Alexander B. Brown, A.B., Professor of Vocal and Instrumental Music. Rev. H. O. Ladd, A.M., Instructor in Rhetoric and Mental Science. Merritt Moore, Principal of the Preparatory Department and Instructor in Mathematics. Edward S. Elmer, A.B., Instructor in the Ancient Languages. Miss Henrietta P. Dennis, Principal of the Ladies' Department and Instructor in French. (Unfilled), Instructor in drawing and Painting. Miss Anna M. Bennedict, Assistant Teacher in the Preparatory Depart ment. Miss L. A. Willard, Assistant Teacher of the Piano. Another flourishing and important institution is favorably known as the Michigan Female College. It was founded at Lansing in 1855, and its object was to provide for the education of the daughters of the State, although by a late report we learn that a thousand pupils have been received from nine other States. The courses of study are both classical and scientific. But an institution of greater importance and reputation, also located in the vicinity of Lansing, is the State Agricultural College. It is located on Cedar river; and although the act creating it was passed in 1855 it was not organized until 1857; and it is the first institution of the kind which has ever succeeded in this country. The tract of land which it occupies was purchased by the State Agricultural Society, (whose annual reports are val uable and interesting,) and contains six hundred and seventy-seven acres of choice land. Its object is to give to students a thorough practical and theoret ical education to fit them for the occupation of farming. It is well supplied with all the appliances for such an institution, and its herbarium is one of the largest in this country, numbering more than twenty thousand specimens. Students residing in Michigan are admitted free, while those from other States are charged only twenty dollars per annum for instruction. The students are obliged to perform farm labor three hours every day, and are paid for their earnings. It has been endowed by the General Government with a gift of public lands, which have been placed in the market for the benefit of the college; and in 1857 the faculty was: President and Director of the Farm, Joseph R. Williams; Professor of Mathematics, Calvin Tracy; Professor of Chemistry, Lewis R. Fisk; Professor of Physiology and Entomology, Henry Goadby; Professor of Natural Science, D. P. Mayhew; Professor of Farm Economy and Secretary, Robert D. Weeks; and Professor of Horticulture and Treasurer, John C. Holmes. We now come to speak of Hillsdale College, which is located in the beautiful town whose name it bears, and which is under the jurisdiction of the Free-will Baptist Church. Its buildings are spacious and handsome, and the institution is quite celebrated. Its faculty is as follows: Rev. Edmund B. Fairfield, D.D., LL.D., President. Rev. Ransom Dunn, A.M., Burr Professor of Biblical Theology. Rev. Henry E. Whipple, A.M., Professor of Rhetoric and Belles Letters. Spencer J. Fowler, A.M., Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. George McMillan, A.M., Professor of the Greek and Latin Languages. Hiram Collier, A.M., Professor of Natural Science. Cyrus Jordan, A.M., Assistant Professor of the Languages. Mrs. Julia M. Jordan, Principal of the Ladies' Department. Eugene Haanel, A.M., Teacher of French and German. From colleges to schools the transition is natural, and our first notice in this connection shall be of the State Normal School at Ypsilanti. The act creating this institution was passed in 1849, and appropriated for its support twenty-five sections of salt spring lands. It was commenced in 1852, boasts of a large and handsome edifice, and is intended to prepare teachers of both sexes; and, according to the last report of its principal, the school has gained much in the last two years from the co-operation of the county superintendents of common schools, who are credited with having done much for the cause of education. It is conducted at an annual expense generally speaking of about ten thousand dollars, but the outlay for 1869 was $18,500. More extensive than the above is the State Reform School, established at Lansing in 1856. It is designed to afford to homeless boys an opportunity to escape from the career of crime, which would otherwise await them, in such a manner that they may be enabled to gain an honest livelihood. It occupies a beautiful building which overlooks the Grand river at Lansing. The inmates are chiefly employed in farming and gardening, but a portion of them work at various trades, and all the branches of the common school are systematically taught. There is a chapel attached to the school, and everything is done to reform and elevate its inmates. The cost of carrying on the institution amounts to between forty and fifty thousand dollars per annum, although the expenditures for 1869 amounted to $56,025. We come now to a brief consideration of the educational work accomplished by the public schools of Michigan, and the exhibit made by the Superintendent of Public Instruction in his annual report for 1868 reflects the highest credit upon all who have participated in the important work. The total number of school districts is 4,843, and these are located in 778 towns and cities and in all of the fifty-nine organized counties of the State. The number of children attending school was 249,920; male teachers, 2,086; female teachers, 7,522; school-houses, 4,694; and their value, $4,285,627. The two classes of teachers received respectively $47.78 and $21.92 per month, and the total amount paid to them for the year 1868 was $1,038,131; the total expenditures on account of the schools amounting to $2,449,356. The number of books in the district libraries was 86,901 and in the town