THE WHEATLAND AND DUTCHESS INSTITUTES. 293 



to determine how you will employ your faculties of body and mind, and what, for your- 

 selves, shall be the disposition of the proceeds : labor to prevent war and waste.' " 



"We speak here for the landed interest of the country, to which we are bound, 

 heart and hand, without alluding to or caring about who happens to be in power 

 or who out. It is to their immediate Representatives that the farmers should 

 look to save them from wars, pensions and taxes. 



But to return to the Wheatland School: if it only succeed according to our 

 wishes and persuasion of its excellence, it will fully realize the highest hopes 

 and expectations of its founder. 



To J. S. SKirns-ER, Esq. Wheatland, JeiFerson Co., Va., Oct. 4, 1847. 



My Dear Sir : It is no longer a question whether the agriculturist should be 

 a man of science and of education. The idea that improvement is unattainable 

 in this pursuit alone, that ignorance and blind adherence to established practices 

 and old implements are the safest guides to the practical tiller of the soil, may 

 now certainly be said to be exploded. 



It has become a desideratum that is acknowledged and felt (as witness the 

 munificent action of the public-spirited men of New-England) to introduce into 

 our colleges and schools professorships intended for the instruction in his trade 

 and the enlightenment of the mechanic, the farmer, the man of labor. 



Have we no spirit of the same sort farther south ? Are we content still to neg- 

 lect our trades — to associate labor and ignorance, and thus to assign to those 

 pursuits which are in truth worthy of the highest respect, an inferior place ? I 

 hope that a better spirit and juster views prevail among us ; and I therefore pro- 

 pose, with the countenance of my fellow agriculturists, to establish upon my 

 farm in Jefferson County, Virginia, an institution peculiar, so far as I know, in 

 character, and of which the following shall be the features, viz : the West- 

 Point course of instruction in Mathematics, and in the Natural Sciences ; the 

 Dead and Modern Lanp;uages, for such as may desire to learn them ; the drill of 

 the soldier as taught at West Point ; and, for such as desire it, a course upon 

 Agriculture, of which the object will be to hasten and extend the introduction of 

 improved implements and varied crops, to which purpose a sufficient portion of 

 my farm will be allotted. Being a graduate of West Point, and having served 

 several years in the Army, (first, fur a period, as an Assistant Professor of Mathe- 

 matics at West Point,) and for several years more recently and to the present 

 time, as a practical and laboring farmer, I promise, if encouraged in this enter- 

 prise, to put into requisition whatever of experience or knowledge I may have 

 acquired in these several favorable positions, and thus faithfully to endeavor to 

 return, in some small degree, the peculiar debt which all graduates of the Mili- 

 tary Academy owe to the country. Will you allow me to hope for your aid in 

 the promotion of this object ? 



The school is already commenced and ready for the reception of students. 



DUTCHESS AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTE. 



We sincerely wish the same success to Mr. Wilkinson's " Dutchess Agricul- 

 tural Institute,'''^ in regard to which we have the high authority of the Ex- 

 ecutive Committee of the New- York State Agricultural Society for saying, 

 " This Institution is in successful operation, and is doing much good, and the 

 Proprietor is about enlarging his buildings to meet the wants of the agricul- 

 tural community ; " and we take the opportunity to explain that a communication 

 with drawings for a coach-house and stables was received some months since, 

 and until recently mislaid. The drawings are in the hands of the engraver, and 

 the whole will be published, with some comments, in an early number. — 

 These are the last lines to be sent (15th Nov.) for the December number. A 

 great varietv of valuable matter is necessarily postponed. 



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