REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR. 199 



with the merely mental training which is given them . They have 

 consequently the best trained workmen in the world, both in agri 

 culture and the arts, as all our best educators freely acknowledge. 



To get more of this practical or technical education into our com 

 mon schools, is a great desideratum, and for it two things are 

 necessary. First, an enlightened public opinion, which will create 

 a demand for improvement; and, second, better teachers and better 

 books to meet the demand. The teachers should be able to &quot;throw a 

 light&quot; upon all the subjects of common life, and the books should 

 convey some definite knowledge adapted to the capacity of the 

 pupil. 



For instance, no study is better adapted to the comprehension of 

 a child than elementary botany, which is made practical by what he 

 daily sees done in agriculture and horticulture. Even young chil 

 dren should be encouraged to observe and collect the useful and 

 wild plants of the neighborhood, to bring them to school, and to 

 find out all about them. This finding out all about things is the 

 alpha and omega of education. Putting the findings into prac 

 tice is all there is of labor, except its drudgery. 



These are simple principles which every Patron can recognize. 

 Our watchword is Progress.&quot; The three K s, &quot;readin/ ritin and 

 Arithmetic,&quot; are no longer sufficient for us; especially if these are 

 fed out to us as dry husks, while all the juice is kept for the benefit 

 of other pursuits. We, ourselves, want more knowledge of the nat 

 ural sciences, and we want our children to have it secured to them at 

 the period of their lives when such knowledge is gained most easily. 

 We want suitable books to tell the children all about the plants, an 

 imals and birds with which they daily come in contact. If they do 

 not exist, and there is no school, botany, or natural history for this 

 coast, let them be made. In short, we want our childreja to grow up 

 around us with a respect for our calling, even if they choose a dif 

 ferent one, and so to fit them for it that they may carry it on by bet 

 ter methods to higher ends. 



And, therefore, while we as Patrons mean to look very sharply at 

 all proposed changes in our methods of instruction, and to &quot;prove 

 all things,&quot; as far as we are able, we also mean to change for the 

 better whenever we can. We are aware that text-books, or the im 

 plements of instruction, are to be improved just as much as the im 

 plements of husbandry; and we believe that the new education will 

 require them as fast as it is perfected. 



Under our laws, wisely framed in this respect, all such changes 

 must be gradual, thereby making them less oppressive. Though all 

 matters relating especially to this subject are made the business of 

 the State Board of Education, we nevertheless feel that it is within 

 our province to present to that body, either through our own Execu 

 tive Committee, or such other way as the Grange may direct, an ex 

 pression of our sentiments; and therefore, suggest the adoption of 

 the following resolutions: 



Resolved, That it is the opinion of the State Grange of the Pa 

 trons of Husbandry that all our public institutions, from the pri 

 mary school to the university, should be developed also in the di 

 rection of practical and technical education. 



