534 THE GROUNDSWELL. 



A single example will illustrate our meaning. Of the 

 commoner insects there are between two hundred and three 

 hundred varieties noxious or beneficial to vegetation. The 

 farmer should be conversant with these, and should learn 

 their history and habits, the means for the destruction of the 

 first and the manner of increasing and protecting the second, 

 etc. Under the old system, the student must learn all about 

 the infinite orders, families, and sub-families that compose 

 insect life, in order to acquire what he wants. To follow out 

 this idea, life would be too short to get even a &quot; smattering 

 of agriculture,&quot; and hence the disrepute into which the sys 

 tem has fallen. 



If, on the other hand, these insects, destructive or bene 

 ficial to vegetation, were thoroughly classified, and their his 

 tory and habits presented as far as known, with natural 

 specimens properly arranged in cases, the student would 

 soon acquire a correct knowledge of all that would be neces 

 sary for him to know of entomology. Similar principles 

 should govern the other sciences at least in the case of the 

 student of two, three, or four years. The knowledge in the 

 various sciences pertaining to agriculture should be con 

 densed, so that the student expecting soon to return to the 

 farm might work directly towards the end sought; while 

 his &quot;chum,&quot; who is aiming to make scientific pursuits his 

 profession for life, either as a teacher or writer, might 

 climb and explore science after science at will. The farmer, 

 of course, though less profoundly versed in mere technics, 

 might still keep pace with the new discoveries in his profes 

 sion by a judicious system of reading. 



PRACTICAL EDUCATION TO AGRICULTURE. 



The ability of a business man is demonstrated by his 

 success in performing a given piece of work himself, or iu 



