FARMS. 129 



has lo?-t a good farmer and gained nothing. But upon the 

 second nature which the boy lias acquired by his early associa- 

 tions, a system of judicious education would ingraft the princi- 

 ples of the best modes of successful practical agriculture. It 

 is for such as he that colleges of agriculture may with pro- 

 priety be endowed. It is to this class that the special training 

 of farm schools belongs, just as the clergyman, the lawyer, the 

 physician, each finds his proper place of culture. And it is by 

 filling agricultural schools and colleges from this class, that 

 their true advantages can be ascertained. 



Take such a person as we have described, one who has been 

 filled with the spirit of agriculture, and has been taught to 

 believe that his occupation is as honorable and as safe as any 

 on ear til, one who feels that " more of labor, of vigilance, of 

 attention, of skill," and let us add, more of the virtues of pru- 

 dence, patience and fidelity ar(5 required to secure success in 

 his business than in almost any other on earth, and give him 

 the benefit of all that science and experience have done for 

 him. Lot him learn the nature of fertilizers and their appro- 

 priate application to soils. Let him know that he is in danger 

 of wasting the invisible gases which are created in his manure, 

 and which he must search after as for hidden treasure. Let 

 him learn that the very earth upon which he depends for a 

 living, must breathe " through every pore," in order to be 

 instinct with fruitful vitality, and that she grows poorer and 

 poorer, weaker and weaker, like the mind of man, on super- 

 ficial cultivation. Let him understand the currents of the 

 waters and how they are to be diverted away from their chilling 

 invasion of the tender roots of the young plants. Let him 

 be educated in the science of manures, of ploughing, of drain- 

 age, and there will be added to the natural impulses within 

 him, the strength of knowledge, by which he will feel a stronger 

 attachment to his native soil, and a greater power to subdue 

 and cultivate it. Let him be led to appreciate the true value 

 of a fruit tree, and to understand how to take care of it. Let 

 him learn what has been done to relieve labor by machinery, 

 what methods of agriculture are systematic, economical, and 

 as far as may be, profitable. Send this young man from your 

 agricultural school, where theory and practice have combined 

 to give him an education, and where the earliest impressions of 

 17 



