The University of California and its relations to industrial education : as shown by Prof. Carr's reply to the grangers and mechanics; Prof. Swinton's testimony before the Legislature; the new education, by Columella; memorial to the Legislature by joint committee of the state grange and mechanics online

plan would not meet the immediate demands of both. With respect to the ag-
ricultural grounds, I beg leave to refer the Board to my communication of May
5, 1870. I cannot express too strongly my conviction that their improvement
for the specific purposes of agricultural and horticultural instruction and the
organization of a labor corps of students to do the necessary work, on the plan
adopted at Cornell, by the Universities of Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin, and lately
the new " Bussey School of Agriculture and Horticulture " of Harvard College,
is of the greatest importance. I know of at least fifty students who woiild have
been with us next year under such an arrangement ; just such students as Presi-
dent White reports "among the best" in Cornell University. An Agricultural
College without farm and gardens, sufficient for experimental purposes, at least,



PROFESSOR CARR'S REPLY. 19

would be like a chemical school without a laboratory. My own experience and
that of Professors in every one of those thriving institutions founded on the
Congressional grant is, that whenever the appointments of the Agricultural De-
partments or Colleges are made as complete as those of Letters, the most gratify-
ing results have been realized. In conclusion, I would say that a strong desire
is manifested on the part of the agricultural classes to see this department in
effective working order, and among them are found some of the most devoted
and zealous friends of the University. Respectfully submitted.

EZRA B. CARR, Professor.



University, Sept. 3, 1872.
To the chairman of the Committee on Buildings and Grounds — Dear Sir :
Unless some preparation is made very soon for begining the agricultural work at
Berkeley, with the coming season it must all go over until a year from this Fall,
and the delay will be a serious check upon the practical operations for the follow-
ing year. The Agricultural Professor ought to be on the ground by Christmas,
at the latest. "Will not the Board authorize the construction of houses and out-
buildings for the use of that Department, and that the necessary surveys of the
ground be carried forward early in the coming term. I am driven to urge the
Board to this because I know that the sentiment in favor of developing the agri-
cultural department in proportion to the others is strong in the community, and
because we are so far behind every other institution of the same age on a similar
foundation. Very respectfully yours, EZRA S. CARR.



WANTED A DEFINITE PLAN.

University of California, Sept. 10, 1872.
To the Honorable Board of Regents : I have considered it my duty as Agri-
cultural Professor to prepare for the work for my Department by informing myself
accurately and in detail with regard to the scope, cost and results of similar work
done in other colleges, and to compare this carefully with the experience of the
best farmers, fruit growers and stock raisers of the State. The late E. D. Le-
welling and other competent persons have examined every acre of the University
domain, with regard to its capacity for special cultures. The plans herewith
submitted are the result of careful studies and statements of practical men. If
we are able to offer faciltities for the practical study of horticulture and ag-
riculture during the next five years and adequately recognize the greatest
industrial interests of Calfornia in our University, we ought to begin our
preparations at once and be ready for the rainy season. The ornamental
planting done three years ago shows how far our nurseries, orchards and arbore-
tums might have been advanced had the Board authorized me to carry out plans
submitted at that time.. I beg leave to represent to the Board the immediate and
imperative wants of the department, with some suggestions as to the way of
meeting them. First — We want a definite plan to work up to, year after year.
We have not an acre too much if it is all utilized. I think all the ground not
required for general purposes walks and drives, should be included in this plan.
Not less than fifty acres, in my opinion, should be used for orchards and for hor-
ticulture. Second — Suitable buildings, of which the residence of the Horti-
cultural Professor should be one. If the Board would appropriate the amount
intended for a single residence, allowing it to be used in erecting a dwelling
adapted to agricultural and horticultural work, built as cheaply as is consistent
with convenience and durability, and put up a plant house or houses in connec-
tion with it, I think the present needs in that direction would be provided for.
The situation of these is a matter of great importance. Third — We need a small
beginnnig in the way of teams, implements and stock. We ought to furnish milk
and vegetables for the University, and should be able in three or four years to
show as mnch specimen stock of the best breeds as the farm will support. In
order to have live fences growing, in order to fasten to the University the interest
and good will of a large class of our citizens, and to attract students by a labor
system which will from the start employ and encourage them, I ask the Board



20 PROFESSOR CARR's REPLY.

to authorize me to make the necessary beginnings, making such appropriations as
they deem prudent and just. I could wish that every item of this expenditure
should commend itself to the judgment and good sense of farmers and practical
men, and that Berkeley farm-house and its appurtenances might be a model of
cheapness, good taste and utility.

