New York state agricultural college. Charter, ordinances, regulations, and course of studies, 1859

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NEW YORK STATE

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE,

Ovid, Seneca :-Co.. IN. Y.

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ORDINANCES, REGULATIONS

COURSE OF STUDIES.

Al, B.A Tees
CHARLES VAN BENTHUYSEN, No. 407 BROADWAY.

1859.

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OFFICERS.

President.
7M. R. PATRICK.
N. Y. Ag. College, Ovid, Seneca Co., N. Y.

Chairman Board of Trustees.
Hon. JOHN A. KING, Jamaica, L. I.

Secretary Board of Trustees.
BENJ. P. JOHNSON, Albany.

Treasurer.

ARAD JOY, Ovid.

Counsel to the Board.
Hon. JOHN KE. SEELEY, Ovid.

Executive Committee.
SAMUEL CHEEVER.
HENRY WAGER.
ALEXANDER THOMPSON
ARAD JOY.

JAMES O. SHELDON.

Finance Committee.
HENRY WAGER.
J. B. WILLIAMS.
A. A« POST.
Building Committee.

HENRY WAGER.
ALEXANDER THOMPSON.
BENJ. N, HUNTINGTON.

Furm Committee.
HENRY WAGER.
ALEXANDER THOMPSON.
JAMES O. SHELDON.

Architect.
S. E HEWES, Esgq.,

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Professor of Agricultural Chemistry, Botany, &c.,
Pror. WILLIAM H. BREWER.

Trustecs.

IIon. JOIIN A. KING, Jamaica.

« WILLIAM KELLY, Rhinebeck.
« TIENRY WAGER, Western.

«. B. P. JOHNSON, Albany.
“WILLIAM BUELL, Rochester.

JOEL W. BACON, Esq., Waterloo.

Hon. ABRAHAM A. POST, Flint Creek.
«© ADDISON GARDINER, Rochester.
Ce Be WILL GANS Sait haca
ALEXANDER THOMPSON, M. D., Aurora.
I. P. PRENTICE, Esq., Albany.

Mas. M. R. PATRICK, Ovid.

Hon. SAMUEL CHUEEVER, Waterford.
ARAD JOY, Esq., Ovid.

RUFUS K. DELAFIELD Esq., New York.

JAMES O. SHELDON, Esq., Geneva.
Hon. BENJ. N. WUNTINGTON, Rome.

AN ACT

* To Incorporate the New York State Agricul-
tural College.

PasseD APRIL 15, 1853.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and
Assembly, do enact as follows:

Section l. John Delafield, Henry Wager, B. P. Johnson, Wil-
liam Kelly, John A. King, N. B. Kidder, Joel W. Bacon, William
Buell, Tallmadge Delafield, Robert J. Swan, and such other persons
as shall or may be associated with them for that purpose, are hereby
constituted and created a body politic and corporate, by the name,
style and description of the ‘‘ New Yor« Srarr AGRICULTURAL
CoLLEGcE,” and the said corporation shall have and enjoy all the
corporate rights and privileges enjoyed by any incorporated college
in the State of New York, and shall be subject to the provisions
and exercise the powers and duties contained and set forth in tho
second article of the fifteenth chapter, title one, of the Revised
Statutes.

§ 2. The farm and grounds, belonging and attached to the said
College, shall consist of not less than three hundred acres.

§ 3. The plan of instruction shall embrace the following branches
of knowledge: Practical and scientific agriculture ; chemistry and
its manipulations, so far as it may be usefully connected with agri-
culture ; mathematics and mechanics; surveying and engineering ;
geology and botany; the practical management of the farm, of the
dairy, and of the various kinds of live stock; also such other
branches of knowledge as may be deemed useful and proper.

9 4. The persons named in the first section of this act shall be
and form the first Board of Trustees.

§ 5. This act shall take effect immediately.

AN ACT

To amend an act entitled “An act to Incorpo-
rate the New York State Agricultural Col-
lege,” passed April 15, 1858.

PasseD Fepruary 5, 1857.

The Peopie of the State of New York, represented in Senate and

Assembly, do enact as follows:

Section 1. The Trustees of the New York State Agricultural
College are hereby authorized to increase the number of Trustees of
said College from time to time, if they shall elect so to do, provided
that the whole number of Trustees shall at no time exceed twenty-
four.

No such increase shall be valid unless a resolution to that effect
be passed at a regular meeting of the Board of Trustees, at least
thirty days prior to the time of making such increase, nor unless
the Secretary or other authorized officer of the said Board shall give
notice in writing to each Trustee, in the usual manner, of such pro-
posed increase, nor unless a majority of all the Trustees then in
office shall vote in favor of such increase.

