247 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. NO. H. 



Ill my last, I gave you a concise view of public action upon Agricul- 

 tural EJucation. I also stated the divisions into which agriculture nat- 

 urally falls, viz : practice and science ; and a further division of prac- 

 tice inio manipulation and economy, adding by way of explanation, some 

 remarks upon manipulation. 



In this 1 propose to consider the second subdivision^ Eco7io7ny. It 

 will be needless for me to enter upon a detail of the various uses to 

 which the word economy has been applied. You aie well aware, that 

 there is scarcely any word of wider signification, from the ancient "man- 

 agement of a family" down to the more modern and popular one of "fru- 

 gality," or stranger one, "system of matter." Its application to agricul- 

 ture is rather of modern origin, and by both French and English writers 

 is applied so as to signify the whole system of agriculture. With them 

 "Rural Economy" is synonymous with agriculture. As a subdivision of 

 my primary division, practice], intend to include all that which lies 

 between manipulation and science, — those results of judgment which 

 flow from just reasonings upon observations and principles and adap- 

 tations of means to ends in a fitting manner, — in a word that skillful- 

 ness in disposition and arrangement and proportion which ensures suc- 

 cess. You will perceive that this is and can only be the result of sci- 

 ence and experience. It reaches to all the detail of the business, and 

 detects the quackery of empirical laws and rules. 



It is a wonderful fact, that one farmer will receive larger crops of 

 grain from his land than another, but will net less profit than the latter, 

 simply because he does not understand this portion of his business 

 which I comprehend under the term economy. You will understand 

 that it is not niggardliness nor a remarkable frugality, but a fitness of 

 arrangement of all things, so that nothing is lost — each thing and act 

 possesses such a relation and position as to enhance the value of every 

 other thing and act in the conduct of the enterprise. A gentleman, for 

 many years a farmer in Chester county. Pa., but now a resident here, 

 but lately remarked to me, "I could raise more per acre in Penna. than, 

 a farmer does here, but 1 never could make as much money, they un- 

 derstand it better than we do." By the "we" he meant ourselves, 

 being Pennsylvanians, as representatives of the farmers of our native 

 State. 



The ideal of this economy may perhaps be sketched by an able pen, 

 or thrown into a code of maxims and rules •, but its practical value and 

 comprehension can never be engrafted upon any one without the daily 



