476 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



pie of the United States have over three hundred 

 millions of dollars invested in domestic animals, 

 and if a young farmer engaged in stock growing 

 wishes bo study the digestive organs, the muscles, 

 nerves or blood-vessels of the horse, cow, sheep or 

 hog, he must cross the Atlantic for the purpose, 

 or remain in ignorance." 



Bat "W. A." thinks a practical agriculturist, 

 who understood mechanism and the use of imple- 

 ments, would not be elected president of an agri- 

 cultural college. Why, he does not inform us. I 

 suppose because there are few with the proper 

 qualifications. Is this an argument against the 

 establishment of sucb an institution ? If there are 

 few or none capable of directing or teaching, it 

 shows our ignorance of those subjects which he 

 acknowledges to be necessary to a good agricul- 

 turist. This proves the necessity of such an insti- 

 tution. When medical schools were first founded 

 in this country, nearly all our teachers of anatomy, 

 physiology, surgery, theory and practice of physic, 

 &c, were educated abroad ! Had his logic been 

 enforced, we would still be destitute of medical 

 schools. He farther says, that it would exclusive- 

 ly benefit the rich. Why would an agricultural 

 college exclusively advantage those in affluent cir- 

 cumstances ? If his arguments are correct the 

 probabilities are against it. He says the rich have 

 an aversion to labor ; if so, would they be likely to 

 attend an institution where labor constituted an 

 essential part of their training; and would not such 

 young men be more likely to love labor, and be 

 better able to endure it, when trained to it, than 

 they now do? 



But allow that nine-tenths of the farmers of 

 Massachusetts are opposed to it, and that the one- 

 tenth who would avail themselves of its advan- 

 tages are rich, both of which I deny, is this a rea- 

 son for not establishing it? If none but youth 

 with affluent expectations should attend such a 

 college, the probabilities are, many of them would 

 feel a pride, and take delight in their profession ; 

 possessed with ample means, they would more 

 fully carry out their scientific instructions, and 

 perform experiments on a more extended plan than 

 they otherwise could. Each graduate would be- 

 come a missionary in his profession, in his respec- 

 tive locality ; and the knowledge, for which he had 

 lavished time and money, would be a light set upon 

 a hill and could not be hid. Besides this, the in- 

 stitution itself being a practical one, would be con 

 stantly performing experiments, and making valu- 

 able discoveries, which would be carried to the 

 most remote parts of our country by agricultural 

 journals, which once encountered as great opposi- 

 tion as agricultural schools now do. Chemistry is 

 comparatively a modern science, yet the light it 

 has shed on agriculture is as startling and encour- 

 aging as it is new and useful. Will " W A." con- 

 tend that chemistry can be taught by books and 

 fairs ? Surely not ; we must have teachers to ex- 

 plain its principles, manner of using apparatus, 

 &c. Would the mass ever understand mathemat- 

 ics, botany or geology, by reading books 1 Facts 

 prove the negative. The few that do are an ex- 

 ception to the general rule. To obtain an educa- 

 tion without schools, is as possible as to obtain an 

 agricultural education ivithout agricultural schools. 

 The practicability of agricultural schools is not a 

 new chimera ; first class agricultural schools are 

 now, and have been for years, in successful opera- 



tion in all the principal countries in Europe. In 

 this country a wider field is open to agricultural 

 pursuits^ than in any other ; yet to our shame not 

 one National or State Institution can be found. It 

 is a craven policy to refuse the means for an edu- 

 cation which would return a hundred fold to the 

 wealth of the nation. In our best grain-raising 

 States, isolated facts prove that the average amount 

 of grain per acre might be doubled, if farmers were 

 sufficiently informed on the subject of manuring. 



It is my lot at the present time to be a tutor- at 

 an agricultural Institute, which has been in suc- 

 cessful operation for the last eight years. It was 

 founded in the State of New York, by the present 

 principal — J. Wilkinson, and removed to this place 

 in 1847. It now numbers 25 students. Having 

 passed my youth principally in agricultural pur- 

 suits, since which time 1 have had frequent inter- 

 course with farmers in the most intelligent districts 

 of Pennsylvania and several other States, I am 

 somewhat prepared to judge of the relative advan- 

 tages of farmers' sons generally, and the pupils of 

 this Institute, and I am satisfied, the advantages 

 offered to the latter are ten fold greater than the 

 former. In conclusion allow me to remark, that 

 I am a native and citizen of Pennsylvania, and can 

 therefore have no other motive in writing this 

 article, than to promote the truth, and elevate so 

 noble an occupation as that of agriculture. 



Lewjs II . Cause. 



Mount Airy Agricultural Institute, ) 

 Qermantown, Pa., July 29, 1852. 3 



THE EYELID OF THE TREE-TOAD. 



The peculiarity of the glass-like transparency of 

 the lower eyelid of the tree-toad (which, in those 

 animals, is the larger, and performs the office of 

 closing the eye) is well worthy of notice. I have 

 elsewhere remarked a structure exactly similar in 

 the wood slave, (Mabouya agilis,) a pretty little 

 Scincoid lizard that plays about wails in Jamaica. 

 In both cases we may consider it a beautiful and 

 effective provision for the protection of the eye 

 during the rapid movements of the animals, where 

 sight would be indispensable. The tree-toad dwells 

 habitually among the heathering leaves of the wild 

 pines, always stiff and leathery, and often armed 

 with sharp serrated spines at every edge. Among 

 these it moves to and fro by violent headlong leaps, 

 in which it needs to be guided by the sharpest 

 sight. How interesting, then, is it to see that its 

 gracious Creator has furnished it with a glassy 

 window, which it may in a moment draw before its 

 eye, for shelter from clanger, without in the least 

 hindering the clearness of its vision ! This struc- 

 ture has not, I believe, been noticed by any natur- 

 alist ; and, indeed, it is scarcely perceptible when 

 the delicate membrane has become opake by im- 

 mersion in spirits. "All thy works shall praise 

 thee, Lord!" — Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica. 



Am Plants. — S. S. Osgood, who has recently 

 crossed the Isthmus at Nicaragua, says : — "On 

 every tree I noticed hundreds of air plants, a par- 

 acite which attaches itself to any part of the trunk, 

 dead or alive, it matters not which. I have now 

 three hanging up in my state room, (June 17th) 

 which I gathered at Costello's Rapids on the 7th. 

 Until we came on board the steamer, a week 

 since to-morrow, they were tumbled about in my 

 basket with fruit and other things, and yet they 