§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE.

Soon after the passage of the act of incorporation, Mr. John
Delafield, of Seneca county, who had devoted much time and efficient
service in procuring the act of incorporation, and much and most
valuable service in the cause of agriculture in the State, was unani-
mously elected President of the College. He, with the aid of the
other Trustees, made considerable progress in obtaining subscriptions
to the stock, when in the fall of 1853 he suddenly died. His death, ~
a severe loss to the agricultural interests of the State, was most
severely felt by his associate Trustees, and for a time almost
paralyzed their exertions.

In 1855, the people of Ovid, in the county of Mr. Delafield’s
residence, made an effort to obtain subscriptions to the stock for the
College, with the expectation that, if successful, the Trustees, in
locating the institution, would properly appreciate their efforts. A
subscription was obtained, mostly in*that vicinity, to the amount,
together with that obtained by Mr. Delafield and his friends, of
more than forty thousand dollars, for a College to be located at
Ovid. They, through the agency of the Rev. Mr. Brown, Principal
of the Academy at Ovid, and with the aid of the friends of the
enterprise from different parts of the State, procured the passage of
the act of Ist March, 1856, the first section of which provides that
when the Trustees shall certify to the Comptroller that they have
located said College in the county of Seneca, and have purchased
a suitable site for it, with three hundred acres of land, and have
obtained valid subscriptions to the stock to the amount of forty
thousand dollars, which is paid or secured to be paid to the satis-
faction of the Comptroller, and shall mortgage the land to the State,
that the Comptroller shall loan to the Trustees the sum of forty
thousand dollars for twenty-one years, without interest, out of the
income of the United States Deposit Fund, not otherwise appro-
priated, ‘‘to aid in the payment for lands so purchased, and in
constructing suitable buildings thereon for the uses and purposes

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of said College,’ &c. This act was amended in 1857, and pro-
vision made for advancing the money from the Treasury generally,
the Deposit Fund failing to supply the amount.

Although the establishment of such an institution for the educa-
tion of the farmer and others had long been determined upon by the
friends of agriculture in the State, this liberal and timely subscrip-
tion to the stock, at Ovid, has enabled the Trustees to bring it into
being at an earlier period than could probably otherwise have been
done. In view of all the premises, they have located it in the town
of Ovid, on the east side of Seneca Lake, and have purchased, in
all, about seven hundred acres of land for its purposes.

The farm is upon the western slope of the county, bounded west
by the Seneca Lake, and persons may leave Albany or Buffalo in the
morning, and, by the way of Geneva, reach the farm the same day ;
or New York or Buffalo in the afternoon, and, by the New York and
Erie road and the head of the Lake, reach the farm the following
morning. The spot selected for the College is one commanding a
view of great beauty and grandeur, taking in the town of Geneva
and more than twenty miles of the Lake, and the whole eastern
slope of the county of Yates and part of Ontario. Still, the spot
is retired, and the Trustees think none the less desirable, for that
cause, for the purposes intended. It is easy of access from any part
of the State. ;

All persons will concede that if an Agricultural College has
attached to it a farm, either for purposes of experiment, illustration
or means of employment to students, it is of the highest importance
that it should possess the greatest variety of soil possible. The
Trustees of the New York State Agricuitural College felt the rétal
importance of this matter, and only made the selection they did
after much deliberation. Had they selected a farm having no
variety of soil, however fertile it might have been, or how complete
all its other qualifications were, the general feeling would be that it
was unfit for its purpose, or at least ill adapted to it. An article on
the general features of the Botany of this farm, by Prof. Wm. H.
Brewer, indicates the varieties of its soil and its adaptation to the

purposes for which it is designed.
The farm is about two and a half miles long, and extends east

from the shore of Seneca Lake, the eastern end lying on the ridge
between the Lakes, and has an elevation of about 550 fect greater
than the western, the slope being gradual and the exposure to the

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west. A small stream, having its sources mostly beyond the farm,
runs through it to the Lake. It is bordered in some places by dry
grain land, in others by a narrow swale, while nearer the Lake it
sinks into a deep rocky ravine. he immediate banks of the Seneca
Lake form low bluffs, from. the top of which the land rises gradually
to the extreme eastern end of the farm at Ovid village.

