MR', braman's address. 35 



ter fitted to gain iiseftil practical knowledge by cultivation and 

 discipline, as his arm is to labor by having a strong muscle 

 and bone. 



It is a matter of congraXulation, that those who cultivate the 

 soil in New England, enjoy such advantages for early educa- 

 tion. It was once a common complaint in England, that the 

 farmers were men of dull and sluggish minds. Wesley said 

 that he could do )iothing with farmers, an observation of course 

 to be understood with reasonable limitations. While the col- 

 liers, and manufacturers, and the degraded populace of London 

 could give a qnick response to the tones of his stirring elo- 

 quence, the mind of the farmer was comparatively unsusceptible 

 and impenetrable. Our free schools and other public institu- 

 tions have made a difference in favor of this class of persons 

 among us. And through the extension of the same influences, 

 particularly those of school education, which have produced 

 this diversity, every farmer can be made a wise observer, skill- 

 ful to compare results, sagacious in deducing conclusions, and 

 able to be a useful contributor to the common stock of infor- 

 mation and improvement. But this is not all we need, 



2, Agricultural schools on the plan of those in Europe, 

 taught by men versed in all sciences connected with the culti- 

 vation of the soil, and to which lands are attached for the pur- 

 pose of experimetital and practical farming. The attention 

 which this subject can receive in the common school must be 

 of quite an elementary and general character. Whilst the 

 knowledge gained in this way is useful as far as it goes, it 

 does not meet the present demand. The common school is 

 already so crowded with studies which are thought to be in- 

 dispensably important branches of education, that there is a 

 strong tendency to want of thoroughness to, and superficiality in 

 the manner of teaching those which are of the first necessity 

 tud lie at the foundation of all knowledge and mental disci- 

 pline. Besides, among the thousands of teachers who resort 

 to school keeping, as a mere temporary employment in the 

 younger period of life, with minds comparatively immature 

 and unfurnished, and upon whom our common schools must 

 depend for an indefinite period, how many are qualified to 



