34 MR. braman's address. 



of the noble art to which they are devoted, to render these m- 

 struments of popular education as efficient and useful as possi- 

 ble. 



Aside from any considerations connected with the advance 

 of agriculture itself, to which the- present remarks are particu- 

 larly directed, it cannot be denied that those institutions in 

 which so large a portion of the youthful portion of the com- 

 munity are receiving almost all the training \vhich is acquired 

 from professional teachers, deserve the highest attention and 

 support. The common school is eminently the farmer's school. 

 It is not only the primary school, but the academical institu- 

 tion, and the college in which he takes his degrees, and whose 

 influence contributes so much to form character, and fit well 

 or imperfectly for exercising those rights of citizenship, which, 

 always most important in any circumstances, assume a most 

 transcendent and fearful consequence, when we consider the 

 preponderating numbers of the class with which he is associat- 

 ed. 



But I have particularly in view the influence of education in 

 fitting him for a more successful prosecution of his employ- 

 ment. There are some persons, who think little of agricultur- 

 ■a'l seminaries and scientific farming, but place great reliance 

 on the observation and experience of practical men. From 

 the value of the maxims of experience, I would not detract a 

 particle. But all must allow, that the observations of some 

 men are worth infinitely more than those of others ; and that 

 if the agricultural interest is to depend chiefly on observation 

 for its progress, we need wise observers. If we must place 

 principal reliance on the opinions of practical men, we should 

 have intelligent practitioners. 



Every agency which strengthens and expands the powers of 

 the mind fits a person for a keener and wiser observation in 

 -any department of labor to which he has addicted himself; and 

 other things being equal, the best reader, grammarian and arith- 

 metician in the common school will be the most intelligent and 

 successful cultivator of the ground. An inactive and torpid 

 mind will make no observations, institute no comparisons, de- 

 duce no inferences. The mind of the farmer is as much bet- 