libraries 45,322. For over thirty years, writes the worthy Superintendent of Public Instruction, Rev. Oramel Horsford, the cause of education in Michigan has been constantly onward. In 1837-thirty-one years ago-the venerable John D. Pierce, first Superintendent of Public Instruction, and still an active worker in the cause, reported 14,297 children between five and seventeen years of age in the State. Now we report, between five and twenty years, 354,704. He then reported $21,375.91 expended for school purposes. In 1868 the aggregate exceeds two millions. The University fund was then about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Now it is $559,978. The University reports 1,223 students; the normal school, 262; and the local colleges nearly two thousand. The total expenditures for education in the State during the past year can be hardly less than three millions. But we must not, in this connection, forget to mention the purely benevolent institutions of the State, and first the Michigan Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind, located in Flint. This institution began operations in 1854, and has a large number of inmates. To teach the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak, and the blind to see, would have been deemed a miracle but a few years ago, but who that has visited our modern asylums can doubt that all this has practically been accomplished by the exertions of philanthropic men. Through this public beneficence, the unfortunate inmate of the asylum, which, by the way, has been re-named, and is called an institution, as in better keeping with its purpose, is in many respects more fortunate than many in less favored lands who enjoy every sense in perfection. He is taught to manufacture wagons, paper boxes, etc., to weave mats and carpets, and to manufacture a variety of useful articles. Above all, he is enabled to acquire a liberal education, and is thereby placed in a higher sphere than those who, in years past, looked on him with pity and contempt. Self-reliant, fully competent to obtain by their own hands an honest livelihood, the inmates of this institution go forth into the world. And who, but those families possessing an unfortunate member, bereft of the sense of speech and hearing, can appreciate the joyful emotions felt by his friends when the deaf and dumb pupil is first enabled to communicate with them in an intelligent manner. The asylum is free to all the deaf and dumb, and the blind, in Michigan, between the ages of ten and thirty years. All are entitled to an education without charge for board or tuition. The time for admission is about the first of October. Thus we see, that in little more than twenty years, Michigan has adopted a system of education unexceled in older communities; nor is the hand of progress to cease its zealous efforts. An improvement in the school law is now being agitated, by which all children shall be compelled to attend school for a certain length of time, unless parents shall adequately provide for their education elsewhere. The State imposes a heavy tax on its citizens for the support of the public schools, and is it not bound to secure to society the full benefit of these schools? The child has a sacred and indefeasible right to so much education as society can provide. Society embraces all men in its bosom, and its safety and well-being are essential to the safety and well-being of all. If there be any parent who interferes with the education of his child, his views must be sacrificed to the greater interests of the multitude. With regard to the men who have hitherto held the office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, and under whose guidance so much good has been accomplished, their names are as follows: John D. Pierce, Franklin Sawyer, O. C. Comstock, Ira Mahew, Francis W. Shearman, Ira Mahew again, J. M. Gregory, and the present incumbent, Oramel Hosford. We come now to speak of the Michigan Asylum for the Insane. We can say that the edifice is spacious and beautiful, and that in its furnishing and adaptedness to the purpose for which it was established, it is not one whit behind the other institutions of the country in efficiency and high character. The number of patients treated in 1867 and 1868 was 373, and the number remaining at the commencement of 1869 was 229. According to the latest reports for 1869 the annual expenditures amounted to $63,500, and it has capacity for three hundred patients. As to the State Prison, its condition has lately been improved, but it is not yet a self-sustaining institution. The number of inmates in 1868 was 622; the earnings amounted to $85,238, and disbursements $94,136. We regret to say that the usual liberality and wisdom of the State authorities have not been manifested in the general management of this institution; but we are glad to know that through the influence of Governor Baldwin there is a fair prospect of improvement. Appropriation for its support in 1869, only $2,000. As a fitting paragraph in this chapter we may append the following particulars, respecting the number of students reported in the higher institutions of the State, for the year ending with 1868: University, 1,223; Agricultural College (many rejected for want of room,) 92; Normal School (average attendance,) 223; Adrian College (Methodist,) 242; Albion College (Episcopal Methodist,) 263; Hillsdale College (FreeWill Baptist,) 235; Kalamazoo College (Baptist,) 102; Hope College (Dutch Reform,) 96; and Olivet College (Congregational,) 295. The following facts are given concerning the primary schools and educational funds: The average length of the schools during the year 1868 was six and twotenths months. To capitulate: there were employed 2,086 male teachers, and 