26 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



head multifarious and heterogeneous legions of middle-men 

 are pleased to class themselves. These men have had the 

 control of educational affairs, and they have kept the 

 schools turning out their kind so long that there is unques- 

 tionably in this country an overwhelming surplus of middle- 

 men, non-producers and men living by their wits. Such a 

 surplus is certain to make trouble. All are determined to 

 live affluently if possible, genteelly at all events." 



The truth of this statement will be recognized by all who 

 have given the subject any consideration. Do not misun- 

 derstand this. We do not decry culture. Intellectual 

 training is to be prized, but practical knowledge is neces- 

 sary to make it available. The experience gained from 

 books is of the nature of learning, but the experience gained 

 from practice is wisdom ; and an ounce of the latter is 

 worth a pound of the former. All history shows that the 

 great acts in the development of a country have not been 

 performed by men of fine culture. There were wise men 

 in Europe before there were printed books. 



At a gathering in Australia not long since four persons 

 met, three of whom were shepherds on a sheep farm. One 

 of these had taken a degree at Oxford, another at Cam- 

 bridge, the third at a German university. The fourth was 

 their employer, rich in flocks and herds, but scarcely able 

 to read and write. Culture is valuable, but it requires 

 business training with it to bring success. 



We are glad to notice changes for the better, and to see 

 needlework, cooking, manual training for boys and various 

 forms of instruction in the practical work of life recently 

 introduced in the common-school curriculum of the most 

 progressive cities in the land. 



We also desire to see the study of agriculture universally 

 adopted in our public-school system. The vast majority 

 of those whose school life ends with the district school are 

 destined to be engaged in some branch of productive indus- 

 try, — occupations in which manual skill is of primary 

 importance. And yet we frame for these, to the exclusion 

 of more useful studies, such courses as if their destination 

 were to be the author's sanctum, and such programmes of 

 geography as if they were intended to lead exploring expe- 



