No. 85.] 387 



familiar and attractive form, those views which I have here endeavor- 

 ed to indicate, is greatly needed in our common schools ; and will, I 

 trust, soon be supplied. Such a work has, as I am informed, recently 

 been introduced into the schools of Scotland, and is about to be re- 

 published here under the auspices of one of our most finished scho- 

 lars, now temporarily resident in Edinburgh. The works of Pro- 

 fessor Liebig, of Sir Humphrey Davy, of Chaptal, Daviess, &c., al- 

 though exceedingly valuable to the more advanced student, are not 

 in all respects, the best adapted to elementary investigation, and are 

 better fitted for the library than the school. 



The establishment and liberal endowment of a State Normal School 

 for the education and preparation of teachers, presents a most favor- 

 able opportunity for the diffusion of correct views on this important 

 topic. It is from this institution that the effective impulse should be 

 communicated, which may lead to results in this department of edu- 

 cation, surpassing all preceding efforts for the improvement and ad- 

 vancement of agricultural knowledge. From a corps of teachers 

 thoroughly versed in the scientific principles applicable to this field 

 of labor, may, within the compass of a very brief period, be diffused 

 throughout every county, town and school district, a competent ac- 

 quaintance with the fundamental truths of agricultural science and 

 art. No more favorable period than the present, can be imagined, 

 for the energetic prosecution of so noble a design. The friends of 

 agricultural improvement are moving in a solid column, and through 

 the agency of associated and individual effort, of annual fairs, of lo- 

 cal celebrations and gatherings, and ably conducted periodicals, are 

 rapidly assuming that precedence in the body politic and social to 

 which they are legitimately entitled. The true theory of popular 

 education is beginning, under the enlightened auspices of the great, 

 the good and the wise of both hemispheres, to be carried into prac- 

 tical operation, by means of institutions for the thorough preparation 

 of teachers; by elevating the standard of instruction, widening its 

 channels and rationalizing its processes ; by the recognition of its im- 

 portance and value as the harbinger of a nobler civilization, and con- 

 sequently, of the claims in a moral and social point of view, of its 

 teachers ; and by that ceaseless and vigilant supervision which watch- 

 es over the sucessive developments of its onward progress. That 

 education which is to fit the future citizen for the intelligent and faith- 

 ful discharge of the duties and responsibilities which he owes to his ma- 

 ker, to himself, to society, to his country and to his race, must com- 

 prehend within its compass a thorough knowledge of all the means 

 which have hitherto been discovered for the improvement, advance- 

 ment and elevation of humanity. And with this knowledge must be 

 associated the will and the practical ability to apply those means to 

 the production of the highest attainable result. The numerous dis- 

 coveries in science and the arts which have reflected such unfading 

 glory upon the three last centuries, have already removed the most 

 formidable barriers to the well being of the race, as well in a physical 

 as in a moral point of view. By the substitution of machinery for 



