be the case, it will be an improvement of the
plan of agricultural instruction, to provide and place under the super-
intendance of the Professor, a small farm in the vicinage to be culti-
vated, partly as a pattern farm illustrating practically a system at
one profitable and improving, partly as an experimental farm, not only
bringing to the test new modes of culture and management but intro-
ducing new plants and animals deemed worthy of experiment. In ob-
taining these aid might be found in the patriotic attention of the pub-
lic and private Naval Commanders, in their visits to foreign countries;
and it might well happen that occasional success in rearing new spe-
cies or varieties, of peculiar value, would yield in seeds and stocks a
profit defraying the expences incurred on this head.

8

A farm exhibiting an instructive model, observed as it would be by
occasional visitors, and understood as it would be in its principles and
plans, by students returning to their dispersed homes, would tend to
spread sound information on the subject of agriculture, and to cherish
that spirit of imitation and emulation which is the source of improve-
ment in every art and enterprise.

You will oblige, Sir, the Society of Albemarle, by laying this com-
munication before that over which you preside; and by transmitting
its sentiments thereon; which will afford particular pleasure, if they
should accord with the views of this Society and promise so valuable a
cooperation in carrying them into effect.

By order of the Society.
JAMES MADISON, President.

Agricultural Society of Albemarle, October 7th, 1822.

On the motion of Gen. John H. Cocke, the following Pre-
amble and Resolutions, were adopted:

Whereas, the establishment of a Professorship of Agriculture, in
one of the principal seminaries of learning in this State, is a measure
eminently calculated to hasten and perpetuate the march of agricultural
improvement, already so happily commenced; And whereas, there are
grounds to believe that such an institution may be incorporated into
the University of Virginia, a position at once the most advantageous
and convenient to every part of the State; And whereas this Society
could not make an appropriation of its funds more conducive to the
permanent attainment of the primary objects of its institution—and as
it is reasonable to expect that all the Agricultural Societies, the Farm-
ers and Planters generally, will cheerfully contribute to an Establish-
ment of such universal interest—Therefore

Resolved, That one thousand dollars of the sum, now in the hands of
the Treasurer of this Society, be appropriated to the establishment of
a Fund, the profits of which shall go to the support of a Professorship
of Agriculture at the University of Virginia.

Resolved, For the furtherance of this design, that the President be
requested to prepare an address to the other Agricultural Societies of
this State, requesting their cooperation in this scheme—and further to
promote the same object, and increase the said fund, that a committee
be appointed to solicit donations not to exceed one dollar from individ-
uals in every part of this Commonwealth.

Resolved, That the aforesaid appropriation, together with all that
may accrue under the foregoing Resolutions, be loaned to individuals
on good personal security, or to corporate Bodies; and that when the
sum loaned to any one individual shall amount to one thousand dollars
or upwards, landed security shall be required: That the interest shall
be payable semi-annually, and shall be reinvested, until the yearly

9

profits of the Fund shall be sufficient to afford an income equal at least
to a Professorship in the University.

Resolved, That the funds above referred to, together with donations
of books, and property of any other description, be with the permission
of the Legislature transferred to the Rector and Visitors of the Uni-
versity in their corporal capacity.

(Extracts from the minutes. )
P. MINOR, Secretary.

For some reason which I have been unable to discover,
notwithstanding certain correspondence with the authori-
ties of the University of Virginia, the wise plan of the Agri-
cultural Society of Albemarle was not put into effect, and
instruction in scientific agriculture was not introduced at
the University until 1872 when Dr. John R. Page was elected
to the newly created chair of Agriculture and Natural His-
tory. We shall see that an effort was made by the authori-
ties to qualify under the Morrill Acts at the close of the war,
but nothing came of the attempt except the creation of a
chair of Analytical and Agricultural Chemistry in 1868 with
the celebrated Dr. John W. Mallet as professor.

Whoever may have first proposed the founding of a school
of agriculture in Virginia, the first practical instruction in
the subject and aid to the agricultural interests of the state
came about, it is believed, in the way now to be described.

The Virginia Military Institute was founded in 1889. In
1841 William H. Richardson succeeded Bernard Peyton as
Adjutant General of Virginia and thus became a member of
the Board of Visitors of the new educational institution.
He was a large landowner, a gifted student of public affairs,
and a man of unusual energy and originality. He too appre-
ciated the sad conditions obtaining in Virginia agricultural
affairs, and in 1841 organized the Agricultural and Horticul
tural Society of Virginia, becoming its first president which
office he retained for a number of years. This Society seems
to have been created to further the work of former associa-
tions of the kind which had become more or less inactive.

10

Already the Virginia Military Institute had been created a
normal school to supply the schools of the Commonwealth
with efficient teachers. Until this was done Virginia, like
the South at large, had been compelled to depend almost ex-
clusively for its teachers upon Europe and the North where
the great institutions of learning were concentrated. South-
ern youth very largely had for a century patronized foreign
schools and universities. There were in Virginia a number
of colleges with long and honorable records, but at this time
they were quite inadequate to meet the needs of the State.
The University of Virginia, the creation of Thomas Jeffer-
son, not having yet completed its second decade, had con-
tributed little to satisfy the growing demand for trained
teachers, especially in the common schools. A few graduates
of the University had attained distinction in the educational
work of the State, such as Professors Maupin, Powers, and
Coleman, but they, like the better foreign scholars in the
State, conducted private classical schools of limited size. For
the most part the common schools depended upon educational
adventurers, more often than not of decidedly inferior intel-
lectual—as well as personal—qualities. In fact, the calling
of the teacher in Virginia was in bad odor, for the drones
who had hitherto injected their poor personalties into the
educationai sphere of the State had placed a stigma upon
their profession, and all recognized the deplorable fact.

It was with a desire to correct the educational evils of the
State that the legislature launched the Virginia Military In-
stitute upon its noble mission as the first normal school of
the Commonwealth by Act of Assembly of March 8, 1842, in
which it was provided ‘‘that every cadet who shall hereafter
be received on State account, shall be required to act in the
capacity of a teacher in some one of the schools of the Com-
monwealth, for the term of two years after finishing his
course at the Institute,’’ ete.

