572 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



— < 



and working-men of this countrj- begin to think ) 

 of their claims to a share of the bonnties of Gov- 

 ernment ; they will act ere long. The time ia 

 not far distant when, for every dollar appropri- 

 ated to the purposes of the v>-ar establishment, 

 there will be another dollar demanded for the 

 works of peace and industry. Why not wisely 

 begin now ? 



Commending the whole subject to the wis- 

 dom and patriotism of the Select Committee 

 and Congress, 



I am, very truly, your ob't serv't. 



JAMES REES. 

 Hon. Robert Dale Owen, 



Ch'n Select. Com. on Smithsonian Institution. 



Remarks by the Editor. 



On the preceding we take leave to remark 

 that we have never dared hope, with any de- 

 gree of confidence, that the rare and glorious 

 opportunity which this bequest of Smithson pre- 

 sents fier the difiFusion of «se/'MZ knowledge would 

 be availed of for the benefit of Agriculture, in 

 any thing like the proportion which that in- 

 terest bears when contrasted with them, to all 

 others united. We should be greatly and 

 agreeably disappointed if it be not altogether 

 sequestered. 



In a life-time filled with anxiety that the till- 

 ers of the soil should understand and make good 

 their claim to paramount consideration in the 

 legislation of the country, we have been but 

 too weU aware that lawgivers know that this 

 great national concern is everybody's business 

 and nobody's business. Too well do they know 

 that, when the landholder is caught by the politi- 

 cian to be sheared, be displays not even Uie 

 power to kick, or squeal, or bark, or bite ! Not 

 having studied the case, he knows not, or seems to 

 know not, where to turn or what to do ! Touch 

 but a hair of any member of any other class, and 

 the back of the whole sty is up in a moment. 

 Equally among the press and among politicians, 

 eveiy other industry has its advocates. By 

 whom are the leading papers of the country 

 prompted to bear down, on occasion-s, with all 

 their influence, on the judgments and the fears 

 of Congress ? Do not these papers, of widest 

 circulation and most power, draw their life's 

 blood from classes that subsist on the parings of 

 Agriculture ? — parings that are often cut into 

 the very core of the fruit ? — so much so, that after 

 the produce of the farmer passes through the 

 hands of the merchant, and the miller, and the 

 tradesman, and those who live on the contentions 

 and the maladies of the producer, there is 

 scarcely enough left him for seed ! \Vhat spe- 

 cial organ stands ready to speak out for him. and 

 to denounce the burdens which fall upon him in 

 various forms that he does not see? \Vhere, 

 again we ask, where are these organs ? — and 

 Echo answers, "Where? " Even our own 

 more able coUeagnes in the great cause deem 

 it not pertinent to vindicate the political rights 



An expense was incurred during the last fis- 

 cal year of S143,000 for the Military Academy 

 at West Point — the sole object and result of 

 which institution is. in plain English, to teach 

 men the best way to butcher their fellow -men. ; 

 It is useless to find faiilt with this and kindred 

 institutions. They will, in all probability, be 

 sustained for a long time \et, until "nations shall 

 learn war no more ;" until they will leani that ' 

 a better protection is afforded by the practiced 

 principles of Truth and Justice, than by Armies 

 and Navies. But I do complain that so little is 

 done to promote the pursuits of peace and in- 

 dustry. Is it not high time that our course was 

 changed in this matter ? An opportunity is now 

 offered : Will it be embraced 1 Will "the Gov- 

 ernment niggardly refuse an appropriation of 

 SSO.OOO to Sloo,000 a year, " to promote know- 

 ledge among men," while more than that sum 

 is cheerfully granted to the West Point Acad- 

 emy ? I hope not, 



I have made an estimate above, for the Nor- 

 mal School. I wiU say a few words in explana- 

 tion : 



The object of this school, if I understand it 

 correctly, is to prepare students for teaching. 

 '• It is not the design or province of a Normal 

 School to communicate to its pupils the ele- 

 mentary departments of knowledge, but to per- 

 fect them in those departments, and, above all, 

 to mould their habits, and discipline their minds 

 in the art of teaching." " It is not expected that 

 individuals will be received as members of this 

 Institution who are not alreadj' acquainted with 

 those departments of education which are usu- 

 ally taught in our schools. Their knowledge of 

 all" the elementary branches is here to be re- 

 viewed and made perfect ; and in addition to 

 this they will be carefully and practically exer- 

 cised in the best modes of teaching all those 

 branches." [Address of Hon. S. Young, on 

 opening State Normal School. N. Y. State Sen- 

 ate, Dec. 24, 1845 ; p. 20.] 



If this be the design, and I believe it is, the 

 school should be located in the City, where ex- 

 perimental schools may easily be established, 

 and also for convenience to students. I would 

 then propose that a suitable building be erected 

 in the City of AVashington for the Normal 

 School. The number of pnpiils to be the same 

 as in the agricultural department, 460, and se- 

 lected in the same manner. Tliree terms of 1.3 

 weeks each in a year, leaving a vacancy of 

 about 30 days between each term. The pupils 

 to remain during two terms, or 26 weeks, at a 

 pay of S2 per week, without board. This, with 

 S6000 allowed in my estimate for teachers' sala- 

 ries, &;c. would make up the amount above 

 stated. 



I will not detain you by reciting the advan- 

 tages to be derived from such an establishment 

 as 1 have endeavored to shadow forth : I will 

 merely say, without any improper partialitj' for 

 my own plans, that I can conceive of no more 

 effective means for carrying into effect the de- 

 signs of the donor. From this Institution there 

 would graduate, every year, an army of enthu- 

 siastic scholars who have availed themselves of 

 all the bounties which a great National Univer- 

 sity could give. They will spread themselves 

 all over the Union. They have made themselves 

 intimately acquainted with the works of Nature 

 in their most attractive forms and purposes. 

 They will become at once the " diffusers " of 

 that which they have received. 



One word, and I have done. The farmers 

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