But much more ihaii this is demanded by our condi- 

 tion. School learning is rather a prepnration for special 

 training than a substitute for it. We admit this in re- 

 ference to every branch of business except agriculture, in 

 which the highest skill is thought to come as reading and 

 writing did to Dogberry — by nature. The boy who is 

 destined to Law or Medicine goes from the town school 

 to the liigh school, from the high school to college, from 

 college to the school of hiw or medicine, and after fifteen 

 or twenty years' study is deemed qualified to commence 

 the practice of liis calling. But the farmer's son has no 

 special instruction ; with the imperfect education of the 

 common school he undertakes a task that might employ 

 the best talents amply developed by culture. The con- 

 sequence is that he is apt to walk implicitly in the beaten 

 track, to believe that his father employed and exhausted 

 all wisdom, and that the practical sagacity acquired by 

 experience furnishes a sufficient pledge of success. But, 

 how can an art be properly improved without a knowl- 

 edge of its theory 1 Practical sagacity has no insight 

 into the mysteries of science. If the soil be exhausted 

 by repeated croppings, it does not know the best means 

 of restoring its fertility. It may hit upon a lucky guess, 

 or it may lose time and money for nothing. If we would 

 not forever blunder along in the dark we must banish our 

 foolish cant about book-f;irining, recognize our ignorance 

 and consent to be taught by men wiser than ourselves. 

 We must get rid of the idea of the all-sufticiency of 

 practice and the worthlessness of theory. Let us state 

 in a few words what we mean by practical and theoreti- 

 cal. " A mere practical ftuuner is a man who knows how 

 to manage his ground to advantage. His natural abili- 

 ties and the education of his circumstances enable him to 

 do this. A theoretical farmer, on the other hand, is a 

 man wlio understands the principles on which agricultural 