The rock underlying the soil at the western end of the farm, and
which crops out at the Lake shore and in the ravine, is a soft shale,
the ‘‘Moscow shales’ (of Prof. Hall, in his reports on the Geology
of New York), belonging to the upper part of the Hamilton group.”
On this lies the ‘ Tud/y limestone,’
thickness on the farm of about eleven feet, half of which is suflici-

> an impure limestone, having a

ently compact for building purposes, and is burned for lime, which
is being used in the construction of the College buildings.

Above this lies the ‘‘ Genesee slate,’ which underlies the upper
part of the farm, or at least two-thirds of the land. This last is a
slaty sandstone, very variable in both its chemical and physical
characters,—varying from shale and slate to slaty sandstone, and
even compact sandstone, thin strata of which are compact enough
for building purposes, and indeed on the extreme upper part of the
farm it has been obtained for this use.

The rock, in places, has each of these characters, and varies by
all possible mixtures and proportions of these; hence, by its decom-
position, forms some of the most fertile lands of the State. No
better proof of this is needed than the fact that a large part of what
is known as the ‘‘Genesee country” of central and western New
York, a region of world-wide renown for its fertility, lies on the
same geological formation, having precisely the same physical and
chemical characters.

These varied characters of the underlying rocks, combined with
other causes, give great diversity to the soil; there are consequently
on the farm very dry soil, rather wet soil, thin soil lying near the
rock, deep and rich soil, soil poor in organic matter and soil black
with organic matter, sandy loam, clay loam, stiff clay, brick clay,
hard gravel, &c., the details of which can only be made intelligible
by a map.

COLLEGE BUILDINGS.

The College buildings to be erected, will, when completed, accom-
-modate three hundred and fifty students. That portion of the build-
ing now being erected, and which will be finished, it is expected,

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by early summer, consists of two wings, the one 58 by 128, the other
60 by 843—four stories—calculated to accommodate 150 students.
The buildings will be supplied with every needed convenience for
the students.

OUTLINE OF COURSE OF INSTRUCTION.

The chief object of the institution is to previde a system of
instruction essential and practically useful to the Agricultural inte-
rests of the State ; to combine theory with practice ; to afford whole-
some discipline to the mind, accumulation of knowledge, and habits
of labor and industry.

The course of instruction shall continue for three consecutive
years, at the expiration of which, and upon the recommendation of
the President and professors of the said College, the trustees may
confer a degree or diploma, authorized by the Revised Statutes of
the State, on all students who have completed the full course of
three years, and received the recommendation above named. ;

TERMS.
There shall be two terms of study annually, the Swmmer and
Winter term. The Summer term, from April 15th to November Ist.
The Winter term, from December Ist to March Ist.

ADMISSION.

Each candidate for admission to the College must be able to read
and write the English language well, be well acquainted with its
grammar and higher arithmetic.

(An acquaintance with the branches of science taught at the
academies and colleges of our coftntry will prove a great advantage
to the student on entering the Agricultural College.)

No student shall be admitted under sixteen years of age, and each
student must pass a satisfactory examination, and give evidence
that his moral character is in like manner satisfactory.

Each student on his admission into the College shall subscribe an
engagement in the following form:

““T (A. B.), now aged years and months, do -hereby
promise and agree, with the consent of my parent or proper guar-
dian, that I will faithfully observe and conform to all the rules,
regulations and orders of the New York State Agricultural College.

‘* Witness my signature, this day of Rls)

[‘‘ Signature of the student. ]

‘* Witness,

[‘‘ The parent or guardian.’’]

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. CHARGES.

The charge for instruction, with board and lodgings, lights and
fuel, will be two hundred dollars per annum, one-half of which sum
must be paid semi-annually in advance.

DISCIPLINE.

In the administration and management of the College and farm,
order and system should prevail,and as obedience and subordination
are essential to the welfare and prosperity of the College, and to
the comfort of all connected with the Institution, the students, and
every person employed by the corporation, will be required to obey
the President, professors and teachers or other officers. Any
refractory or disrespectful conduct will be punished according to
the degree of the offence.

GENERAL COURSE OF STUDIES.

FIRST YEAR.—SUMMER TERM.

English language, Arithmetic reviewed and completed, commence-
ment of Algebra, and principles of Chemistry, Mineralogy, Geology,
and Botany.

(English language and these elementary studies will be carried
on during the term, with mathematics. Although this is not
intended to be a manual labor school, still, the students will be
required to spend such time in the field as may be necessary to apply
the Theory to the Practice of Husbandry. Therefore—

The Freshman during this term will be instructed in plowing,
spading, care of hoed crops, gathering hay and grain crops, manage-
ment of the dairy, Xe.

WINTER TERM.

