AGRICULTURAL TEXT-BOOK. 3 



he only causes a change of arrangement of materials already exiiting; 

 which materials are governed by known and fixed laws. &quot;What the &- 

 roer, therefore, requires, is an intimate acquaintance with these material^ 

 id with the natural laws to which they are subject. The earth and air 

 are composed of a certain number of simple elements. But in thig primi 

 tive shape, they are unfit for the support of animal life. Yet thay viH 

 become either weeds or useful plants, according to the mode in which 

 they are used. Again, if they become the latter, the quality produced 

 on a given area will be large or small according to known and fixed 

 rales ; and if domestic animals are reared, these will be large or Boaal^ 

 healthy or unhealthy, according to the same certain and unalterable 

 laws. It depends, therefore, rpon the knowledge which the practical 

 farmer has of these laws, and the uge he makes of this knowledge, 

 whether he receives the largest possible return for his lafbor or not^ 



8. The object of the practical farmer is to raise from a given 

 area of land the largest quantity of the most profitable produce 

 at the least cost; and not only to avoid impoverishing the Boil, 

 but to render it gradually more productive, A knowledge of 

 the above named sciences will enable him to do this ; and thus 

 he is repaid pecuniarily for the labor of his mind, as the work 

 man is repaid for the labor of his body. 



10. The earliest effort in Europe for the establishment of an Agri 

 cultural School, was made by M. L Abbe Rosier in 1775; but, owing 

 to the neglect of the government, it failed to go into operation. lu 1799, 

 Fellenberg, of Switzerland, established the Hofwyl School, vhich ap 

 pears to have been the first institution of the kind. In 1818 1822, M. 

 do Domsbasle commenced a Model Farm, of 375 acres, in connection 

 \vith a place of education, at Roville, in France* In 1827, the Royal 

 Agronomic Institution of Grignon, near Paris, was commenced, by th 

 government. It owns a farm of 1,250 acres, and receives yearly a grant 

 of about $12,000. In Germany, in 1806, the celebrated Dr. A. D. Thaer 

 opened an Agricultural Academy at Moegelin, in Prussia, to educate 

 superintendents for large estates. In 1845, the Royal Agricultural 

 College of Cirencester, England, was chartered. Such institutions ar 

 nov abundant in every part of Europe. 



11. Dr. E. Hitchcock, in the &quot; Report of Commissioners to the Oora- 

 monwealth of Massachusetts concerning an Agricultural School, January, 

 1351,&quot; gives the following list of Agricultural Educational Establish 

 ments in Europe : 



