ACT OF ORGANIZATION.

The Legislature, in order to carry out the foregoing provision of the Constitution, at the session of 1855, passed the following act:

[No. 130.]

AN ACT for the establishment of a State Agricultural School.

SECTION 1. The People of the State of Michigan enact, That the President and Executive Committee of the Michigan State Agricultural Society be and are hereby authorized to select, subject to the approval of the State Board of Education, a location and site for a State Agricultural School, within ten miles of Lansing; and, subject to such approval, contract for and purchase, for the State of Michigan, such lands, not less than five hundred acres, nor more than one thousand acres, in one body, for the purpose of an experimental farm, and site for such Agricultural School: Provided, That the amount to be paid for such farm and site shall not exceed fifteen dollars per acre, and that the conveyance or conveyances be made to the State of Michigan.

SEC. 2. There is hereby appropriated twenty-two sections of Salt Spring Lands, or the money arising from the sale thereof, referred to in article 13, section 11, of the Constitution of the State of Michigan, for the purchase of land for such site and location, and the preparation thereof, the erection of buildings, the purchase of furniture, apparatus, library and implements, payment of professors and teachers, and other necessary expenses to be incurred in the establishment and successful operation of said School.

SEC. 3. Upon the execution and delivery to the Secretary of State of the proper conveyance or conveyances of the land, the purchase of which is provided for in the first section of this Act, and the certificate of the Attorney General that he has examined the title to the same,

and finds it unencumbered, and that the conveyance or conveyances are executed in due form, and a certificate of the President and Secretary of the Board of Education, that the same is in accordance with the contract or contracts for the purchase of the same, and that the location has been approved by them, the Auditor General shall draw his warrant or warrants on the State Treasurer for the amount of such purchase, in favor of the party or parties to whom such sum or sums shall be due, payable out of said Salt Spring Lands, or money accruing from the sale of the same; and the said certificates, in this section mentioned, shall be filed and preserved in the office of the Secretary of State.

SEC. 4. Upon the purchase of such location and site, there shall be established on such site, under the direction and supervision of the State Board of Education, an Agricultural School, by the name and style of the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, and the chief purpose and design of which shall be to improve and teach the science and practice of agriculture.

SEC. 5. The course of instruction in said College shall include the following branches of education, viz.: an English and Scientific Course, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Botany, Animal and Vegetable Anatomy and Physiology, Geology, Mineralogy, Meteorology, Entomology, Veterinary Art, Mensuration, Leveling, and Political Economy, with Book-Keeping, and the Mechanic Arts which are directly connected with agriculture, and such other [studies] as the Board of Education may, from time to time, see fit to prescribe, having reference to the objects specified in the previous section; and the said Board may establish such Professorships, and employ such Professors and Teachers, to be called the Board of Instruction of said College, for the instruction aforesaid, as they may judge best for such object: Provided, The sum paid such Professors and Teachers for the first year after said College shall go into operation, shall not exceed the sum of five thousand dollars, and for the next year not exceeding the sum of six thousand dollars, and for any years thereafter such a sum as the State Board of Education may deem necessary for the successful operation of the Institution. Tuition in said Institution shall be forever free to pupils from this State, and any number of pupils may be admitted who shall apply from any part of this State: Provided, That in case more pupils apply than can be accommodated or taught, then said Board shall adopt some equitable

plan, giving to each county a number, according to the ratio of population, as it shall appear from the census last taken; and, in that case, those from each county shall be admitted in the order in which they shall apply, until the quota of such county be full.

SEC. 6. There shall be two scholastic terms in each year; the first term commencing on the first Wednesday in April, and ending on the last Wednesday in October; the second term commencing the first Wednesday in December, and ending on the last Wednesday in February; and no pupil shall be received for less than one term, unless by special permission from the Board of Instruction.

SEC. 7. The Board of Education, upon consultation with the Board. of Instruction, shall, from time to time, fix and establish rules as to the number of hours which shall be devoted to manual labor, and to study, which may be different in different terms or seasons; but during the first term in each year the time devoted to labor shall not be less than three nor more than four hours each day; and no student or pupil of said College shall be exempt from such labor, except in case of sickness or other infirmity.

SEC. 8. The Board of Education shall appoint one of the Professors in said College to be President thereof, and one to be its Secretary, and one to be its Treasurer; and the Board of Instruction may establish such rules and regulations, from time to time, for the government of said College and instruction therein, as they may deem proper, in any matter rot regulated by the Board of Education; and the rules and regulations adopted by such Board of Instruction shall remain in full force until altered by said Board of Education. And said Board of Instruction shall have power, subject to the approval of the Board of Education, to establish by-laws for the government and discipline of the pupils of said College, in regard to conduct and behavior, and to affix such pecuniary penalties as they may deem proper, and to prescribe the causes for expulsion or dismissal of any such pupil, which by-laws shall have the force of law, unless altered, modified or repealed by the Board of Education or the Legislature; and the Board of Education shall fix the compensation to be credited or paid for the labor performed by pupils, under the provisions of section seven of this Act.

SEC. 9. The President of said Board of Instruction shall preside at all meetings of said Board, except in case of sickness or absence; in

which case the Board may elect one of their number President pro tempore; and it shall be the duty of the President to see that all the regulations established by this Act, by the Board of Education, and by the Board of Instruction, in regard to the government and instruction in said College, be enforced.

SEC. 10. The Secretary of said Board of Instruction shall record all the proceedings of said Board, and all regulations and by-laws for the government of said College, and shall publish the same, and furnish a copy thereof to the Governor of this State, to each member of the Board of Education, to the county clerk of each county, and to the clerk of each organized township in this State. He shall also keep a full record of all improvements and experiments made on said lands, their cost and results. He shall also keep a careful account with each field, in connection with a plan of the farming lands or farm, exhibiting the position of each, in which shall be shown the manner and cost of preparing the ground, the kind of crop, time of planting or sowing, the after condition, the time and manner of harvesting, the labor devoted to each process and its cost price, with the cost of preparing the matured crop for market, and the price for which it was sold, and of such other matters as the Boards of Education and of Instruction, or either of them, may require of him; and he shall furnish a copy thereof, at the end of each term, to the President of the Board of Education; and the said record shall, at all reasonable hours, be open to the inspection of any citizen of this State.

SEC. 11. The Treasurer shall receive and keep all moneys arising from the sale of products of the farm, and from fines and penalties that may be imposed, and shall give bonds in such sum as the Board of Education may require. He shall pay over all moneys upon the warrant of the President, countersigned by the Secretary, on account of such contingent expenses of the Institution as may arise. He shall render annually, in the month of December, to the Board of Education, and as often as required by said Board, a full and true account of all moneys received and disbursed by him; stating for what received and paid, and shall produce vouchers for such payments. The surplus money, if any remain in his bands at the time of rendering such account, shall, if required by said Board, be paid over to the State Treasurer, to be placed to the credit of said Institution.