17 



ing, ill connexion with a farm on which experiments 

 shall be conducted with all the skill and discrimination 

 which present knowledge and experience can suggest ? 

 With such a school we might hope that some certain prin- 

 ciples would be established as guides to practice instead 

 of our ever-varying, unreliable rules. A series of ex- 

 periments upon manures and soils, on a large scale, con- 

 ducted with rigid accuracy for a dozen or a score of 

 years, might reasonably be expected to furnish a clue to 

 practices that would ensure success. Is there any other 

 industrial pursuit that better deserves the encouragement 

 implied in such an enterprise ? 



Or, if we cannot establish a public school, can Ave not 

 induce some intelligent farmers to open private schools 

 for students in agriculture ? Farm schools are common 

 in Great Britain, and are not only well attended, but at 

 some of them crowds of applicants wait for admission. 

 The scholars study and work, learn theory and practice, 

 and in a few years become capable of superintending a 

 large farm. They obtain so much information and such 

 practical skill that they have only to ask for employment 

 in order to obtain it. I can scarcely imagine a better 

 method of improving our agriculture or of interesting 

 our young men in so noble and manly a calling. 



But where are the pupils ? Are not our young men 

 leaving farming for what they esteem easier and more 

 profitable callings ? Certainly. The more reason for 

 doing something to detain them, something to rescue 

 farming from its ill name and to place it on a level with 

 the most favored pursuits ? The soil of Norfolk County 

 presents a great variety of character, but much of it is 

 excellent. Under good management it is abundantly 

 productive. Its average crops are larger than those of 

 Ohio. Sufficient and well directed tillage will bring re- 

 munerating returns. Perhaps there never was a more 