Algebra completed, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Geology and Botany
continued; Geometry, Drawing commenced.

(The Freshman class during this term, to be instructed in making
and preserving manures, care and feeding of store animals, root and
stock grafting, taking and preserving scions, &c.)

SECOND YEAR.—SUMMER TERM.

Trigonometry, Analytical Geometry, Surveying, Construction of
Roads, &c., Agricultural Chemistry, Mineralogy, Geology and
Botany continued, Outlines of Comparative Anatomy, Vegetable
Physiology, and Drawing.

(Practical Instruction to the Juniors—in sowing grain, planting,
‘gardening, setting trees and shrubs, making fences and walls, drain-

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ing and irrigation, training, pruning, grafting and budding, handling
teams, loading wagons and carts, collecting specimens of plants and
minerals, &c.)

WINTER TERM.

Descriptive Geometry, Engineering, Carpentry, Bridges, &c.,
Natural and Experimental Philosophy, Agricultural Chemistry,
Mineralogy, Geology and Botany reviewed, Human Physiology,

sxannd Comparative Anatomy continued, Principles of Veteri-
nary practice, Book-keeping, Drawing, Farm Implements, Ma-
chinery, Architecture, &c.

(Practical instruction in fattening, breeding, and rearing stock,
training steers, handling cattle, training colts to saddle, harness or
draught, preparing timber for fences, posts, &c.)

THIRD YEAR.—SUMMER TERM.

History of Literature, General and Agricultural; Physical Geog-
raphy, &e., Intellectual and Moral Philosophy, Rhetoric and Logie,
Constitution of the United States and of the State of New-York;
Laws of New York relating to Contracts, Highways, Fences, &c.;
Book-keeping applied to the Farm; Entomology, Ornithology,
Accousties and Optics.

(The Senior class to make up Topographical maps, from their own
and other surveys, with reference to draining, irrigation, and land-
scape gardening; examine and collect botanical, mineralogical,
anatomical, and entomological specimens for winter analysis, Essays,
Lectures, &c.)

WINTER TERM.

Astronomy, Electricity, Magnetism, Meteorology, Intellectual
and Moral Philosophy, (including evidences of Christianity and
Natural and Revealed Religion,) Rhetoric and Logie continued,
Veterinary Practice; Drawing of Animals, Landscape, Composite,
&e.

(The Senior Class to continue experiments in the Chemical Labora-
tory and prepare essays on any subject that may be designated by
the Faculty. They also will take charge of all experiments in fat-
tening and feeding Stock, &c.) a

THE FARM.

Tt is intended to divide the Farm into two divisions—one, to be
the special sphere of the Juniors; the other, of the Freshman Class.
It is intended that reduced maps shall be struck off from the Topo-

Ynbecy

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graphical map of the farm, of which each Student shall have one,
and be required to keep a record of his labors on his own ha/f—
cost, productions, value, and all the data for making a complete
report at the close of the year. In this way cach Student becomes
thoroughly acquainted with the character of every portion of the
farm, before entering the Senior Class.

During the last term of the graduating class, they will be requir-
ed to prepare from their maps and field notes, above mentioned,
plans for laying out the grounds—having reference to aspect, soil,
location, &c., with accompanying essays upon the cultivation and
management of the whole farm, not only with an eye to pecuniary
profit, but to rural beauty and effect of landscape.

STUDENTS FOR LIMITED PERIODS.
It is probable that many young men may desire to attend the
institution for limited periods, to avail themselves of the pu®cdines
afforded them for instruction in asricultural science ; and such stu-

‘dents will be allowed to fall in with the regular classes in recitation

and instruction in the studies to which they wish to apply them-
selves. To organize a “special course’ for irregular students, or
for any other, indeed, would require an extra force of Professors ;
the ‘‘regular 4 of Professors on the ‘‘ College course’’ being quite
as much as can be attended to successfully.

The President and Professors of the College will, as they may
deem it important for the benefit of the Institution and the Students,
suggest modifications of the course of studies, and submit the same
to the Trustees, that the instruction may in all respects be such as
to accomplish in the most thorough manner the results for which
this Institution was founded.

ORDINANCES.

First. The government and management of the College shall be
under the direction of and control of the President of the College,
who shall be responsible to the Trustees for the general management
and well-being of every department; all matters of discipline and
arrangement shall be under the control of the President, and all
professors, teachers, officers, pupils and other persons employed shall
be under his supervision and direction.

