A HIGHER STANDARD FOR THE FARMER. 957 



experience of that experimental knowledge which, whether of our own obtaining or procured 

 from others, is so necessary in guiding our footsteps every day we live. 



In every farmer s home there should be good books on the various branches of scien 

 tific and practical agriculture, which give us the benefit of established facts ; and good peri 

 odical journals and newspapers should be coming in to bring the latest intelligence and expe 

 rience in all farming operations. More important still, a taste for this class of useful reading 

 should be cultivated by the farmer himself and formed in his family by precept and example, 

 to the exclusion of the raft of stuff which goes under the name of literature, but which serves 

 only to assist in wasting precious hours. 



A demand has arisen, and is increasing, for a higher education for farmers, and the 

 next question is, of what shall it consist ? When one comes to consider or describe a com 

 prehensive agricultural education a big subject is presented. Agriculture is at once a science 

 and an art. Practice with science is, therefore, a good precept for its student, and it is 

 well to keep fresh Davy s excellent definition of science as refined common sense.&quot; The 

 educated farmer must be able to keep pace with the advance of modern science and discern 

 wherein its developments may be brought to his aid. He should be a better chemist than 

 his doctor or his druggist, a better botanist than either, and should be acquainted with geol 

 ogy, mineralogy, entomology, and somewhat with meteorology. He should be as good a 

 business man as his grocer or his banker; especially he must know how to buy and to sell. 

 He must understand the physical powers, know the value and strength of materials, and be 

 a pretty good mechanic, if not an engineer. He should be able to do plane surveying and 

 leveling and to manage a microscope. A farmer needs as accurate knowledge of anatomy 

 and physiology as a physician, though it be in a different and wider field; he needs to be 

 something of a lawyer, to know what trees he may cut, and when he may shoot a woodchuck 

 or take a trout on his own farm, and he needs a fair share of his minister s theology and 

 faith to fully appreciate the mysteries and the beauties of creation, the grandeur of nature 

 and natural laws, and to truly love and honor the vocation which, above all others, brings 

 man into close communion with God. In short, it is safe to assert that no human occupa 

 tion requires so long a course and wide a range of study to fit a person comprehensively for 

 its intelligent and profitable pursuit as agriculture. There is, besides, the necessity of 

 practice, or the apprenticeship part of learning the art. 



This presentation of the subject should not discourage nor alarm. There are partial 

 courses and short cuts to successful special farming as well as to the bar and the pulpit. A 

 half loaf is better than no bread, and in some cases does as well as a whole one. &quot;VVe are not 

 considering the training needed to make a plowman, or a teamster, a mower, or milker, or 

 ditcher, but the making of a farmer, in the broadest sense. Education requiring time and 

 money, and ambition and brains, solid, substantial study and drill, will be meat and bread to 

 the farmers of the next century, and of these many are now alive. 



If the question anywhere arises which of three boys on a farm shall be given the 

 advantages of a collegiate or technical education, the one who is to be a professional man, 

 the one who is to go into business, or the one who is to be a farmer, there is no sort of ques 

 tion in my mind that the future farmer is the one who needs special education the most, and 

 a good agricultural school or college is the place to get most of it.&quot; 



When we compare the old methods of agriculture practiced by past generations, and the 

 results obtained, with those of the most enlightened and scientific farmers of the present time, 

 we can more fully realize that the old were based upon ignorance, and to some extent super 

 stition, and the new upon science and practical knowledge; and he who adheres to the old 

 and ignores the new, must expect to be left in the rear, as far as progress and successful 

 results are concerned. The farmer should have a special knowledge of his business, embrac 

 ing an understanding of the nature of different soils, the agricultural value of different manures 

 and fertilizers, and their adaptation to different soils and crops; the best methods of tillage and 

 cultivation adapted to different soils and plants; the principles of breeding, care, and general 

 management of farm animals, together with a thorough understanding of all the various other 

 departments of agriculture, of which there are but few. Besides this, the farmer should 

 possess a good fund of general information, and not be narrowed and limited to merely his 

 business, however extensive or small it may be, for narrow-mindedness is to be deplored in 

 any one, and a person of but &quot; one idea &quot;, however good that idea may be, is as unpleasant to 

 meet in the rural circle as any where else; besides, such an individual has not that capacity 

 for usefulness and enjoyment in life, as one who is well informed on general subjects, and 

 such information as is derived from the reading of the best books and newspapers, attending 

 Agricultural societies, lectures, farmer s clubs, access to public libraries, attending and partici- 



