332 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



May 4, 1831. 



THE UNIOX OF LABOR A\D STUDY. 



We liave alieaily advened to this subject, and 

 now return to it again, for the purpose of laying 

 before those who are most concerned in such a 

 discussion, the results of oxpeiience in those in- 

 stitutions, where the manual labor plan has been 

 associated with study. Facts always form tlie 

 safest guide. 



The provision requisite to a manual labor academy. 

 — The Soiitliern and Western Theological Sem- 

 inary at Maryville, Tenn., was begun by the 

 purchase of a farm at §2, .500. The horses, cattle, 

 wagon, and fanning utensils cost about a tbousand 

 dollars more. There is a boarding house where 

 all the scholars upon charity are fed, and lodged. 



At Danville, Ky., is a manual labor Seminary. 

 The farm consists of 112 acres of first rate land, 

 the necessary buildings are put up with logs, and 

 are sufficient to acconniiodate 40 or .50 persons. 

 The whole expense of the farm and the buildings 

 was $3000. 



At Germantotrn, near Philadelphia, is another 

 Academy for tlie union of labor and study. The 

 farm here has 72 acres, with the ordinary farm- 

 ing utensils, two horses, four cows, and other 

 domestic animals, supplying out-door employment 

 for more than a dozen students, and shop room 

 for 6 or 7 more. The buildings will accommodate 

 about 40 students. The property cost $8000. 



At Andover^ Mass., is a department for manual 

 labor and study. A worksliop is erected here, of 

 rough stone, 65 feet by 40 : capable of containing 

 75 laborers. The cost was about $.3000. 



The Episcopal church in Pennsylvania has 

 lately purcliased a farm of SO acres in the state of 

 Delaware, and near the river. Tliey estimate the 

 requisite amount for the purchase of the land, 

 repairs of buildings, and stock, at $6000. They 

 calculate four hours each day for every student to 

 work, and six or more for stud_v. 



Expenses. — At Maryville the annual expense of 

 each student for board, over and above bis labor, 

 which is only one day in the week, is §25. 



At Danville, where they all labor two hours 

 daily, the expense of board is reduced to one half 

 the regular charge, wlieu labor is not required. 



At Germantown the labor in many cases is 

 equivalent to the whole expense of board. In thi 

 place, the students labor fo^^r hours every day, 

 Sundays always excepted. 



At the proposed Episcopal Institution in Dela- 

 ware, it is intended that the daily labor shall about 

 equal the expense of board ; or in other words, 

 that the steward or superintendent who takes the 

 farm, shall, in general, accept the labor of each 

 student for four hours each working day, as suffi- 

 cient pay for the board of each .student. 



The di I in each of the places named, is gen- 

 erally plain, consisting of meat and bread, vege- 

 tables, milk and fruit, but no tea and coffee. 



The Jdnds of labor. — At Maryville, farming only 

 is used. 



At Danville also, the labor is wholly agricultural. 



At Gcrmantoum, are various kinds of joiner 



work, especially of the plainer kind ; horticulture 



and agriculture, together with the management 



of horses, and cattle. 



Studies. — It is the concurrent testimony of all 

 the above named institutions, that the studies of 

 the students are no wise impeded by their manual 



labor. The opinion is strongly held, that their 

 attainments are in every respect equal to those 

 who devote their whole time to study. 



Condition of admission. — In most of the sem- 

 inaries now reviewed, the performance of labor 

 is an indispensable condition to membership. 



Remarks. — It will be seen by the preceding ar- 

 ticles, that no doulit can exist as to the practicability 

 of the plan of uniting labor and study. The pro- 

 ject, indeed, does not derive its feasibility from 

 mere recent e.'cperience. Some of the best scholars, 

 and most useful men in our country, have passed 

 through this hardy course of mental training. 

 Their-, education hns been j)rosecuted amid the 

 interruptions incident to laborious avocations. 

 Their hands, hardened with severe toil, and ac- 

 customed to the rougher 'mplements of agriculture 

 have not been deemed unfit to turn over the vol- 

 umes of science, and form the figure 5 of ma- 

 thematical calculation. Of how many intelligent 

 men do we learn the simple fact, that they are 

 ■self-taught ? In almost every such case there has 

 been a union of labor and study. Labor has made 

 the study sweet, and study has, in its turn, soften- 

 ed labor. 



The above article is from our respected contem- 

 porary ' the Columbian >Star.' — If additional facts 

 and arguments are required to enforce the propri- 

 ety, and indeed absolute necessity of labor, call 

 it by what term you choose, gymnastic, agricul- 

 tural or mechanical, and perhaps each in turn 

 ought to be had recpurse to by students, it would 

 be sufficient to refer to the experience of Pesta- 

 lozzi, and above all of Fellenberg in his celebrated 

 establishment at Hofwyl. — Ample and very satis- 

 factory details on this engrossing subject will be 

 found on reference to the American Journal of 

 Education. We are satisfied, by intimate experi- 

 ence, and we may say jiersonal suffering, that sad 

 injustice is done to human nature in the common 

 systems of education, by a neglect of suitable and 

 regular physical exercise ; directed as well to the 

 immediate preservation of health and prevention of 

 numerous ailments, as to the learning of some 

 useful handicraft enifdoynient, and acquiring the 

 ability to use our senses and limbs with that read- 

 iness and accuracy so useful in the various situa- 

 tions of life, whether of daily business or unfore- 

 seen peril and emergencies. — Journal of Health. 



