TEACH AS TO FARMING. 9 



sion, and to the Academy he who is to be qualified for a peda- 

 gogue, but he does not consider that one who is to have the farm 

 on condition of taking care of the old folks, needs any other 

 training for his life-long pursuit than that which is begun in the 

 District School and finished behind the plow. 



And yet there is not a good reason in the world for inducting 

 a youth, who is to become a master-worker in iron, copper or 

 lead, into a thorough knowledge of the material he is to fashion 

 for a livelihood, which is not at least as good a reason forinstnut- 

 ing the young farmer thoroughly and scientifically in the natuiv 

 and diverse properties of soils. These are more various, more 

 complex, less obvious, than those of any single metal. A good soil 

 is always a compound, and the more various its materials the 

 greater (probably) its value. A pure yellow sand or blue clay 

 is easily comprehended and estimated ; while one deep, black 

 loam may, because of certain latent elements, be worth twin- as 

 much as another euually promising to the casual observer. No 

 man who has not scrutinized its husbandry and productions for 

 \ ear after year is qualified to fix the value of a farm, any more 

 than to cultivate it. without the ability to chemically analyze and 

 accurately determine tin- composition of its soil. 



But this, which I am commending, is sneered at as .floo^-farming, 

 and sturdy old codgers who have sped the plow all their days, 

 laugh till they almost fancy themselves witty at the idea of a man 

 coming out of a college-chamber or a chemical laboratory to 

 teach them how to grow corn or rear cattle. And truly, if the 

 teacher were to commend his science as a substitute for their prac- 

 tical knowledge as rendering experience unmeaning and personal 

 observation superfluous there would be ample provocation for 

 sharper shafts of wit than these will ever be able to speed. But 

 this no man has ever suggested or commended. The farm- 

 er best schooled in the nature and properties of soils, the 

 laws which govern vegetation and the elements essential to form 

 thrifty plants or animals, will learn from experience not less but 

 more than his uninstructed neighbor. His observations will 

 have a wider significance ; and the fact newly observed to-day 

 will be readily assigned to its proper place, where it will 



