20 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



spent in classical studies, which tend rather to mental discipline 

 than to the attainment of practical knowledge, diverts the atten- 

 tion from utilitarian pursuits. The associations formed, the tastes 

 created, and the aspirations for a life free from what is considered 

 the drudgery of daily toil, prevent the graduates of classical 

 colleges from returning to the shop or the field for a living. And 

 If they do undertake the toil of industrial pursuits they find their 

 learning has not qualified them for success in this department. 

 What avails it that the student can give the name of a horse in 

 different languages, if he cannot harness the animal, or that he 

 can give learned terms to describe the anatomy of his steed, if he 

 does not know how to feed him ? The divorce of the practical 

 from the theoretical in systems of liberal education has occasioned 

 the deep rooted prejudice against book-knowledge and scientific 

 farming which pervades the industrial classes. The costly style 

 with which many amateur farmers conduct their agricultural pur- 

 suits, enjoying the luxury of raising their own vegetables and 

 dairy products at double the expense such articles would cost in 

 the market, is a matter of derision to practical men. What mere 

 literary men know about farming will be as sure a guide in 

 agriculture as what mere farmers know about navigation would be 

 to mariners in a storm at sea. 



The demand for a practical and available method of liberal 

 education, especially fitted for the active pursuits of life, has 

 occupied the thoughts of our best educators and wisest statesmen. 

 While many chimerical schemes have been suggested, and many 

 abortive efforts have been put forth, some true advance has been 

 made in the right direction. The Congress of the United States 

 has made provision for the endowment of at least one college in 

 every State where the leading object shall be, " without exclud- 

 ing other scientific and classical studies, and including military 

 tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to Agri- 

 culture and the Mechanic Arts, in such manner as the Legislature 

 of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the 

 liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the 

 several pursuits and professions in life." Our State accepted the 

 legacy, and in connection with the donations of individuals and 

 towns, has furnished the means to commence the grand enterprise. 

 The most of the States have applied this endowment to establish 

 or foster a department of practical, scientific education in some 

 existing literary institution ; but Maine adopted the bolder policy 