At a time, then, when teaching was considered unworthy

11

of a young Virginian, the Institute began in 1843 to send
forth its trained soldiers to battle for the uplifting of youth.
First went J. B. Strange, of revered memory, to Norfolk,
followed by J. S. Gamble, then by Robert Gatewood. J. H.
Pitts was sent to King and Queen County, soon followed by
J. C. Council; J. C. Willis going to Northumberland, after-
wards to Randolph Macon College as Professor of Mathe-
matics. George S. Patton and W. D. Stuart went to Rich-
mond, soon to be joined by D.Lee Powell, previously assign-
ed to Alexandria. J. L. Bryan and W. M. Nelson were sent
to Petersburg, J. J. Phillips to Nansemond, William Mahone
to Rappahannock Academy, J. B. Brockenbrough and Ben
Ficklin to Abingdon, R. T. W. Duke to Greenbrier, and J.
W. Wildman to Fredericksburg. These were but the first
few, but from the day they entered upon the new field of
activity no gentleman has disdained to teach Virginia youth.
The influence of their names and characters assured the suc-
cess of the legislative act which sent them forth to their
labors, and soon they were followed by increasing numbers
of graduates of the Virginia Military Institute. These young
men had been long and specially trained to teach mathemat-
ics and the practical branches. They carried with them to
the school districts of the State, among which they were
judiciously distributed, the distinctive discipline of mind
and body which their military training had impressed upon
them, and at once the whole educational system of the State
reflected their quickening influence.

For fourteen long years the Virginia Military Institute
was the sole normal school of the State, and as evidence of
the successful return this military school made to the Com-
monwealth during the first two decades of its existence one
need only refer to the records of its teachers and the Act of
Assembly of 1856 by which a normal character was impart
ed to its older sister, the University of Virginia.

It should also be noted that the number of college students

12

in Virginia increased from 500 in 1845 to 2,000 in 1856. This
was not due to increase of population, but largely to the ele-
vation of the grade of scholarship by the proficient teachers
sent out from Lexington. Soon the number of scholars
further increased to 2,500, ‘‘giving to Virginia the proud
preeminence of having a larger number of young men at-
tending college in 1860, in proportion to white population,
than any other state of this country.”’

Richardson observed the success of the Institute as a nor-
mal school with marked satisfaction and at once perceived
its great opportunity to serve the State in another equally
important way. Deeply interested in scientific agriculture,
he foresaw the advantage of creating at the Institute a new
department to include instruction in chemistry, geology and
mineralogy, and to adapt the work of the chair to the agri-
cultural and industrial needs of the State. This idea met
with the approval of his confreres on the Board of Visitors,
and accordingly the Superintendent, Francis H. Smith, was
directed to appear before the General Assembly at the Ses-
sion of 1845-6 and make known the plan and the wants of
the Iastitute with respect to its execution. The result of
Smith’s appearance was the increase of the annuity by
$1,000, which sum was provided for the creation of a profes-
sorship of Physical Sciences in aid of the agricultural inter-
ests of the State.

Happily the choice of the man to fill the important new
chair fell upon Lieutenant William Gilham, a distinguished
graduate of the United States Military Academy, and he
was immediately appointed.

Gilham was from Indiana. He had won distinction in the
Mexican War under General Taylor at Palo Alto and Resaca,
had served as assistant to the celebrated Professor Bartlett
at the United States Military Academy, and was peculiarly
well fitted in every way to conduct the proposed work at the
Institute. Young and enthusiastic, he entered upon the

13

development of his department with the utmost zeal. The
success of his work induced the Board at the end of four
years (1850) to abolish the Chair of Physical Sciences which
embraced Experimental Philosophy as well as Chemistry,
Geology and Mineralogy, and to create the separate Chairs
of Industrial Chemistry and Experimental Philosophy. To
the first Gilham was assigned; to the second Lieutenant and
Brevet Major Thomas Jonathan Jackson.

In January, 1851, the Superintendent submitted to the
Governor and the legislature a special report of Major Gil-
ham which throws so much light upon agricultural condi-
tions in Virginia at the time, and which so clearly estab-
lishes Gilham’s service to the State, that it is given in full.

““V. M. Institute, January 19, 1851.
“*Sir,

‘The board of visitors of the institute, at their last annual meeting,
having determined that the departments of instruction heretofore in
charge of the professor of physical sciences should hereafter be under
the charge of two professors, one of natural philosophy, the other of
chemistry, mineralogy and geology, and having at their last called
meeting in September assigned me to the latter chair, it becomes my
duty to express to you my views as to the best manner of organizing
and imparting instruction in this important department.

““1st. I propose the same course of general chemistry as is taught
at the U. S. Military Academy, adopting the same mode of instruction
and illustration practiced and found so successful in that institution.
This, by the present arrangements of the studies in the institute, ought
to constitute a part of the course of instruction for the second class
of cadets.

‘*2nd. A course of mineralogy and geology. The cabinet. of min-
erals and fossils now in the institute, and which is receiving annual
additions, will prove valuable aid in these courses. In mineralogy,
my object will be, besides teaching the general principles of the
science, to make the class familiar with the most commonly occurring
and useful minerals; and in geology particular attention will be given
to the geological features of our own state.

“*3rd. A course of agricultural chemistry. The necessity for in-
struction of this kind will become manifest when we consider the
fact, that no institution of learning in the state has as yet given such
a course of instruction as to give its graduates a thorough scientific
knowledge of the principles of agriculture and that the greater portion

14

of the educated community are either interested or actually engaged
in agricultural pursuits. Tosatisfy myself on the latter point, I have
made enquiries for the purpose of ascertaining the occupations of the
fathers of the cadets now in the institute, and find that at least four-
fifths of them are farmers.

“‘It is but fair to infer that a large proportion of these young men
will in their turn engage in the pursuit of agriculture sooner or later,
and that those who do not, will, from early association if from no oth-
er cause, feel deeply interested in the agricultural prosperity of the
state. Why then should they be required to acquire a course, which,
while it fits them for the study of the learned professions, for becoming
engineers, draftsmen, etc., teaches them nothing of that profession it
should be the object of every good citizen to make the most ‘learned
of all?’

