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College Meadow, A. C., Amherst, Mass.

(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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The Massachusetts Agricultural College (now the University of Massachusetts Amherst) was founded in 1863 under the provisions of the Federal Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act. The first students began attending in the fall of 1867. The Morrill Act in part stated that '' the leading object shall be ... to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts ..." Here we see the meadow being prepared for planting using a cultivator drawn by oxen with the lush green hills that so characterize the region in the background.

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