No. 85. J 377 



often been found at variance, to the serious detriment of the common- 

 wealth, as well as to the manifest injury of the rival aspirants to pre- 

 cedence and profit. And it restores the cultivators of the soil to their 

 just predominance in the social and political system — assigning to 

 them that influence and rank, which under various pretences, have 

 long been almost exclusively usurped by other and less important 

 classes. 



That a mere knowledge of the theoretical and practical details of 

 agricultural science^ should be diffused among the youth of our land, 

 is, unquestionably, exceedingly desirable. The importance to the 

 future farmer, of such a thorough and minute acquaintance with the 

 details of his profession, as may enable him to accomplish the high- 

 est practicable results, with the least expenditure of time and materi- 

 al, and in the most direct, judicious, and efficient mode, can scarcely 

 be over-rated. This knowledge can only be acquired by the union 

 of practical experience with scientific investigation and research. 

 And where can the elements of the latter be more readily found and 

 successfully prosecuted, than in our common schools 1 It may, pro- 

 bably, be safely assumed, that nine out of ten of those who are in the 

 habit of attending these schools, in the rural districts, are destined to 

 become practical agriculturists. Why, then, should not more ample 

 and systematic provision be made for such a course of study and of 

 education in these institutions, as shall meet the requirements of this 

 large class of pupils, — especially when, by the adoption of such a 

 course, the interests of the remaining pupils can, in no respect, be in- 

 juriously affected ] A course of study which should prepare those 

 for whom it is more particularly designed, for an enlightened and 

 systematic cultivation of the soil, with the view of obtaining the 

 highest and most permanent rewards of labor and industry, while it 

 would exclude no single branch of science necessary to success in 

 any other profession, trade or calling, would confer incalculable ad- 

 ditional benefits, direct and indirect, upon those who may never have 

 occasion to till the earth, either for subsistence or profit. The ordi- 

 nary branches of common school education, — orthography, reading, 

 writing, arithmetic, grammar and geography, are equally essential to 

 every class of pupils, whatever may be their subsequent destination, 

 A knowledge of the higher branches of the mathematics, — of algebra, 

 geometry, surveying, trigonometry, geology, natural philosophy in 

 all its departments, and even of rhetoric and belles-letters, — is as in- 

 dispensable to the enlightened farmer and horticulturist of the pre- 

 sent day, as to the advocate, the clergyman, the merchant, the manu- 

 facturer, the legislator or the judge. Habits of accurate and practi- 

 cal observation — a familiar acquaintance with the capabilities, pro- 

 perties and varieties of soils, — the nature and properties of the vari- 

 ous minerals, — the different species of grain and vegetables, and the 

 principles which regulate their growth and improvement, — the dis- 

 tinction between useful and noxious plants, — the uses and most ad- 

 vantageous mode of cultivating and improving the one, and the 

 means of extirpation, when necessary, of the other, — the effects of air, 



