And if the advance of agriculture and the condition of the farmer have been tardy, as compared with the improvement in other departments of labor--in other avocations of life--it is solely because science and study have not as soon been applied to agriculture--and because also the farmer has not been permitted the advantages resulting from so early a development of facts connected with his calling as have other classes of men. But the great work is now fairly in progress of elevating the farmer to his true position in the social order of society--of teaching him that his vocation, instead of being the dull, unintellectual lot of the ignorant, is the most noble and dignified, as well as the most conducive to men's happiness in which he can be engaged; and nothing is now wanting to secure the steady advancement of this work, but for the farmers to do justice to themselves and to their calling, by laying hold of the means for that end which are placed within their reach. Assuming all this to be undeniably true, where can be found more potent agencies in the work of elevation than Agricultural Colleges? And why, then, should any farmer in this State hold back from giving this Institution his cordial and hearty support? And stranger still--why should he put himself in antagonism to its success? Such an attitude, to my mind, is not merely unwise, but preposterous--yes, suicidal. If the College is not what it should be, the more his self-interest should prompt him to bestow upon it his aid. It is the _Farmers' Institution_--founded for _his_ benefit, at much cost; and if _he_ does not feel an interest in it and labor to make it a success, who will? Who should? But why have a portion of the farmers of Michigan seemed to look with distrust upon this Institution, and in some cases, I regret to say, seemed to regard it as a sort of wrong to themselves; and if they have not actually opposed, have, at least, withheld from it their support? I must confess, that should I give what seemed to me to be the true answer to these questions, it might be regarded by some who have not very carefully looked into the subject, as an assumption on my part unwarranted by facts. Would that it were so; that I were mistaken. But having given the subject some little thought and investigation, you will, I trust, permit me the honest expression of my own views upon this important matter. It is for that purpose and none other, that I am here. But you, Mr. President, as well as all those now present, can certainly take no personal exception to these views, as the very fact of such presence shows that you are not of the class to which I may allude; and I am gratified in being able to say that I believe there are very many others, not present, who are the warm and devoted friends of this Institution; and who, with you, I most certainly hope, constitute the rule and not the exception.