‘‘The object of the board of visitors, in arranging the course of in-
struction in the institute, has always been to give our young men such
an education as will be best calculated to make them practically useful
Now I cannot conceive of any one thing better adapted to effect that
object than a thorough course, embracing the theory and practice of
agriculture always having special reference to the agriculture of our
own state, and the means to be adopted for its improvement. Sucha
course may very readily be taught the first class, and would be based
upon and naturally follow chemistry and geology.

“Ath. A course of practical and analytical chemistry. Every col-
legiate institution in the country that sets up any claim to respectabil-
ity is provided with more or less apparatus to illustrate the most
prominent facts and principles of the science of chemistry. In the in-
struction the classes have the privilege of witnessing the experiments,
and more or less is taught about analytical chemistry, with perhaps an
analysis or two partly performed in the presence of the class. What I
propose is, that after the class has had its course of general chemis-
try, it shall be divided into sections of convenient size, one section
taken into the laboratory at a time, and these required to make use of
the apparatus in preparing various substances, re-agents, etc. After
the class has acquired some skill in this way, I propose to require each
member to go through a systematic course of chemical analysis,
both qualitative and quantitative, including the analysis of soils. The
schools of chemistry in Germany have a worldwide reputation, and their
success may in a great measure be attributed to the fact, that practi-
cal chemistry forms an indispensable part of the chemical course. The
importance of a practical knowledge of chemistry, and the advantages
to be received by such a course of instruction in the institute must be
manifest to any one. In our country the necessity for instruction of
this kind is beginning to be felt; at least two schools of practical chem-

15

istry are now in successful operation—one in Yale college, the other
in the Lawrence scientific school, Harvard university.

‘“The laboratory to be provided in the new buildings might be fitted
up with special reference to practical instruction with but a very
slight addition to its expense. Some additional annual expense will
have to be incurred, for the purpose of keeping up the apparatus, re-
placing chemicals, etc., but this will be too small to require any spe-
cific appropriation.

‘*While on this subject, I would suggest the propriety of the board
of visitors applying to the legislature for the passage of a law to make
the professor of chemistry in the institute ‘State agricultural chem-
ist.’ A small annual appropriation (say one thousand dollars) will be
necessary tocover the travelling expenses of the professor, and to pay
the salary of an assistant, who will be required as an instructor in the
department of chemistry, and to assist in the analysis of soils, etc.

“*In case of favorable action by the legislature, 1 would suggest the
following as some of the duties which ought to devolve upon the agri-
cultural chemist He should be required to make annual tours through
different parts of the state, during the months of July and August
when academic duties are suspended in the institute, and at such oth-
er times as the duties of the chair of chemistry could be performed by
the assistant professor. His object should be, to visit as many farms
in every neighborhood he passes th.ough as time will permit, collect
specimens of soil for analysis, make himself acquainted with the
modes of conducting farming operations, such as manuring, saving
manure, rotations adopted, etc., and he should suggest such improve-
ments as would prove beneficial—as subsoiling, draining in certain
cases, liming, marling and manuring. He should also endeavor to
enlist every farmer on the side of agricultural improvement; and
should go prepared to lecture upon agricultural chemistry wherever
sufficient interest is felt on the subject to enable him to collect an
audience. It should be his constant effort to promote the formation of
country agricultural societies, and should endeavor to show the great
importance of agriculturals journals, libraries,etc. During that portion
of the year in which his presence is necessary at the institute, his
spare time could be usefully employed in the analysis of the specimens
of soils collected on his tour.

‘‘In the last few years great strides have been made in agricultural
improvement, but a small proportion of that improvement has reached
this state. It is true that, by the example and exertions of individ-
uals, great improvements have been made in certain localities, but
they have not extended beyond the sphere of individual influence—
there is still something wanting to arouse the mass of our farmers to
action. The state is far behind a number of her sister states in this
particular, and must remain so until, by effecting the formation of

16

agricultural societies, by exciting a general interest in agricultural
publications, and by sounding the cry of ‘‘agricultural progress’’ on
every farm, owr farmers can be aroused and induced to contend for the
supremacy with those who are now far in their advance. Let any one
ride through the finest parts of our state—let him observe the waste
of manure, the little care that is taken of the stock or in its selection,
the want of shelters for the winter, the little attention that is paid to
subsoiling, draining, liming, and marling, which in many places are
now regarded as indispensable to good farming, and he will see the
propriety, to say the least of it, of some efforts being made to effect
a general improvement. This very desirable end is not to be accom-
plished by appeals through the press, an occasional address, or by gen-
eral statements, showing what has been done elsewhere; but every
farmer must be made to feel that his farm may be improved, that he
may do something for the general cause, and that in so doing he will
be enriching himself. Make him feel that he is economizing when he
subscribes to a good agricultural paper, and that as a member of an
active agricultural society, he may be benefitted, and be the means of
benefitting others; then we may expect agriculture to receive an im-
pulse that will be felt throughout the state.

‘‘In large commercial, manufacturing or mercantile communities,
the spirit of competition is always at work, exciting every one to exer-
tion, either to keep up with or outstrip his neighbor; but in an agricul-
tural community this stimulus is wanting; and while every farmer
may be willing to admit that there is great room for improvement,
he is not excited to action. He may be compared to a man who,
acknowledging the force of an appeal made by some benevolent so-
ciety to the community, does not feel himself called upon to contribute
until application is made to him through one of its agents.

‘“The state of Maryland has her agricultural chemist, who by going
among the farmers, lecturing, analyzing soils, etc., has already
awakened such an interest and suggested such improvements that the
value of the land is rising all over the state.

‘If an objection should be raised to connecting such an appointment
with the chair of chemistry in the institute, I answer that the labora-
tory of the institute will be fitted up with special reference to analyti-
cal chemistry, and we have now all the apparatus necessary for the
most accurate analysis. The assistant professor would be required to
assist in the analytical investigations, and many of the more ordinary
analyses would furnish good examples for practice by the class in an-
alytical chemistry. Again—the agricultural chemist, having to in-
struct a class in agricultural chemistry, would be enabled to impart to
his class all that he had learned in relation to the condition of agricul-
ture in the state, its wants, etc., which knowledge so imparted would
be diffused throughout the state more readily than in any other way.

