HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 331 



mistake, who decides that because he intends to give his son a 

 specific education, he shall not have any general culture to build 

 on. 



It will be the aim of this school then, to give a good general 

 disciplinary education, by a systematic study of the natural sci- 

 ences which are necessary to the pursuit of the arts of life, par- 

 ticularly those of farm life, and by the practical application of 

 them to those arts. 



The sciences to which especial attention will thus be given are 

 physical geography, philosophy, chemistry, botany, veterin- 

 ary and physiology, all to be brought home vividly to the under- 

 standing of the students by illustrations and experiments, for 

 which the chemical and philosophical apparatus, the farm, the 

 garden and the green house will furnish ample facilities. 



It is recognized that the great and crying need of the agricul- 

 turists as a class is not high scholarship, but a liberal education 

 along those lines which are necessary to a proper understanding 

 of the principles upon which successful farming dej)ends. 



The paramount importance of this kind of an education seems 

 to be better appreciated on the other side of the Atlantic than 

 with us. In Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, 

 Austria, Holland, and Denmark, agriculture enters into the 

 regular normal school curriculum. In all Europe there are not 

 less than 10,000 schools in which this science, as well as horti- 

 culture, arboriculture and kindred pursuits, is taught. 



It is gratifying, however, to note that in this country each suc- 

 ceeding year is marked by increased attention to the demands 

 made upon it by the tillers of the soil, for the simple reason that 

 €ach year affords new evidence of the wisdom of what has already 

 been done in this direction. 



There is a constantly deepening conviction in the minds of 

 practical business men that the exigencies of the times demand 

 X)rovision, at the x^ublic expense, for a specific education in cer- 

 tain industrial lines, not solely with a view to furnishing our 

 school boys and girls with a sure means of obtaining a livelihood, 

 in case the uncertainties of the future may dfive them to it, but 

 that they may, while yet in a plastic state, receive the impres- 

 sion that skill in manual labor is something worth striving for, 

 possession of which will be valuable in i^roportion to proficiency, 

 and as honorable as valuable. A general training of this kind 

 will inevitably bring about an increased respect for honest in- 

 dustry. For students will naturally look up to those who stand 



