MEANS OF IMPROVING OUR HUSBANDRY 69 



good seed that is sown in the springtime of Ufe ie 

 never lost : it will ultimately sprout, and grow, and 

 give its increase, as surely as the grain which wa 

 deposite in a fertile soil. The tree will grow a> t ... 

 twig is bent. Youth is the season to get instruction 

 in the principles of the business which is to consti- 

 tute the employment of life; and the more knowl 

 edge boys acquire in these principles before they 

 start in life for themselves, the more likely they are 

 to prosper and become useful to society. The time 

 that the senior boys in school devote to the business 

 of the farm, will give to studies which are connected 

 with their present and future business an interest 

 and an influence which will be as abiding as life. 



But we would go farther in the business of agri- 

 cultural instruction ; we would establish schools to 

 teach simultaneously both the theory and practice 

 of agriculture. We would carry something of the 

 theory into the primary schools, and much of the 

 practice into the schools of science. Veterinary 

 schools, to instruct in the anatomy and management 

 of domestic animals, have long been established in 

 Europe ; their usefulness has been highly extolled, 

 and their numbers are increasing. Switzerland, 

 Prussia, and France have also their schools, in which 

 the science and practice of agriculture are taught to 

 hundreds of young men, who are thereby enabled to 

 manage their estates with greater benefit to them- 

 selves and the public, or to obtain honourable and 

 lucrative situations as managers for others. We 

 give bounties on our fisheries, to make them a nur- 

 sery for seamen ; but we give none upon agriculture, 

 which is the best nursery of freemen. We spend 

 millions annually to protect our commerce ; but we 

 give nothing to improve agriculture, which is the ba- 

 sis and support of that commerce. We protect out 

 manufactures by a heavy tariff; yet agriculture, 

 which furnishes the raw materials, and buys the fab- 

 rics which the manufacturer consumes and vends, 