7

**Finally the trial would be attended with but little expense, and if
such beneficial results accrued as would justify the appointment of a
state chemist, then the professor of chemistry could confine himself to
his appropriate duties in the institute.

‘*Respectfully submitted,
‘*WILLIAM GILHAM,
‘Prof. Chemistry, V. M. I.

Pom. b. oe smicn, sap t., Vi Mi: T:7’

At this time the writer knows of no paper more valuable
to the historian of educational development in Virginia
than the foregoing report. It evinces on the part of Gilham
a grasp of the needs of the State far beyond that of most
men of his day. Furthermore it presents the wise and
constructive plan which he himself had formulated to sub-
serve these crying needs.

What Gilham proposed was soon made possible of attain-
ment. His suggestions were adopted and for the next dec-
ade he prosecuted his work with skill and energy. That
work was of the most comprehensive nature, including offi-
cial soil tests, mineral analyses, agricultural surveys, etc.,
etc., in all of which the cadets of his department assisted,
and so well was it done, that even the ardent Ruffin com-
mended it highly. In the June number of the Southern
Planter for 1852, referring to Gilham’s printed report on the
marls of Virginia he wrote: ‘‘The foregoing report of the
constituent parts of certain marls of peculiar qualities is a
valuable addition to the before existing information on the
subject. We believe this is the first, and so far the only,
aid of this kind rendered by a scientific investigator to the
agricultural laborers in this department of Virginia. And
this tetal withholding of aid from chemical science has not
been for want of along and full notice that such aid was
needed. ’’

The work so highly commended by Mr. Ruffin was soon
supplemented by Gilaam who for sometime had been engag-
ed in testing the super-phosphates which were being exten-
sively vended in Virginia as useful fertilizers. Many of

18

them he publicly branded as spurious and utterly valueless
if not detrimental to the soil, thereby cleansing the market
and saving to the farmers an untold sum of money.

In 1852 the Committee of the Board of Visitors on Instruc-
tion which was constituted by Geo. W. Brent, W. H. Rich-
ardson, and W. B. Taliaferro, recommended that the duties
of Gilham as State Agricultural Chemist be extended to in-
clude a chair of Agricultural Chemistry. It was proposed
that this chair should supplant the Chair of Industrial
Chemistry at the Institute and that it should be provided
for by a special additional appropriation. This reeommenda-
tion was not, however, acted upon but Gilham, always en-
deavoring to best subserve the interests of the State through
his department, introduced into his course the special sub-
ject of Agricultural Chemistry and in 1856 a large chemical
laboratory building was erected and fully equipped with
apparatus.

At this point it might be interesting to discover the char-
acter of the Chemistry Course offered at the Institute at the
time under consideration.

The Instruction consisted of tri-weekly recitations in Geo-
logy, Mineralogy, and Scientific Agriculture for the First
and Second Classes. The text books employed were Dana’s
Mineralogy, Adams’ and Cray’s Geology, Norton’s Elements
of Scientific Agriculture, and Johnston’s Turner’s Chemis-
try. Extensive practical work was conducted in the labor-
atory where samples of soil, fertilizers, lime, minerals, etc.,
etc., were constantly received from all quarters of the State,
analyzed, and returned with full reports containing careful
and expert advice. Such was the status of the Institute as
a School of Agriculture in the year 1857. While it did not
bear the name of a school of scientific agriculture enough
facts have been presented to show that in fact it had been
one since Gilham first organized his department of Industrial
Chemistry, the first in the South in 1846.

19

The demand of the farmers of Virginia through their
Agricultural Societies for scientific methods applied to the
Cultivation of the Soil had not only been abreast but ahead
of the times. They had been taught that since the time of
Sir John Sinclair’s first enlightened and patriotic efforts to
introduce improved methods, skill and science combined had
more than doubled the productiveness of the soil throughout
England and Scotland. They had also learned of the great
advances made on the Continent of Europe. They knew
that in Europe agricultural schools and colleges were deem-
ed necessary and that Professor Hitchcock of Massachusetts
found there as early as 1848 more than four hundred such
schools and colleges. Indeed it had been Hitchcock’s com-
prehensive report that had given such a fillip to the cause
of agriculture in the north where the recently founded agri-
cultural schools also owed their origin in part to the move-
ment against the old classical school and in favor of techni-
cal education which began in most civilized countries about
1850. A rapidly growing country with great natural re-
sources, the extravagant waste of which was at last all too
apparent, needed men educated in the arts and sciences of
life. This want first manifested itself in the United States
by a popular agitation on behalf of agricultural schools.

A number of socalled agricultural schools were started be-
tween 1850 and 1862 in the states north of Virginia, but
without trained teachers and suitable methods they accom-
plished very little. They were only ordinary schools with
farms attached and without the farm feature compared un-
favorably with the course inaugurated by Gilham at the In-
stitute in 1846.

The second constitution of the State of Michigan, adopted
in 1850, provided for an agricultural school, and this was
the first adequately organized and entitled school of agricul-
ture in the United States. The General Assembly of Pennsy]-
vania incorporated the Farmers’ High School, now the State

20

College, in 1854. Maryland incorporated her Agricultural
College in 1856 and Massachusetts chartered a school of agri-
culture in the same year.

Richardson was convinced by the success of Gilham’s
work that the scope of the Institute should be enlarged to
embrace an adequate school of agriculture. This belief was
shared by Francis H. Smith, the Superintendent, Philip St.
George Cocke, the President of the Board of Visitors, and
of course by Gilham. Fortunately for their cause General
Cocke was a wealthy and enthusiastic advocate. One of the
largest landowners in Virginia and a man of commanding
social and political influence, he generously determined to
forego the necessary delay to obtain funds from the State
and himself provided the means to send Smith to Europe to
make a thorough survey of scientific agricultural education.