I respectfully ask that I be allowed an opportunity to present to the appropri-
ate Committees the plans in detail, and to compare them with those adopted and
approved in other institutions.

Respectfully submitted, E. S. CARE..

PROFESSOR BOLANDER TRIES TO GET THE BOARD TO DO SOMETHING.

No such opportunity to appear before the Board was ever afford -
de me. I sent to each of them copies of an address upon the
claims and condition of industrial education, which embodied
the most important facts in the history of Agricultural Colleges
elsewhere. As stated before, the special studies in agriculture,
and agricultural chemistry commenced with the beginning of
the University year, 1871-2, under the administration of Pres-
ident Durant, whose interest in the Agricultural College was
ever my best encouragement. His report to the Department of
Agriculture for 1871 gave a respectable showing of our educa-
tional work. During this year I gave a course of two lectures
a week to the agricultural class upon the Chemistry and Phys-
ics of Agriculture, three a week to the third University class on
Chemistry, as the previous year ( see Com. of July, 1871 ), one
lecture a week to the fourth class ( as per curriculum ) on
Physiology and Hygiene during the first term. This gave me
for the first term of the year six lectures a week, and for the
remaining two terms five, nearly all of which were experimental
requiring from two to four hours in their preparation. My rov-
ing commission occupied Saturdays and every day of the short .
vacations. I was discharging, as best I could, the duties of two
chairs without assistance, and without a cent of extra appropri-
ation for expenses or salary. Through the collegiate year 1871-2,
the Regents say (in their report) that they maintained the "Col-
lege of Agriculture " with no " diminution of its curriculum,
and with increased advantages." I felt and still maintain that
my instruction was the only distinction between the College of
Agriculture and that of Letters, and that its advantages were
not increased by adding to my other duties those of another
Professorship. At my urgent personal solicitation, Mr. Bolander,
an ex-officio Regent, again called the attention of the Board to
the importance of commencing experimental and practical work
upon the grounds. I furnished him a copy of my commnnication
of May, 1870, which he modified as follows, and presented at a
meeting of the Board in July, 1872. (See California Teacher,
August 1872, p. 66) :



PROFESSOR CARR'S REPLY. 21

Mr. Bolander recommended that the Board of Regents locate immediately such
portions of the University domain as are to he devoted to agriculture and horti-
oulture, and cause the same to he accurately surveyed and mapped.

1. For an orchard of specimen fruits of all kinds likely to be successfully and
profitably raised in some portion of this State, at least five acres.

2. For vineyard, mulberry, textile and oil-producing plants, four acres,

3. For culinary vegetables and small fruits, two acres.

4. For the cultivation of all kinds of useful fruit and shade trees, ten acres.

5. For the cultivation of indigenous and foreign and mediciual plants, one
acre.

6. For the culivation of all our native arborescent plants, to serve as a practical
introduction to the study of botany for the students, three acres.

1. That an annual appropriation of .$ 500 be made for the purchase ot all kinds of
seeds of our indigenous vegetation. These seeds shall he used for exchanges with
foreign institutions of a similar nature.

2. That an annual appropriation of $500 be made for the purchase and intro-
duction of fruit trees not existing in this State.

3. That an industrial museum be established, with a Phytochemical laboratory,
to test the usefulness of plants.

4. That a greenhouse and a small propagating house be erected.

5. That a competent and scientific gardner be employed to lay out the grounds
and take charge of the entire work.

6. That the perservation, drying and packing of all kinds of fruit be made
a special subject of investigation.

7. That vinegar and wine making, silk culture, distillation of volatile oils,
and paper making be taught in connection with agriculture and horticulture.

