518 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



THE PUPIL SYSTEM. 



Without abandoning the position taken in our last 

 letter respecting the impropriety of farmers presuming 

 to undertake duties they are either disinclined or incom- 

 petent to fulfil, it may be as well, perhaps, to express 

 our conviction that parents and guardians are quite as 

 much to blame in this matter as the gentlemen who re- 

 ceive young men. 



This disposition in parents, however, to place their 

 sous with anj' one rejoicing in the title, " practical 

 farmer," results too frequently from ignorance as to the 

 present nature of 1 he farming business, and the character 

 of those acquirements needed by such as follow it for a 

 livelihood. That old notion, that farming is the only 

 alternative for a blockhead, is yet prevalent, and creates 

 a practical difficulty to the management of tliisquebtion, 

 which can only be reduced and dispersed when a juster 

 view is taken of the science of cultivation, intimately 

 related as it is to the other sciences. Mr. Bond, in his 

 valuable paper read before the Central Farmers' Club, says 

 on this question — " Agriculture, as a purely imitative art, 

 fifty years ago, required no depth of art even in its best 

 qualified professors. There was nothing in a simple 

 course of routine to tax the mental powers. But within 

 the present century how marked the change ! We have 

 now the widest field— the most extended scope for in- 

 tetlectual exertion ; we have now the whole of Nature's 

 laws opened up for our investigation and research. 

 There is scarce a science but bears directly or iadirectly 

 upon the art by which we live ; and for a rational fulfil- 

 ment, and a thorough comprehension of agricultural 

 practice, I know of no profession at the present day re- 

 quiring a deeper knowledge or a higher degree of intel- 

 lectual attainment." 



No view can be more just than this ; but until the 

 view becomes general, or at least until it becomes the 

 decided opinion of those who afi'ect to give instruction 

 and of those who desire to obtain instruction for their 

 sons or wards, no wide improvement may be expected 

 in the education and discipline of the young farmer. 



We have seen ti^at for a young man to be withdrawn 

 from school, and exposed to those inducements to indo- 

 lence which characterise life upon a farm, is most in- 

 jurious. He may turn out a good man of business ; but 

 the chances are that he will not. It cannot be right to 

 leave a youth at that age to his own resources without 

 stimulant, supervision, or direction. 



Now, is it likely that agricultural colleges will serve 

 our purpose, by continuing to exercise that discipline in 

 a modified form, from which the boy escapes when he 

 leaves school ? We consider that they would tend to 

 further the end in view, and particularly if they were 

 better adapted to the class they are established to edu- 

 cate. 



Could we have ten or twelve district colleges in Eng- 

 land, each with a staff of professors competent to deal in 

 a practical and efficient manner with animal physiology I 



and the veterinary art, chemistry, geology, botany, sur- 

 veying, and book-keeping, a great step would be taken 

 towards creating a system which would be productive of 

 large and permanent results. 



The present system — we refer to that pursued at Ciren- 

 cester — affords a defective model. The course there is too 

 desultory. The majority of the young men who leave that 

 establishment greatly remind one of the celebrated clock 

 at Strasbourg, which was made to perform a wonderful 

 variety of feats beyond simply indicating the time of 

 day, all of which were nearly right, but none certainly 

 correct. 



Students should gain an entry to such institutions 

 through the examination-chamber, a process which will 

 prove that their scholastic attainments are sufficient to 

 enable them to enter upon the superior studies without 

 detriment to others, and with advantage to themselves. 

 It seems to us scarcely the province of such colleges to 

 teach reading, and arithmetic, and Litin, &c. ; and yet 

 so neglected frequently has been the education of those 

 la.ls who go to them, that such a practice is indispen- 

 sable. None should be admitted under sixteen years of 

 age. The course should consist of a certain number of 

 sessions, terminated by a final examination, at which 

 a species of honorary degrees might be conferred. Atten- 

 tion should be strictly confined, as we said before, to 

 the few essential sciences, the laboratory and the hos- 

 pital being visited daily. And with respect to the hos- 

 pital, as a knowledge of the veterinary art is of un- 

 doubted importance to farmers, we think it would be as 

 desirable to establish as it would be easy to conduct 

 one; for every neighbourhood could furnish subjects, 

 and none are so attached to the antiquated cow-leech 

 as to deter them from availing themselves of the skill of 

 some distinguished practitioner, especially if the charge 

 made only included the keep of the animal during treat- 

 ment. 



The advantage of a farm attached to institutions such 

 as these is very doubtful. Considered as commercial 

 undertaldngs, the loss would usually be upon the side 

 of the farm. Supposing them to be well located in 

 light land, and heavy land, and grazing districts, the 

 farming thereof, together with peripatetic lectures there- 

 upon, might inform the students quite as efficiently as 

 the oversight of a model collegiate farm. 



In these suggestions, we have purposely placed theory 

 — or, ro be more correct, science — before practice ; not 

 that we undervalue practice, but because we value it 

 perhaps more than those who would place it first. AVe 

 must know what has been done, before we can do what 

 is to be done in the best manner ; and what is this but 

 science .' Science gives us data. Pure science is built 

 upon self-evident truths ; but the term " science" is ap- 

 plied also to other subjects founded on generally acknow- 

 ledged truths, as metaphysics ; or on experiment and 

 observation, as chemistry and natural philosophy. And 