In June 1858, General Smith, accompanied by three grad-
uates of the Institute, sailed for Europe «:nder instructions
from the Board of Visitors to visit the chief military and
scientific institutions of Great Britain and the continent,
and upon his return to submit a report on ‘‘Scientific Educa-
tion in Europe.’’? During a stay of near seven months
abroad, the Superintendent, fully accredited by the Gov-
ernor of Virginia, found ready access to most of the import-
ant institutions of learning and carefully studied their or-
ganization and work. Immediately upon his return to Vir-
ginia in December he prepared a general report, which was
considered to be of such great value that it was printed by
the General Assembly of 1859 and widely circulated.

That report, as well as a special one made to the Board of
Visitors in June, 1859, contemplated the creation of a School
of Agriculture in Virginia, and presented a detailed plan,
based on the best of the European systems, for its organiza-
tion and conduct in the interest of the State. It proposed
that the Institute should be reorganized as a General
Scientific and Military School with three special schools of

21

application: 1, Agriculture; 2, Engineering; 3, Fine Arts.
The School of Agriculture was to include a department of
Chemistry, a department of Scientific Agriculture, embrac-
ing the subjects of natural history and scientific and practi-
cal agriculture, and a department of Human Physiology,
Anatomy and Veterinary Medicine. For its accommodation
the erection of a great hall was proposed which should in-
clude: 1, an Agricultural Museum in which specimens of
seeds, plants, wood, roots, fruits, and other agricultural
productions would be collected; 2, a Forestry Museum in
which specimens of every variety of forest timber might be
displayed, and, 3, a Museum of Agricultural Implements. It
was also proposed that a farm for experimental and _practi-
cal agricultural work in connection with the school be pur-
chased. ‘‘With these additional means of instruction in the
special School of Agriculture,’’ wrote General Smith, ‘‘the
institution would afford facilities to the agriculturists equall-
ed by few institutions of the kind in this or any other
country.”’

The Board of Visitors immediately adopted the reeommen-
dation contained in the Superintendent’s report, and private
donations of $20,000 and $10,000 were at once made by Gen-
eral Philip St. George Cocke, President of the Board, and
Dr. W. Newton Mercer, of Louisiana, respectively, for the
endowment of the School of Agriculture, while Mrs. E. L.
Claytor, of Lynchburg, gave $5,000 towards the erection of
a Hall of Natural History to be named after her deceased
son who was a graduate engineer of the Institute. An ad-
ditional sum of $10,000 was later tendered by Dr. Mercer on
condition that a like amount should be raised in Virginia
within one year.

The Board of Visitors not only accepted General Smith’s
suggestions, but actually, with the funds so generously pro-
vided by General Cocke and Dr. Mercer, established a School
of Agriculture with two professors. By act of March 28,

22

1860, the General Assembly increased the annuity to the In-
stitute from $9,210 to $15,000, and $20,000 was specially ap-
propriated for building purposes.

Established by legislative act in 1860, the new special
school of agriculture was at once put into operation for the
two upper classes at the Institute. The following synopsis
of the course of instruction offered in the catalogs of 1860
and 1861 is interesting.

Natural Philosophy | History Chemistry
Veg. Physiology Mineralogy
FIRST YEAR Veg. Toxicology Geology

JUNIOR CLASS Zoology
Agricultural

Botany

SECOND YEAR
SENIOR CLASS

Ciy. Eng. applied to
F. Bridges, roads,
drainage irrigation
etc.

Field Fortification
Rural Architecture
Mech. Drawing

An. & Phy. of Sub
King!

Veterinary Praetice
Ani. Toxicology
Hum. Physiology
Hygiene

Dietetics

Gen, Botany

His. of Agriculture
Gen. Prin. of
Agriculture

Chem. & Geol. of
Agriculture
Domestic Economies
of Agriculture
Practical Agriculture

Meteorology
Const. Law

Moral Philosophy
Pol. Economy

Meantime, however, the John Brown raid had occurred,
and the legislative mind had been diverted from educational
matters; further necessary appropriations for the contempla-
ted buildings and equipment were not forthcoming. Soon
war supervened and interrupted the final consummation of
the constructive plans which the Institute had formulated.
Gilham himself was called to Richmond as Commandant of
Camp Lee where 30,000 Southern volunteers were mobilized,
and the work which he had undertaken with such high
promise of success was indefinitely postponed.

The agitation in the north for agricultural schools ad,
however, made itself felt in congress to such an extent as to
lead to the establishment of the socalled ‘‘land grants’’ for
agricultural colleges. The establishment of these colleges
was due chiefly to the wisdom and foresight of Justin S.
Morrill, who introduced the first bill for their endowment in

23

the House of Representatives on the 14th of December, 1857,
and saw the latest one approved by the president on the 30th
of August, 1890. Morrill is, therefore, generally accorded
the title of father of American Agricultural Colleges.

The Federal enactment or Morrill law affecting Virginia
was that of July 2nd, 1862.

At the regular session, 1863-4, of the Unionist Legislature
of Virginia, or the loyal legislature, as it was called, which
was held at Alexandria, the following act was passed Feb-
ruary 5th, 1864. (See Session Acts 1863-4, Chapter XXI.)

**An act aecepting the donation to the State of Virginia of public
lands in aid of education.

‘*Whereas, it is provided by an act of Congress approved July 2nd,
1862, that certain donations of public lands (to be appropriated to the
endowment, support, and maintenance of colleges for the benefit of
agriculture and the mechanic arts) shall be made to such states and
territories as shall signify their acceptance of their proportions respec-
tively of said donations, and of the conditions and provisions of said
act: therefore,

‘*Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That the do-
nation of public lands profferred to the Commonwealth of Virginia by
the act of Congress July 3rd, 1862, with the conditions and provisions
therein prescribed, be and the same is hereby accepted. ’’

July 23rd, 1866, the act of 1862 as amended was approved
by the President and five years was given any state which
had accepted the act of 1862 to establish an agricultural col-
lege, that being one of the terms of the grant under which
Virginia was entitled to the proceeds of the sale of 300,000
acres of the public land.

