SECRETARY'S REPORT. 197 



This text-book was not designed to crowd out any of these 

 studies, and for this reason it was not made so simple and ele- 

 mentary as it would have been if prepared for children of eight 

 or ten years. But after the age of twelve or fourteen, if ordi- 

 nary progress has been made in previous years, the youth is as 

 well prepared to take up this text-book as he is to go into the 

 study of grammar, ancient history, hygiene, or any of the other 

 studies into which the advanced classes in our schools are put. 



It should be borne in mind also, that it would be an impor- 

 tant step gained in the education of the young, to give them a 

 command of the terms which are of necessity used in reference 

 to the sciences connected with agriculture, and which they 

 must constantly meet with in after life. Any one who has 

 grown up to the age of thirty or forty years without knowing 

 the use and meaning of the terms oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, 

 gluten, and a thousand similar ones, with their derivatives, 

 finds it extremely difficult to get a clear and definite idea of 

 them, or even to fix them in his mind ready for use as he 

 meets them in reading. Now the young, mind learns these 

 terms with vastly greater readiness and precision, and in this 

 respect has the advantage of a mature mind which had never 

 been taught them in its early education. A well-educated lad 

 of sixteen would probably find the Manual easier as a study 

 than a man of forty who had never given attention to this or 

 kindred studies. 



So that if no other immediate advantage were to be gained, 

 the mere acquisition of a familiarity with the terms in constant 

 use would be of decided advantage, and of greater practical 

 value through life than many of the studies of the young, 

 which often have no practical bearing whatever. 



It may well be doubted whether any text-book on agricul- 

 ture or any of the sciences, however simple and elementary, 

 could be judiciously placed in the hands of children under the 

 age of twelve or thirteen years. If it is desirable to impart 

 information and awaken an interest in natural objects, it can be 

 done by oral instruction on the part of the parent or a compe- 

 tent teacher, but so far as any severe application goes, it is 

 usually required for the rudiments of an education which must 

 necessarily be general and form the basis and groundwork of 

 after studies. 



