180 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



THE EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCES OP THE FARM. 



BY WM. H. BREWER, PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURE IN YALE COLLEGE. 



The hope of a nation is in its youth, and therefore the most 

 important business of a nation is the education of the young. 

 This is particularly so in a republic like ours, where not only the 

 wealth and prosperity of the country, but the stability and very 

 existence of the government is in the hands of the masses of the 

 people, rather than in the care of a special ruling class. 



In the growth of this nation, the four chief factors in the pro- 

 duction of its greatness have been, respectively; first, the race or 

 stock of its early founders ;^second, their sentiments and tradi- 

 tions regarding religion, morality, and education; — third, our sys- 

 tem of land tenure with its facility of acquisition and transfer and 

 simplicity of title, which makes it as possible for any one to own 

 real estate as to own personal property; — and, fourth, the social, 

 political, and intellectual status of the farmers. 



The last of these four factors has not been the least. My belief 

 is that without it, the progress of this country would have been 

 but little better than has been that of Mexico, the Central Ameri- 

 can countries, or those of South America. 



Throughout all our previous history, by far the most of our 

 capital has been invested in farming, the most of our labor has 

 been expended on farms, the most of our population has lived 

 on farms, and a great majority of our more eminent men have 

 spent their childhood and youth, wholly or in part on farms, 

 getting there an essential part of their education. 



It is not too much to say that up to the present time, the men 

 educated in childhood or youth on farms have had the leading part 

 in making this nation what it is, in shaping its political destinies, 

 giving it its intellectual stand, and in developing its material 

 wealth. 



During the whole Colonial period, and during the first century 

 of the republic, the great majority of statesmen in our legislative 

 halls, came from farms, the Declaration of Independence and the 

 Constitution of the United States were written by a farmer, who, 

 when he had finished his official work for the nation, returned to 

 his farm where he spent his declining years, where he died and is 