The Morrill acts provided that ‘‘military tactics’’ should
be included in the curriculum of the agricultural colleges, the
founding of which they sought to encourage. Inasmuch as
the Virginia Military Institute was essentially military in
character in addition to the fact that already a school of
agriculture had been established there by means of State
and private aid, the opportunity afforded the State to claim
the benefits of the Morrill acts was apparent to everyone.

24

May 9th, 1865, President Johnson issued the executive or-
ders transferring the government of Virginia from Alexan-
dria to Richmond with Francis H. Pierpont as Governor.
The Institute was reopened the following October and at
once the Board of Visitors petitioned the legislature for an
act incorporating it as the State Agricultural College. Gov-
ernor Pierpont specially recommended that this action be
taken but the petition was not granted. Nevertheless the
restored legislature in the Session of 1865-66 formally accept-
ed the Morrill Acts. (See Acts 1865-6, C. 180, p. 225.) In the
meantime, however, many other colleges in Virginia peti-
tioned the legislature to be made the beneficiary under the
Morrill Acts. The University of Virginia, Hampden Sidney
College, Washington College, and Roanoke College were all
pressing their claims with varying degrees of earnestness.

Shortly after the war a professorship of Agriculture had
been established at the University of Virginia based upon
the Miller fund of $100,000. A large building had been
erected and thoroughly equipped for the purpose of Applied
Chemistry; the department of Natural Philosophy had been
greatly extended and improved, a portion of the University
grounds had been set apart for experiments and illustra-
tions in connection with the agricultural department, and
efforts were on foot to develop a high grade school of agri-
culture. But it was well understood in the legislature that
the University did not favor the plan of establishing a
school of the manual or highly practical order. Indeed the
supporters of the University were much divided ‘in the
whole matter and as aresult their influence was not brought
to bear in the most effective way.

Political affairs in Virginia in 1866 and 1867 were ina
most disturbed condition. From the 3rd of April, 1865, to the
expiration of his term of office Pierpont was subject to the
orders of Federal military commanders. March 2nd, 1867,
Virginia was created Military District No. 1 under a Con

25

gressional Act providing for the more efficient government
of the Southern States. March 23rd, 1867, another act was
passed providing for a constitutional convention in Virginia.
Delegates having been elected in accordance with the terms
of the Act, the convention assembled in Richmond in De-
cember following. Pierpont’s term of office expired in April
and on the 6th of that month General Schofield, the district
commander, appointed H. H. Wells, Governor of Virginia.

For over three years the ‘‘Reconstructor Convention”’
labored over the work of framing a new constitution for
Virginia.

The new constitution provided for agricultural schools,
(Chapter VIII, Sec. 5) a bureau of agricultural chemistry
and geology, and a bureau of agriculture and immigration.
July 6th, 1869, an election was held for the ratification of
the constitution and at the same time for the election of a
governor to succeed Wells. The constitution was accepted
by an overwhelming majority, and Gilbert C. Walker was
elected Governor, and inaugurated September 21, 1869.

In October the General Assembly met and ratified the 14th
and 15th Amendments. Having thus complied with the
terms of the Federal Reconstruction Acts Virginia was re-
admitted to the Union by Act of Congress January 26th, 1870.

The Government having been reestablished and a legisla-
ture elected, it was now again sought to have the Institute
Incoporated as the State Agricultural School under the con-
stitution and the Morrill Acts. Governor Walker was said
to favor the plan and it seemed as if it would succeed. But
politics ran strongly against the Institute which commanded
little influence in the Reconstruction Legislature. That leg-
islature has been styled the ‘‘Black and Tan”’ legislature be-
cause of the mixed character of its members. There were
Negroes, alien carpet baggers, and others little in sympathy
with the traditions of Virginia. The service which the In-
stitute had rendered the Confederacy did not appeal to such

26

an element with particular force. The great majority of
Institute supporters were dyed in the wool ‘‘rebels.’’ They
had asa body fought and bled for principles entirely at
variance with those espoused by the faction now in control of
the State and which they regarded with contempt. Further-
more there was astrong desire manifested in the western part
of the State, a section now politically predominant, to erect
in that quarter an agricultural college. On the other hand
the Negroes, among whom there were 120,103 registered vot-
ers as opposed to 149,781 whites, were clamorous to share
the spoils under the Morrill Acts. Nevertheless, it was ten-
tatively agreed upon in committee to divide the proceeds of
the ‘‘land grant’’ equally between the Institute, the Univer-
sity of Virginia, and Hampden Sidney College, and Governor
Walker committed himself to the plan. Partial success at
least seemed to have been at last attained by the Institute.

The faction of the legislature in control of the situation
was insistent upon creating something new. It desired to
create an agricultural and mechanical college it declared,
not of the didactic or of the progressive type which it fear-
ed would result from the adaptation of any one of the ex-
isting institutions, but of the oractical type. ‘‘The spirit
and tendency of the institution should be, not to educate its
students away from their vocations, but in and for them—
not to send them home with distaste for manual labor, and
a craving for some more literary or less toilsome pursuit,
but to send them back with fresh zest for their work, and a
higher sense of its dignity and its capabilities, and with
their own powers so strengthened that they may command
a degree of success which they could otherwise never have
attained.’’ (Virginia School Report, 1872, p. 19 A. See also
full report on proposed Agricultural and Mechanical College. )

The expression of such ideas as these sounded well and ap-
pealed to popular support in a State suffering from the awful
blight of war, a State in which there had been an enforced

27

beating of swords into plowshares and spears into pruning-
hooks! It was a direct and skillful appeal to the lower classes
who were at the time in absolute control of the State legis-
lature. Said the report of the committee appointed to con-
sider the nature of the proposed new college, ‘‘The rich and
influential classes are first and most liberally provided for,
whilst the toiling masses are comparatively neglected.’’
(Ibid. )

While earnestly seeking the means with which to extend
its usefulness to the State by securing to itself the proceeds
of the sale of Virginia’s public lands, the Institute was not
otherwise idle. Financially embarrassed, in fact impoverish-
ed in the eyes of many beyond redemption by the burden of
a vast debt which it had accumulated during the war in the
interest of the State and the Southern Confederacy, instead
of pressing her rightful claims the Institute only sought how
best to serve Virginia.