RAILROADS IN THE 0N[TED STATES, EUROPE AND 



ASIA. 



Their eventiinl effects on Tonnage .and fnr Commerce, nnd llie 



particular etrect of them and other circumstances, on that of 



the United Stales. 



The circumstances of the high price of sailors' 

 wages, the diminished quantity of tonnage in the 

 Southern ports, and the generally, if not decreasing, 

 stationary state of the United States Commerce, 

 induce me to address you. I would premise my 

 paper witii the expression of a conviction, that the 

 people of the United States, generally, have labor- 

 ed under a great mistake in believing, that its for- 

 eign commerce would go on increasing, until it 

 obtained a condition sufficiently magnified to con- 

 tend with, or rather rival, that of G. Britian. The 

 latter country is a small, and greatly consuming ter- 

 ritory. The former, extensive — and as to its Wes- 

 tern sections, consumes but little. The latter has 

 none of the immense resources within herself, whicli 

 the former possesses in such abundance. The cul- 

 tivation of these resources, and the land, offer great- 

 er inducements to the industrious and independent 

 man, than the naval profession can possibly do. In 

 the one, his actions are ' free as air,' and he is sur- 

 roundeti with all the comforts of domestic life; in 

 the other, he is the slave of, at times, an intelligent 



despot — but, at others, of a ^hrute madman.' Tc I''' 

 this circumstance, 1 attribute the high prices of sea- |e«' 

 men's wages. The Western States afford hint ,, ol 

 a greater inducement than the navigation of the J 

 Atlantic, which he leaves to the natives of the SeR , , i 

 Girt Isle ; and, whose element, from the narrowness . 

 of their native land, is essentially the ocean. Theit " 

 march is indeed over the mountain wave, and theil /"' 

 home is on the wild of waters. I have reflected ni'* 

 mucli on the subject, and think that those who foK lijil 

 low my example, will eventually arrive at the same ,,[1 

 conclusion. 



But, is there no other cause which will contribute ,ti! 

 to lessen the tonnage of the United States ? I conr 

 tend that there is, and that it will be found in the 

 universal adoption of railways. The profound ignor- " ' 

 ancc prevalent as to their value, will be well recol- '""' 

 lected. To remedy this, and to hasten their pro- 

 gress, it should seem they are now being laid down 

 in so many places, in links, as to dcvelopn llieir 

 advantages in the most striking manner. The peo- 

 ple of Phdadelphia have determined, with a view to 

 their more successful rivalry with New York, to aii 

 their .Jersey neighbors, in laying one down to Ambo_ 

 Nor have the citizens of Baltimore been behini 

 hand. With their eyes directed Westward am 

 Southward, they have excited the inhabitants oj 

 Ohio, and the Shenandoah valley, to unite with the 

 in mnking Baltimore the great Port for the trans; 

 mission of Western produce to Europe ; and thii 

 they are doing, while the Richmond Enquirer 

 writing its 1,001st essay on State Rights, and pe: 

 suading the Senate of Virginia to ruin its Easte: 

 section, by denying the Petersburg Rail Road Coi 

 pany the .'!ilCO,000, which, if common sense or cai 

 dor, 'irudence or common foresight could be founi 

 in Virginia, should have been granted without di 

 bate. The result will be, that the commerce 

 upper Alabama and Mississippi, with all Tennessi 

 will be at Baltimore before the talking States cai 

 stir a step. 



Tdus begun, the Rail Road system will anni- 

 hdate the coasting trade — for if the people of Charles- 

 ton can bring a bale of Cotton for 5A cents from 

 Augusta, it will not cost 25 to bring it to Baltimore 

 from Iluutsville ; and there is little difficulty ia 

 foreseeing that, eventually the facilities offered by 

 a Rail Road from New Orleans to unite with that 

 of the valley, will more than compensate the ease 

 of marine conveyance, accompanied, as it is, by the^ 

 difficulties offered by the point of Florida, and the 

 shallow harbors of the Southern States. 



Indeed, however important may have been the 

 discoveries of the mariner's compass, or of the pas- 

 sage around tlie Cape of Good Hope, they will be. 

 equalled by the value of tlie Railway, ft is not, 

 going too far to anticipate a passage from the Xorth 

 of Germany to the Gulf of Ormus — The distance, 

 on an air line, is not, to speak very largely, (so as to 

 leave room for blunders) 10,000 miles. And sUl,O0ffi 

 per mile would efifect it. This would be 8100,000,- 

 000, or .£25,000,000 sterling— and this expense wotild 

 be divided among France, Great Britian, the Ger- 

 man powers, Russia, Turkey, Persia, and the East 

 India Company, under a new and efficient organiza- 

 tion. The mineral wealth of the dependencies of 

 Austria and Russia, are immense; and, in the wish- 

 es of the Porte, to ameliorate the condition of the 

 people, will be found powerful auxiliaries in the 

 scheme. It would indeed 'annihilate both space and 

 time' — and, in the interchange of commerce, add 

 much to the happiness of the world. 



Tunneling the .illegany. — A petition ha,^ been 

 presented in the Legislature of Pennsylvania, from 

 Gen. Simon Cameron and others, for an act of incor- 

 poration to make a rail road across the Allegany 

 mountain, on the plan recommended by Wnncure 

 Robinson, with a tunnel. Tlie company offer to 

 give security for the certain and speedy completion 

 of the work. 



