184 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



general literature of the day, watching and studying the work of 

 private and public experimenters in agriculture, attending lectures 

 and meetings within reach which bear upon farming or relate 

 to the public welfare. As for the children, the step of first 

 importance is to teach every one, from the beginning, that an edu- 

 cation is an essential part of living. The habits and powers of 

 observation and manipulation — invaluable adjuncts to any practical 

 education — may be cultivated at home; nowhere better than on a 

 farm. But as the intellectual training will require absence from 

 home and cost money, a school-fund should be begun for eveiy 

 child as soon as it is old enough to know what money is (or sooner), 

 and the child should be taught and assisted to contribute. Give 

 the girl some poultry, or bees, or small fruits to care for and own, 

 with their increase and profits. These and other farm departments 

 require labor and thought well suited to the girls. Give the boy a 

 calf, a pig, or a sheep, or an acre of land for his own, and in time 

 make him a partner on the farm, securing to him the fruits of his 

 labor. The parents must help, of course, but by some such system- 

 atic effort people of very moderate means may provide, in succes-. 

 sive years, funds ample to start sons and daughters on a course 

 of higher education than most agricultural neighborhoods can 

 supply. And if only started, or helped along, instead of having 

 all expenses paid — thus forcing the student to help himself to some 

 extent — all the better. Almost every educational institution now 

 affords, of itself or in its vicinity, means of partial support for 

 some students. And the education which a boy or girl secures by 

 their own exertions, is the kind that wears the best. The will is 

 first needed, in parents and child, — " Where there's a will, there's 

 a way." 



The subject of self-education and the education of the family at 

 home, in the home circle, by reading and discussion, already alluded 

 to, might be further dwelt upon with profit. Much more can be 

 done in this direction, at the farm-house, than is often attempted 

 or even conceived. The farm itself is an educator, in all its opera- 

 tions and in its varied scenes, if only the faculties be trained to 

 receive its lessons. The breaking ground and sprouting seed, the 

 budding trees and falling leaves, the skies and clouds, and the 

 different domestic animals, may all be made to stimulate and de- 

 velop the intellectual powers. 



In the farmer's houseliold there is usually room for aid and im- 



