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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE 



With such a flood of light and of scientific knowledge as 

 the past fifty years have produced, has the agricultural 

 educational system or the educational standard of in- 

 struction kept pace? We have this evening to express 

 our opinion, and we have to pronounce our verdict 

 upon the fitness or unfitness of our present system of 

 education to the altered and elevated position of British 

 agriculture. It is necessary upon this subject we 

 should speak out ; and allow me to propound the ques- 

 tion — Are the youths and young men of the rising 

 generation so educated upon the best principles of in- 

 struction that they are thereby best fitted to cope with 

 their future position ? Are they so educated in the 

 knowledge essential to their calling, that they will prove 

 equal to the requirements of their business? Are they 

 so educated, that they are thereby fitted in intellectual 

 attainments to the altered and scientific standards of 

 their profession ? Will they prove thorough men of 

 business, thorough in knowledge, thorough in judg- 

 ment, and successful in practice — really thinking men? 

 Or will the result disclose the fact that there is rotten- 

 ness at the core of our existing system of education and 

 discipline ? I know, well, such questions as the fore- 

 going may be met with the conservative plea that we 

 have done well eaough in the past. In such an opinion 

 I fully agree. Without much education the farmers of 

 England have cultured England to a degree of perfec- 

 tion unknown beyond her shores ; without severe edu- 

 cational training, we have succeeded in beating the world 

 in agricultural productions ; without a deep knowledge 

 of science, we have practically solved the most scientific 

 problems ; and, till recently, science has rather followed 

 in our rear than advanced as our vanguard. But because 

 we have succeeded practically, and that most success- 

 fully, shall we reject a proffered aid ? Shall we reject 

 the helping hand of a helping handmaid ? Shall we, 

 who have practically preceded science, close our minds 

 to the enlightening truths of science ? Shall we, who 

 deal in the culture of Nature's products, close our eyes 

 to the revelations and explanations of Nature's laws? 

 Shall we blindly continue in empiricism, when reason waits 

 to reveal the rationale of every operation ? Can we af- 

 ford to reject such knowledge for the rising generation of 

 England? forthosewho will quickly occupy ourpositions, 

 who will have to uphold the honour of Englmd's agricul- 

 ture in a world-wide race — against some odds — in a world. 

 wide competition ? Will they not need the stimulant 

 and assistance of every adventitious aid ? I am well 

 aware it may be said that the best-educated are not 

 always the best farmers or the best men of business. 

 This is perfectly true. I know of men whose school- 

 history ia a farce, and their educational chance was at 

 best but a poor one. I know of such agriculturists ; yet 

 those very men arc possessed of such sound common 

 sense, of such caution and prudence in the afl'airs of 

 life, of such clear observation and shrewd reflection, of 

 such prompt and defined judgment, that in any age 

 they must be noted as men of no common mould : but 

 letit be remembered, that facts and information are the 

 basis of their correct reasoning, of all correct reasoning, 

 of all soundness of judgment ; and a greater knowledge, 



in their case, of Nature's truths, would but have made 

 them more powerful men in Nature's laws, and in the 

 practical operations of every-day agriculture. Such 

 men, with a storinj^ of scientific facts, would but have 

 been mori« prominently the pioneers of progress ; and 

 though I condemn the nonsense that a man cannot farm 

 without a knowledge of the sciences, yet I broadly pro- 

 pound the fact that the truths of science, especially in 

 our own heads and hands, are admirably calculated to 

 introduce us to more paying processes, and to insure to 

 us increased pecuniary returns. I am not ignorant of 

 the marked improvement which has characterized the 

 agriculturist of the present age ; I believe no sec- 

 tion of society has more advanced in intelligence, 

 knowledge, and position. Capitalists and capital 

 have reduced the small holdings, banished the old 

 feudal system of favouritism in business, and sup- 

 planted a degrading subserviency by an exalting respect. 

 Men are now rare who are agricultural bores or in- 

 veterate grumblers ; and though there is still the dispo- 

 sition in society to assume the fact ttiat the agriculturist, 

 however unlimited his capital or his ability, has no 

 right to a position in society, or to the modern refine- 

 ments and amusements of life, yet England can boast 

 of sons of the soil, high in intelligence, exalted in 

 principle, and thorough in business — men of whom even 

 England may justly be proud; yet, notwithstanding 

 this vast social and intellectual improvement,, when I 

 view the relative positions of the sciences bearing on 

 agriculture, and the scientific culture of the agriculturist, 

 I can plainly perceive a vast distance of space. Scien- 

 tific truth is far a-head. Individually I feel it. 

 Thanks to the revelations of our Liebig, Lawes, Gilbert, 

 I'layfair, Way, Nesbit, Voelcker, Johnson, and others, 

 that science is not in advance of our practice; but 

 science is infinitely in advance of ourselves — she has 

 much to suggest to us, much to tell us, much of 

 which we cannot afford to be ignorant, and all of 

 which the rising generation ought to know, ought 

 to aspire to, must acquire ; that, as agriculturists, they 

 may base their reasoning on correct data, and improve 

 by their reflection and research the agricultural practice 

 of the kingdom. The British yeoman has been always 

 noted for that sound common sense, which, though no 

 science, is fairly worth the seven — a common-sense, 

 which could neither be won by a fallacy, nor be deluded 

 by a delusive theory. Profit has justly been his badge of 

 discipleship ; but it is necessary now to combine, in the 

 same person, common-sense with agricultural science ; 

 it is necessary that the future and rising generations of 

 farmers should possess the highest intellectual attain- 

 ments, and I believe it requires a severe discipline of 

 study to master the intricacies of scientific agriculture, 

 and a rate combination of powers correctly to carry out 

 the principles involved in the most successful practical 

 issue. I :i!lvocate a thorough proficiency in the sciences, 

 because I believe such knowledge is admirably calcu- 

 lated to increase the pleasure and profit of farming ; I 

 believe it is the precise knowledge necessary to pre- 

 vent mistaken outlays and wrong applications ; to insure 

 the placing of the right manure in the right place, the 