Virginia was prostrate. Her affairs were in a more des-
perate state than at the termination of hostilities. In fact
she was materially poorer ten years after the war than at
its close, due to the degrading policy of reconstruction
which was pursued by the Federal Government. The task
of restoring her waste places was a vast one and in that
work the Institute saw a great opportunity. Accordingly
the authorities suggested to the legislature the plan of re-
calling Matthew Fontaine Maury, the Pathfinder of the Seas,
from Mexico, where he had been in the service of the ill-
fated Emperor Maximilian, to occupy the important chair
of Physics at the Institute and to make a physical survey of
the state. This survey, it was proposed, should include the
preparation of a physical history of Virginia and a complete
geographical and geological map.

Such a work would embrace the entire physical geography
of the state; its minerals and ores; its earths and soils; its
forests and plants; its animals, fisheries and oyster beds;

28

its water power and agricultural products; its climate and
meteorlogical 7phenomena; and in its prosecution, it would
afford the broadest practical field of research to the students
in each of the special schools at the Institute. Such a work
was urgently demanded and Maury was preeminently the man
to conduct it aided by General G. W. C. Lee, Captain John
Mercer Brooke of naval fame, and Colonel Marshall McDon-
ald, whom the board had secured as professors and heads of
the departments of Applied Mechanics of Engineering;
Practical Geography, Meteorology and Geodesy; and Miner-
alogy and Geology, respectively. General Lee had been for
many years associated with his illustrious father in the
United States Engineer Corps; Captain Brooke, after having
been for a long time on duty at the national observatory at
Washington, in association with Maury, had conducted an
important exploration of the North Pacific; and Colonel Mc-
Donald had been associated with Professor Henry of the
Smithsonian Institute.

The committee of the legislature before whom it was laid
favored the plan as proposed and outlined by General Smith,
but the legislature was not prepared to provide the means
for its execution. Despairing of state support the Institute,
however, decided to carry it on to completion with its own
slender resources and July 2, 1868, created for Maury the
Chair of Physics and recalled him to Virginia. Fortunately
for the state the man now regarded by many as America’s
foremost scientist, responded to the call and at once set
about the physical survey of Virginia in the employ of the
Virginia Military Institute.

Part I of the Physical Survey of Virginia was the result
of the first two years of his work. Part II occupied the re-
maining two years of his life. Twenty thousand copies of
Maury’s world famous and epoch making report, with ac-
companying maps, were printed and distributed at the ex-
pense of the Institute. This report was read and approved

29

everywhere and was an important element in the extension
of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad to the Ohio River, and in
directing the attention of the world of commerce to the
Virginia through routes as the true lines of trade from the
Mississippi basin to the Atlantic Seaboard. Furthermore,
it was the basis upon which the national congress undertook
the study of transcontinental transit.

Upon the prosecution of Maury’s vast and important work
the Virginia Military Institute expended sums aggregating
$20,000, not one cent of which was ever refunded to it. In
such legitimate college ‘‘extension’’ work it may be said to
have only performed its functional duty as a school of ap-
plied science. Certain it is the Institute received no con-
sideration from the legislature for the voluntary service it
rendered the state.

In June 1867 the State had purchased a farm known as
‘Little Scotland’’ lying on Hampton Creek. Suitable build-
ings were erected the following winter and scudents admit-
ted in April, 1868. This institution was known as the Hamp-
ton Normal and Agricultural School for colored pupils. In
the town of Blacksburg, Montgomery County, there was a
small private school owning certain real estate, known as
the Preston and Olin Institute. The authorities of these
two institutions were active in enlisting the support of the
legislature and in calling attention to the advantages of
utilizing their property in connection with the proposed
foundation of agricultural schools.

In the very midst of the Institute’s great work on the
physical survey of Virginia, the legislature of 1869-70, elect-
ed under the new constitution, finally passed an act incorpo-
rating the Hampton Normal and Agricultural School, and
the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. The first
was to provide instruction for colored and the second for
white pupils. This action seems to have been the result of
a shrewd deal between the blacks and the Western faction

30

in the legisalture by which the spoils were to be divided
between them while the supporters of the various colleges
pressing their claims contended among themselves.

During the Session of 1871-2 the legislature authorized
the sale of the Congressional land scrip allotted Virginia
and provided fer the investment of the proceeds thereof.
(Acts 1871-2, C. 69, p. 48.) At the same session the inco.ne
arising from this investment was appropriated—one-third
thereof to the Hampton Normal and Agricultural School, and
two-thirds was set apart to the use of the Virginia Agricul-
tural and Mechanical College which was to be located at
Blacksburg, in'Montgomery County ,provided the real estate
belonging to Preston and Olin Institute should be transferred
without cost to the visitors of the new college, and provid-
ed the County of Montgomery should vote a sum of $20,000
as an addition to the funds of the college. (Acts 1871-2,
C. 234, p. 312. Approved March 19, 1872.)

The Act creating the new college required a Board of Vis-
itors consisting cf nine members to be appointed by the
Governor, which ‘board was to include the President of the
Virginia Agricultural Society and the members of the Board
of Education, having been duly appointed the Board met in
March, 1872. A Committee composed of Messrs. W. H.
Ruffner, J. R. Anderson, and W.T.Sutherlin, was appointed
to report a plan of organization and instruction for the
new college, at the next meeting of the Board.

In July the Board again met and received the report of
the Committee which was adopted. One interested in the
history of education in Virginia should read this report, for
it precludes the possibility of dispute as to the origina! in-
tent of the founders of the Virginia Agricultural & Mechan-
ical College. (Virginia School Report, 1872, p. 5 A.)

Virginia realized a larger sum per acre on the sale of her
public lands than any other state—about ninety-three cents.
The proceeds of the sales of the Congressional land-grant

31

was, therefore, about $280,000. The interest on the invest-
ment of this sum enabled the two agricultural schools to
commence operations at once.

