158 Dijfusion of Jigricultural Knowledge. [March, 



form, and its flowers amidst offensive weeds exhibit but a sickly 

 bloom. How many that go forth w^th collegiate honors and min- 

 gle in the affairs of men, fail to enlarge their minds by reading 

 and reflection beyond the daily incidents of life. Some may in 

 after lite avoid laborious habits, others may cherish evil propensi- 

 ties. Hence arises an unjust prejudice against these higher in- 

 stitutions of learning. But while we look upon the sad features 

 of this picture, justice demands that we turn and look upon its op- 

 posite, in which we see the powers of human thought multiplied 

 and enlarged, the mind disciplined and prepared for the acquisi- 

 tion of a more useful and extended knowledge in after life. 



We therefore make a distinction between the knowledge ac- 

 quired in youth at literary institutions, and that which is obtained 

 in manhood, the former preparing the way for the latter. We 

 abhor those schemes that have tor their object a common stand- 

 ard in learning for all our fellow citizens. A common level may 

 be pleasing to some, but a sad misfortune to the many. The same 

 rule is applied to the mechanic, and to the varied labor of man 

 must be applied to the republic of letters. All have their own 

 sphere of action, all have their peculiar train of duties. It is not 

 possible for all laboring men to become adepts in the varied me- 

 chanic arts, and it would be unwise in them to make the attempt. 

 So in the walks of knowledge, all men cannot be adepts in the va- 

 ried sciences. All may however attain to a certain degree of per- 

 fection in knowledge in his own sphere of action ; and it is when 

 this rule is applied that we have an intelligent community. It is 

 not possible for the great mass of young men that are approach- 

 ing the stage of human action to receive even an academic educa- 

 tion ; the number of these institutions is too limited to accommo- 

 date the throngs that move in the circles of society. 



Then what must be done to equalize mankind, we know of no 

 better scheme than that which requires a man to become great 

 in his sphere of labor, and in the popular knowledge of the day. 

 Reading and reflection are indispensable for the acquirement of 

 knowledge; when we bring the agriculturist within this scheme 

 and require him to learn the science peculiar to his calling, we 

 throw around him every inducement to become the scholar of 

 varied learning in physical science. The mere knowledge of 

 plowing and sowing and gathering is far short of what the farm- 

 er should attain to. His legitimate studies are the construction 

 of the earth's surface, the great field of his labor ; the laws that 

 govern the moving elements around him, the constituents of the 

 soil he cultivates, and the structure of plants and animals in re- 

 ference to the food that is i-equired to bring them to mau rity. 

 When he has learned these sciences, even to an ordinary compre- 

 hension he has attained to a rank among men, at once conspicu- 



