X50 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



another — iu a word, to understaud tlie principles which underlie 

 practice. 



Farmers' sons are everywhere asking for facilities for education 

 equal to those afforded to what ai'e called the learned professions, but 

 which, in fact, have no greater occasion, if as much, for large and 

 varied acquirements than the farmer who would thoroughly under- 

 stand all which is to be done. 



Agriculture may be regarded in several distinct aspects. Say 

 first as an avl — next as a business, and third as a science. 



As an art it is to be acquired as other arts are — by an appren- 

 ticeship, or what is equivalent to an apprenticeship — by actually 

 doing its work, and in this manner acquiring a practical familiarity 

 with its details. There is no college for the art of agriculture like 

 the farm itself 



It is a business also, or ought to be, although many make it a 

 mere calling or occupation whereby to earn a living. I have hereto- 

 fore frequently alluded to the importance of knowing the cost of 

 production, as well as the current money value of products, (as on 

 pages 68 and 69 of the present report,) for it often haffpens that, 

 by reason of the possession of certain facilities, one man can pro- 

 duce a given article for half what it costs his neighbor to produce the 

 same, while his neighbor can direct his time and labor in a different 

 channel to equally good purpose ; while if each worked at disadvan- 

 tage, seeking to produce what the other could do more easily and 

 cheaply, they might woi'k ever so hard and ever so faithfully, and 

 both fail. Some knowledge of business principles, and the keeping 

 of accounts, is therefore as useful as practical experience, or the 

 application of bone and muscle, thews and sinews. 



But it is chiefly as a science that school education is indispensable. 

 What is familiarly called the science of agriculture is more prop- 

 erly the application of scientific principles to the art of agriculture. 

 The branches of science most intimately connected with it are 

 Mechanics, or the nature and application of physical powers and 

 forces ; Chemistry, dealing with the proximate and elementary con- 

 stituents, affinities, combinations and inherent properties of sub- 

 stances without life ; Botany, including Vegetable Physiology ; Zool- 

 ogy, including Animal Physiology ; and Veterinary Science, dealing 

 with living organisms, both in their normal and healthy condition, 

 and when unhealthy and diseased ; nor should we forget Geology, 

 Entomology and other related branches of knowledge. 



