EDUCATION AND AGRICULTUIiE. 75 



EDUCATION AXD AGEICtJLTUEE. 



HINGHAM. 

 An Essay by Hosah G. Goodkich. 



Education in its largest sense, signifying the development 

 of all onr faculties, is so nearly synonymous with civilization, 

 that we can look at it in no other light than a beneficial one 

 to agriculture, as well as to every other branch of human 

 industry ; in fact, they are all the products of it. But there 

 may arise a question as to the beneficial efiect of a particular 

 kind of education on a given branch of employment. All 

 the progress from the stone axe and hoe, and the bone spade, 

 to the fine steel implements of our clay, are the products of 

 minds educated by the wants and needs of the race ; and a 

 comparison of these tools shows the gi-eat length of the road 

 of improvement, and how slowly links are forged in this 

 chain of progress. 



The school, as we have it, has been no more than one small 

 factor to produce this result ; but the plough and the spade, 

 the mower and the reaper have come, and granite rocks and 

 soil, a rigorous climate, and improved race, an extensive 

 country rich in resources, have produced them, and the result 

 is education ; and these means are our educators. 



The early settlers of New England were from necessity 

 cultivators of the soil ; and education, except such practical 

 knowledge as the farm gave, was confined to the school. 

 This was of the most elementary kind, barely sufficient to 

 answer the demand of the simplest arts and trades. But 

 later years have largely extended the time and means given 

 to both general and special education, and the increased de- 

 mand for larger talent and better skill has been so great that 

 the condition of things is quite reversed, and the fiirm sufiers 