8. That it shall be the duty of the Professor of Agriculture to supreintend
all operations connected with the experimental gardens, to open correspondence
with acclimatization societies and institutions of like purpose in foreign countries,
and to report anmially to the Board of Regents on the progress and conditions of
the gardens. These reports shall be published at once and distributed at large.

9. That the students be allowed to work a certain length of time during the
day, and be compensated therefor,

10. That the surplus of plants raised be distributed throughout the State, to
such farmers and persons who are willing to plant the same, and to report
annually on their condition.

11. That regular daily observations be made on climatic changes.

These resolutions were temporarily laid on the table. On the
3d of September I again ventured to urge the prosecution of this
work upon the Chairman of the Committee on Buildings and
Grounds (Dr. Merritt), and again upon the Board, September
10th. At a meeting of the Board, September 18, 1872, Mr.
Bolander's resolutions were ordered placed on file, and, on motion
of Kegent Bolander, " the Building Committee were authorized to
have a greenhouse constructed at an expense not to exceed $ 500,"
and it was also resolved that the Professor of Agriculture " be
authorized to employ a gardener at a compensation not to exceed
$100 per month." (See California Teacher, October, 1872, p.
133.)

THE CIRCUMLOCUTION OFFICE.

I lost no time in asking to have the locations assigned for these
purposes. But the Fall term of 1872 had given us a new Presi-
dent, D. C. Gilman, whose active duties were to commence with



22 PROFESSOR CARR'S REPLY.

the following Winter term. I ordered the mill work and sash for
the greenhouse, selected a gardener, and waited for permission to
"move on." Was advised to wait for President Gilman's direc-
tions. During his hurried visit to us before his inauguration I
had laid before him the whole position of the Agricultural Col-
lege, the promises I had been making the people concerning it,
etc. I gave him the plans of the grounds, which embodied three
years careful study of their soils, exposures and the cultures
practicable for this locality. I also gave him the plans for the
equipment of the rooms assigned to the Agricultural Department,
on the main floor of the nearly completed Agricultural College
building. At the laying of the corner stone of that building,
the orator of the day, Bev. Mr. Stebbins, had spoken of every-
thing which the University was to do except to make educated
farmers and mechanics. The new President, in his inaugural
speech, given November 7, 1872, on the " building of the Uni-
versity," found a place to compliment the geological survey, the
Overland Magazine, even, but none for a word of encourage-
ment to the young lady students who sat before him — none for
the long delayed Colleges of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts.
I found it extremely difficult to get a hearing from the President
on any subject connected with the practical development of the
grounds. He constantly referred me to the Committee. If I
went to the Committee on Grounds, or its Chairman, I was re-
ferred to President Gilman. Prof. Grey of Harvard, who was
then planning and perfecting the Cambridge arboretum, was on
this Coast at the time of Gilman's appointment, and had urged
me, as everyone interested in these subjects had been doing for
three years, to exhibit the great advantages possessed here for
arboriculture. Thinking his opinion would have more weight
than my own importunities, I asked him to write President Gil-
man as urgently as he could in this behalf. He replied to me
from the Smithsonian Institution, April 14, 1873, saying that he
would use "all the knowledge and influence he possessed to avert
the danger of allowing our great opportunities at a critical per-
iod to pass unimproved." (See Grey's letter, quoted in "Begent's
Biennial Keport, '"72-3," page 44.)

Meanwhile, during the early part of the planting season, gar-
dener and greenhouse waited upon his decisions. Nothing what-
ever was done, until the acceptance by the Board of Mr. Nolan's
donation, through me, of duplicates of every tree and shrub
grown in his large nursery, and the appropriation of $400 to
enable me to remove and set them out, compelled action.



PROFESSOR CARR'S REPLY. 23

STARTING AN ARBORETUM.