The new college at Blacksburg was opened October 1,
1872. When the legislature created it all idea of continuing
their efforts on behalf of the School of Agriculture at the
Virginia Military Institute was abandoned by the authori-
ties; the state was not only unable to provide adequate sup-
port for its further development, but it was seen that such
support even if possible could hardly be expected. Thence-
forth the energies of the Institute were to be bent upon the
development of its schools of Engineering and Chemistry,
leading in later years to the addition of a school of electric-
ity. All of these schools are, of course, more or less didac-
tic. The Chair of Chemistry adapted to scientific agricul-
ture, however, was continued.

A fact which is not generally known should be given here.
In August, 1880, Scott Shipp, graduate of the Virginia Mili-
tary Institute of the Class of 1859 and who had been Com-
mandant of Cadets at that institution since 1862 was elected
President of the new Virginia Agricultural & Mechanical
College. After holding office four days he resigned. Shipp
returned to the Institute, remained Commandant until 1890,
and was then appointed Superintendent from which office
he resigned in 1906 after fifty years of faithful and efficient
service as a cadet and an officer of the Institute. (Shipp was
graduated from the V. M. I. in the class of 1859. He was 32
years of age in 1872.)

October 16, 1888, the Virginia Agricultural Experiment
Station was organized in accordance with Congressional Act
and became a part of the Virginia Agricultural & Mechanical
College at Blacksburg. Within recent years the college has
changed its name and is now known as the Virginia Polytech-
nic Institute. This change was due to a gradual transform-
ation, in the original character of the institution from that

32

of a practical school of agriculture and mechanic arts as de-
signed by its founders, to a didactic school of scientific agri-
culture, engineering and mechanics, but strong pressure has
of late developed in favor of the original conception in order
to avoid the duplication of the engineering schools at the
Virginia Military Institute and the University of Virginia.
Under the administration and guidance of its recently elect-
ed president, John D. Eggleston, the Polytechnic Institute
bids fair to enter a field of greater usefulness to the State
than it has hitherto occupied.

Under section 1225, Revised Statutes, and amendments
thereto, officers of the Regular Army are detaiied as military
instructors to certain schools, colleges, ete., that fulfill cer-
tain specified requirements as to number of students attead-
ing and amount of instruction given in military subjects.

Under the Morrill Act of July 2, 1862, land and money
were donated as we have seen:

‘*To the endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one college
(in each State) where the leading subject 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,’’ ete.

Under the present law there is no specified standard of
miltary instruction required and no penalty attached to in-
sufficient or improper military instruction that endangers
the receipt of the annual fund appropriated, unless the fol-
lowing provision of the act of August 30, 1890, could be con-
strued as such, viz:

*‘If the Secretary of the Interior shall withhold a certificate from
any State or Territory (as to whether such State or Territory is entitled
to receive its share of the appropriations for colleges) of its appropria-
tion, the facts and reasons therefor shall be reported to the President,
and the amount involved shall be kept separate in the Treasury until
the close of the next Congress in order that the State or Territory
may, if it should so desire, appeal to Congress from the determination
of the Secretary of the Interior.

“*If the next Congress shall not direct such sum to be paid, it shall
be covered into the Treasury.

39

‘‘And the Secretary of the Interior is hereby charged with the proper
administration of this law.’’

The Secretary of the Interior has not under him the neces-
sary trained military personnel to determine, so far as the
proper military instruction is concerned, whether or not the
intent of the provisions of the Morrill Act regarding ‘‘mili-
tary tactics’’ is properly enforced, and does not attempt to
do so.

The War Department does inspect the several colleges to
which Army officers are detailed, but has no remedy for the
enforcement of the proper amount of military study other
than the withdrawal of said officer in certain cases, the re-
sult being that in some colleges the minimum amount possi-
ble is set aside for the maintenance of the military depart-
ment.

Efforts are now being made to remedy the above situation,
and it is hoped the results will be satisfactory.

The Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, now
the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, has never been organized
as an essentially military institution though the military
feature has,perhaps,been stressed more than at many of the
“‘land-grant’’ colleges. A semi-military organization is re-
tained more as a means of qualifying under the terms of the
Morrill Act than because of any convictions as to the efficien-
cy of military training. The military Esprit of the institu-
tion has never been developed to such degree as to make
the required course of military training popular among the
students. Nor was it contemplated by its founders that it
should be. This belief is established by reference to the re-
port of the plan of organization adopted for the college. In
that report we read:

‘The military feature offers another embarrassing problem. There
is great power in the military system, but as General Lee once re-
marked, —‘ To be effective, it must be perfect;’ that is, not only com-
plete in organization, but backed by military authority and penalties.

‘*The Act of Congress having been passed during the war, the clause

34

requiring military tactics to be taught may have been prompted by
some intention to establish the Prussian military system over the
whole land. But if such an idea ever existed it has passed away, and
there now seems no disposition on the part of Congress to be enacting
with regard to the military feature in these technical schools. In
point of fact, the colleges which received the land grant have, with a
few exceptions, given no prominence to this feature, and would be
glad to omit it altogether.

**Still, whilst the law exists, military tactics must be taught in
some form. We do not understand that the term ‘‘military tactics’’
covers the whole ground of military science and tactics, but has special
reference to field evolutions. Therefore an opportunity given to the
students for military drill would satisfy the law. Some of the discipli-
nary regulations might be usefully adopted, if it should be concluded
to board all the students on the college grounds.’’ (See School Report,
1872, p.. 33.)

On _ the other hand, the Virginia Military Institute is es-
sentially military in character. The military Esprit of the
Corps of Cadets has been carefully fostered from the day the
institution was founded with the result that its traditions
are highly military in character. Under the provisions of
Section 1225, Revised Statutes, and the amendments there-
to, the Institute has always been rated as of the highest
class of military instructions and in 1914 it was unequivo-
cally declared by the Chief of Staff of the United States
Army before a Committee of the Senate to be the most val-
uable and efficient military school in the United States, the
national academies excepted. In the report of the Army
Inspector for that year it was stated that all requirements
of the War Department were not only fulfilled but surpassed,
and it was recommended that the members of the two upper
classes might well be commissioned as officers in the volun-
teers should need for such troops arise.

In view of the foregoing facts it seems anomalous indeed
that the Federal government should have contributed so lib-
erally tothe support of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and extend no pecuniary aid whatever to the Virginia Mili-
tary Institute.

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