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Second. Professors shall be appointed by the Board of Trustees
to fill such departments as the Trustees may deem expedient. The
Professors shall, in conjunction with the President, superintend
vigilautly the moral conduct, industry and progress of each student,
and other persons employed in the College or on the farm. The
Professors shall, as often as may be required by the President,
report to him the condition of their respective classes, in such form
as he may from time to time direct.

Third. A Chairman and Secretary shall be elected annually to
perform such duties as the act of incorporation or the action of the
Board may require.

Fourth. A Treasurer shall be elected by the Trustees. It shall
be the duty of the Treasurer to hold and carefully preserve all bills,
notes, bonds and mortgages, or other evidences of debt, or obliga-
tions or securities for personal or real estate, belonging to or held
by the College; he shall receive and deposit in bank all moneys
received from any source for account of the College. He shall pay
all drafts or orders on him, made by the Chairman of the Finance
Committee, which drafts shall always be drawn payable to the order
of the said Treasurer, and be specially endorsed to the party entitled
to receive the amount expressed in such draft or order; he shall
prepare, and present to the President on the first day of every month,
a full and detailed statement of all moneys received and paid by
him for or on account of the New York State Agricultural College,
and exhibiting the true balance of cash on the said last day of each
month.

Fifth. A Finance Committee, consisting of three members, shall
be annually clected by the Board, whose duty it shall be to audit all
accounts against the College, and to invest upon approved securities
any surplus money belonging to the institution, and generally to
supervise its finances.

Szxth. On or before the tenth day of January, in each year, a
report shall be prepared by the Trustees, stating their proceedings,
operations and expenditures, and including the last day of December
then passed ; the management of the farm; progress of the students ;
also setting forth suggestions for the improvement of the institution,
if necessary.

Seventh. Incase the number of applicants for admission of scholars
to the institution shall be greater than can be received, a preference
shall be given to the application of those who have subscribed to

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the funds of the College, provided due notice thereof be given to
the President.

The Trustees feel, in submitting to the public the outline of the
course of instruction and management of the College, that a great
responsibility rests upon them. The subject of an institution for
the instruction of the sons of farmers and mechanics, and others, in
the great work before them, is as yet in a great measure untried in
this country; though, as far as the institutions now in progress
report, there is every reason for encouragement. Upon the manner
in which this institution, as well as others to be put in operation,
shall be condueted, much depends. That an institution may be so
conducted as to be the means of doing great good, and of securing
the co-operation and cordial support of the farmers and mechanics
of our State, we have great confidence. We shall have to meet the
ardent expectation of many who will expect that a single year’s
operation will show great practical results; and others will expect,
it may be, that experiments of the most important character will be
exemplified at once, on the institution being put in operation. To
such we would say, the work connected with an agricultural institu-
tion must, of necessity, require time to develop all that can be done
for the proper instruction of the students, and for the satisfactory

_development of facts, which are to be ascertained from long continued
and well conducted. investigations and experiments; and while we
feel assured that a single year of instruction will be most valuable
to every industrious and thorough pupil, yet we cannot disguise the
fact that a series of years must be required to fully develop the
inestimable value of an institution like this.

The Trustees believe that the course of studies, a general outline
of which is given, will be thorough and practical, so that every
student shall be enabled properly to understand the great principles
connected with agriculture in its every department, and how, practi-
cally, to apply them in the management of the farm. It shall be
their aim to select, as instructors, those who are competent to give
such instruction, so that no portion of the work necessary to be
understood shall be overlooked, and all who pursue a thorough
course of study shall be able to carry out all the principles and
practices deemed necessary and important for the farmer.

To gentlemen interested in advancing the great interests of our
country, as well as to the farmers and mechanics of the State, the
Trustees look with confidence for the support of the institution, and

LIBRARY OF CONGRES

HIN

trust they will see the importance of sustaining the institution by

16

their contributions to its funds, as well as by sending to its halls
their sons to be educated in a manner which shall not only increase
their usefulness, but place them in a position equal to the educated
men of other pursuits.

The President of the College, as well as the Trustees and such
Agents as may be employed, will present to the public the subject
of funds. The Trustees appeal to all Professions to advance the
only institution in our State which is solely designed for the purpose
of furnishing an education suited to the wants of the great majority
of our young men. It is believed that the great interests of practi-
cal education can in no other institution be more fully promoted
than in this.

The Trustees will be pleased to receive from the various Agricul-
tural Associations in our country their Transactions for the Library
of the institution, and from others such works as may be useful to
the institution.

Students, contemplating joining the institution, will be furnished
with every necessary information by applying, personally or by
letter, to M. R. Patrick, President of the College, Ovid, Seneca
county, N. Y.

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