Before the 1st of April I had plowed and subsoiled the part
of the grounds upon which permission had been given me to
plant the Nolan collection, had planted eighty species of conif-
erous trees, thirty of eucalyptus, twenty-seven of acacia, and a
very large collection of deciduous trees and shrubs, the additional
gifts of Messrs Hoag and Williamson of Sacramento, Sanderson
of San Jose, Mr. Kelsey of Oakland and others, in all three hundred
species and seven hundred specimens. As far as soil and exposure
would admit they were planted in accordance with their natural
orders, the pines, firs, cypresses, etc., forming distinct sections.
Spaces were left for foreign allies. Each plant was labeled with
the scientific and common name, habitate and a number corres-
ponding to that on a catalogue, in order that the rate of growth,
size and other important facts could afterward be determined.
The publication of Dr. Bolanders recommendations, with similar
items, called out equally generous offers from other prominent
horticulturalists. Mr. Lewelling of San Lorenzo offering us du-
plicates of the varieties in his extensive orchards ; Mr. Nicholson
and other vineyardists of their vines. Consulting the President,
I was advised " to decline these gifts for the present year at
least, there being absolutely no money at command for these
purposes." Observe here, that I had been authorized to employ
a gardener at #100. a month, which I had not done, simply
because I was not authorized to provide him with tools, manures,
etc., or to locate the ground for his operations, and had not used
a cent of that appropriation. During my entire incumbency the
sum of four hundred dollars has been expended under my direc-
tion. The sum of $20,964, was expended during this term by
the Committee on Buildings and grounds, under the direction of
their Chairman, Dr. Merritt, for ornamental improvements
having no reference to agriculture or horticulture.

The University site was laid out for the College of California
by Fred Law Olms tead of the New York Central Park. The
present roads, etc., were made on that plan. At the time of my
appointment Mr. Lowe of San Jose was laying out the grounds as
a landscape garden, without any reference to the requirements
of an Agricultural College. William Hammond Hall, landscape
engineer of San Francisco, is understood to be now employed in
developing those grounds as an educational park. His plans
will require an expendature of $40,000. for the next two years,
while competant experts estimate the cost when finished to be
not less than $80,000. The plan speaks for itself ; it is worthy
of praise for its aesthetic or ornamental uses, and for these alone.



24 PROFESSOR CARR'S REPLY.

That the Regents have not seriously contemplated the utilization
of any considerable part of those grounds is evident from the
sale of an important portion (112 acres), from their official an-
nouncements, from the unnecessary delay and virtual indorse-
ment of the most costly and purely ornamental plan which has
been submitted.

THE GTLMAN UNIVERSITY.

Soon after the inauguration of President Gilman it became
evident that he had not only no sympathy with the Agricultural
College, but that he would use all his influence to divert its means
into other channels. He pronounced the organization so care-
fully studied by acting President Le Conte as " extremely faulty
and defective," and in the Register, soon after published wiped
out the College of Agriculture, as such, making an agricultural
" course of study " one of several not essential to any degree con-
ferred by the University. So marked was this change that when
the head of the Agricultural Department at Washington wrote to
me for the statement of the condition and progress of our Agricul-
ltura College, to include in his report to Congress for 1872, and I
replied by sending the register (not feeling authorized to speak
for the President or Regents), he immediately replied : " What I
want is a register or catalogue or other document concerning
your Agricultural College. Please fill the enclosed blanks, an-
swers to specific questions which will give the desired informa-
tion/' I gave the letter and blanks to President Gilman, with a
copy of the previous report made under President Durant.

When the Agricultural report was distributed the informa-
tion concerning our Industrial College of Agriculture and the
Mechanic Arts was confined to two brief paragraphs, as follows:
" The most important change made in this College during the
present year is the election of Daniel C. Gilman, President of the
Univesity." " President Gilman is a graduate of Yale College,
and was for several years Professor in the scientific school of that
college. He has spent some time in Germany in the study of
science in Berlin. His inaugural address was delivered at Oak-
land, November 7, 1872, and is replete with practical observations
on the principal and character or the education which our re-
public demands." " The farm has not been improved," etc.
" Students are not instructed in agriculture outside of the school-
room." (See Agricultural Report for 1872.)

THE NEW MORRILL BILL.