7,522 females, at average wages per month, to the former, $47.78, and to the latter, $21.92. To this should be added the board of a large portion of the whole number. There were 72 stone school-houses, 416 brick, 3,609 frame, and 618 of logs; the whole, including sites, valued at $4,384,081. The amount expended on buildings during the year was $805,706. The total resources of the schools amounted in all to well nigh three millions; and about three-fourths of this was by the voluntary action of the several districts. The school fund amounted to $2,550,337, most of which pays 7 per cent. It will ultimately reach nearly four millions. The University fund is $559,978, and draws 7 per cent. The Normal School fund was $66,697, and drew 6 per cent. All parties have at all times sacredly regarded the educational fund. Other State funds have been sometimes squandered, and sometimes stolen, but rogues have ever left the school funds unharmed, and we think we can challenge any State to show a better appreciation of popular education than has the State of Michigan during its brief but splendid career. With regard to the Union School system of the State, it has been pronounced commendable in the highest degree: Two or more districts, according to the law, may vote on the question of uniting for a Union School District; those that give a two-thirds vote majority in favor of it may unite if the whole number of scholars is two hundred. Immediately after the vote is taken the several district boards notify the school inspectors, who shall unite said districts, giving five days' notice of a meeting to be held to elect officers, six in number, who constitute the Union School Board, and are called trustees. The district may then proceed to raise funds to build a school-house, which may be by direct tax or by bonds. In a country growing as rapidly as ours, it has been thought advisable to issue bonds; this method equalizes the tax so that those who may settle in the district five, ten, or fifteen years after the house is built, and have the benefit of the schools, have their proportion of the tax to pay, so that in proportion to the increase of property and inhabitants, the tax is lessened, that it might not be more than one-tenth, or even one-twentieth, what it would be to raise a direct tax. This is one of the best features in the law. Funds raised on bonds are restricted, or limited, as follows:-Districts thus united, having 50 scholars, may raise not to exceed $3,000; 100 scholars, $10,000; 200 scholars, $20,000; 300 scholars, $30,000; 400 scholars, $50,000. And now, in further illustration of the avidity with which the people of Michigan have always fostered the idea of mental culture, we submit a list of the literary institutions which were incorporated by the Legislature during the fifteen years intervening between the adoption of its two State Constitutions, viz: Marshall Academy, White Pigeon, date of incorporation, 1836; Central College, Spring Arbor, 1845; Spring Arbor Seminary, 1835; Wesleyan Seminary, at Albion, 1841; Michigan and Huron Institute, 1837; Tecumseh Academy, 1838; Grand River Theological Semi nary, 1839; Lake Academy and Teachers' Seminary 1839; Marshall College, 1839; Marshall Female Seminary, 1839; St. Phillip's College, 1839; Allegan Academy, 1843; Grand Rapids Academy, 1844; Utica Female Seminary, 1844; Ann Arbor Female Seminary, 1845; Ypsilanti Seminary, 1845; Adrian Seminary, 1846; Clinton Institute, 1846; Vermontville Academical Association, 1846; White Pigeon Academy, 1847; Raisin Institute, 1847; Howell Academy, 1848; Leoni Institution, 1848; Leoni Seminary, 1848; Olivet Institute, 1848; Woodstock Manual Labor Institute, 1848; Oakland Female Seminary, 1849; Tecumseh Literary Institute, 1849; Clarkson Academical Institute, 1850; Clinton Institute, 1850; Young Ladies' Seminary, at Monroe, 1850; St. Mark's College, Grand Rapids, 1850; and St. Mary's Academy, at Bertrand, 1850. Surely, of such an educational record as we have now briefly sketched, the State of Michigan may well be proud; and the results are every day developing in the happiness and prosperity of her people. AGRICULTURE. In 1860 the population of Michigan was about seven hundred and fortytwo thousand, but at the present time it is supposed to exceed a million and two hundred thousand. This is an increase of more than thirty-three per cent. in ten years. Now, in the absence of accurate data connected with the present year of 1870, we can only suggest an approximation to the present condition of agriculture in the State, and this may be ascertained by adding the above per centage to the figures contained in the census reports of 1860, which, with regard to the most important particulars, are as follows: Improved farm lands, 3,476,296 acres. Unimproved farm lands, 3,554,538 acres. Number of swine, 372,386. Value of live stock, $23,714,771. Bushels of wheat, 8,336,368. Bushels of Indian corn, 12,444,676. Bushels of oats, 4,036,980. Pounds of wool, 3,960,888. Bushels of potatoes, 5,261,245. Value of orchard productions, $1,122,074. Pounds of butter, 15,503,482. Pounds of cheese, 1,641,897. Pounds of maple sugar, 4,051,822. Gallons of sorgham molasses, 86,953. Gallons of maple molasses, 78,988. Pounds of honey, 769,282. Value of slaughtered animals, $5,093,362. In 1860 the value of the live stock in the State was $23,714,791, and at the beginning of the year 1869 it had increased to $54,426,109. The wheat crop for 1867, a good average year, amounted to 16,000,000 bushels of what is known as winter wheat; the clip of wool reached 10,500,000 pounds; and the apple crop amounted to 410,000 barrels, the estimated value of which was $1,500,000. But the latest authentic figures by which we can exhibit |