592 SELECTIONS FROM ADDRESSES. 



There are established institutions for the education of men 

 for the pulpit, the bar, the healing art, for engineering, manu- 

 facturing and the mechanic arts ; but agriculture, on which de- 

 pends our national prosperity, has too often been left, like a 

 ship at sea, without rudder or compass. We have colleges to 

 educate men for the learned professions, nearly four thousand 

 common schools, but at present, not an institution for the pro- 

 fessional education of our farmers' sons, who, with their worthy 

 sires, constitute so large a proportion of the population of our 

 Commonwealth, and upon whom is levied so large a share of 

 the taxes for the support of other institutions. 



What the farmer needs is, the scientific education which the 

 mechanic, the manufacturer, and the artizan receives, to enable 

 him to become master of his calling. He must understand 

 the processes of the vegetable kingdom ; by what agents they 

 are conducted, by what laws regulated, and how the whole 

 may be turned to the best account with the least labor and ex- 

 pense ; and for this knowledge of his art, he must depend on 

 the light of science. 



The thrift, industry and intelligence of other classes, have 

 been conspicuous for the last quarter of a century ; yet the 

 tillers of the soil, not a whit behind any other class in natural 

 talent and virtue, great in everything which pertains to per- 

 sonal worth, are left to toil on without receiving their proper 

 share of scientific aid, and as though the All-Wise, who has 

 promised that seedtime and harvest shall not fail, had pre- 

 scribed no laws for them to study, no rules to govern their 

 practice, and as though the fulfilment of this promise did not 

 depend upon compliance with his immutable laws ; for if there 

 are scientific principles, upon which successful cultivation is 

 based, then no effort can be well directed unless it is founded 

 on these principles. 



There is no department of human industry, in which the aid 

 of science is more absolutely necessary ; but the impression 

 has too frequently been, that farming is purely mechanical^ re- 

 quiring muscular rather than mental power to ensure success ; 

 and this opinion has so generally prevailed, that if a man at- 

 tempted to educate himself for the duties and responsibilities of 