About this time the proposition to give large additional giants
of land to further endow such Colleges as had complied with the



PROFESSOR CARR'S REPLY. 25

terms of the former grant was brought before Congress. The
passage of the new Morrill bill would give us an additional in-
come of over $30,000 per annum : but its conditions were
exceedingly stringent, and under it many of the abuses which
had prevailed in the execution of the former bill would be rem-
edied. The sale of lands and care of accruing funds was to be
left in the hands of the National Government.

With the first publication of Morrill's new bill on this coast
an article appeared to show that the object of the former bill
was not to promote industrial but general scientific and literary
training. I replied controverting the position, and set myself
more earnestly than ever to meet the requirements of the new
grant by proving our good intentions by some good works. The
time was drawing near for the removal of the University to its
permanent home at Berkeley. The Professors appointed before
1872 had each been promised residences free of rent, and this
promise being renewed I asked for the erection of a plain farm
house, with suitable outbuildings, for my own accupation, that
1 might economize time by giving my personal supervision to
the work of my department. I was informed that houses would
be built simultaneously with the College of Letters. Packages
of choice plants^ seeds, etc., were frequently arriving, for which
I could get no care or protection. In the summer of '73 beds of
ramie, jute, etc., a very choice lot of vines, and the most com-
plete collection of flowering bulbs which has ever been made on
this coast were destroyed by pigs. No part of the grounds were
excluded from public intrusion, and no part was set aside except
for picnic purposes. It should be remembered that all this time
a larger sum of money than I had asked for was employed for
the care of the grounds under Dr. Merritt's directions.

THE HAYSEED DIPLOMAS.

At the "Commencement" of 1873 the students of what under
the administration of President LeConte and Durant had been a
College of Agriculture completed their prescribed four years
course and presented themselves for graduation. Fair parch-
ments of handsome size, engraved and decorated, bearing the
signatures of all the Faculty j awaited the students of the Col-
lege of Letters. Small sheets of paper parchment, more like
school certificates than college diplomas, signed by President
Gilman and three members of the Faculty, were presented to the
graduates in Agriculture. The students were justly indignant,
but were somewhat mollified by finding that this had been done
without the knowledge or consent of their late teachers. This
agricultural experiment was not repeated, the Diplomas having



26 PROFESSOR CARR's REPLY.

told their own story before the Legislative Committee in connec-
tion with other evidence taken.

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE RUN INTO THE GROUND.

The University year of 1873-4 was to open at Berkeley. The
distribution of rooms for the use of the various professors who
were to occupy the College of Agriculture had long before been
made, by common consent of the Faculty and Building commit-
tee, and appropriate fiittings and furnishings were either complet-
ed or in progress, when the President informed me that the rooms
designed for the agricultural department would be required for
other purposes. All my plans for exhibiting rare and valuable
plants and conducting experiments to which light and heat were
essential where thus summarily overthrown by relegating the
accomodations into the north end of the basement. I remon-
strated strongly ; said " I should be ashamed to take the farmers
of the state through the buildings and exhibit such accommoda-
tions for the Agricultural College." The paragraph on page 69
of the Regents' statement to the Joint Committee of the Legis-
lature is untrue.

My remonstrances were made to the President, as my communi-
cations usually were after his appointment. If the Board never
received "any expression of my wishes," it was not my fault.
The Regents say (also on page 68 of their statement) that "on
the removal to Berkeley the sum of $500 was placed at my dis-
posal to secure the aid of competent lecturers during the year
in matters of practical agriculture." This is not true. I never
heard of this except in the pages referred to, and never knowingly
had a cent at my disposal for these purposes. (See following letter
to Regents April 6, 1874.) I did what I could to make the base-
ment rooms assigned to my use presentable before the visit of
the Legislative Committees, occupying the holidays in furnish-
ing them with my own library and collections. The lecture-
room, without fire, was exceedingly cold and damp during the
rainy season.

THE GRANGES AND MECHANICS TAKE UP THE MATTER.

In the Winter of 1873-4 a Committee of the State Grange
and Mechanics' Deliberative Assembly respectfully memorialized
the Legislature on the subject of the Agricultural and Mechanic
Arts Colleges. The Committee spoke approvingly of what had
been done in other directions, and asked, in addition to the ap-