12 



BOOKS ON AfiRICULTURE, FOR SCHOOL 

 BOYS. 



We have tlidiisrht the cause of afrricultural im- 

 provement would be greatly promoted by the publi- 

 cation of a series of elementary books on aijricul- 

 ture, derii<rned for the use of the schoolboy. Why 

 should not our children have facilities for the ac- 

 quisition of knowledge applicable to this pursuit as 

 well as on less useful ones ? If education is de- 

 signed to fit us to engage in the practic il duties of 

 life ; why is it that the most important of all earthly 

 subjects, and ono which occupies the labors of a 

 vast majority of our people, is not the leading ob- 

 ject of the schoolboy's education ? . We have ele- 

 mentary books on every other subject ; we have 

 schools wherein are taught the rudiments of every 

 science, schools of law, medicine, divinity, of fight- 

 ing, dancing, and of every thing but of agriculture. 

 There is something wrong in the national practii-e 

 on this s'lbjcct. We ought to give to thf^ most im- 

 portant subjects the highest degree of attention — 

 we must graduate various branches of education by 

 the standard of their relative importance, and give 

 to those having the nearest relation to our most im- 

 portant interest.-f, the greatest share of favor. We 

 ought to have the principles of husbandry taught 

 in evaly common school and a chair of agriculture 

 endowed in every college. And we think the first 

 step to t!ie introduction of this new branch of edu- 

 cation is, to have the necessary elementary school 

 books. Wo have many men in our country, emi- 

 nently capable of compiling such works and adapt- 

 ing them precisely to the capacity of the schoolboy. 

 And he who would prepare a set of works on agri- 

 culture for the use of schools, such as would give to 

 the boys of the country destined for tlie pursuits of 

 husbandry, a thorough knowledge of the principles 

 and the outlines of the practice, of agriculture, 

 would do more for the general good and for his own 

 literary fame, than in any otJier walk of science or 

 learning. Let it not be supposed that we decry 

 other branches of science or learning. We are in 

 favor of all ; and especially those which contribute 

 useful aids in the practical labors of life. We 

 would render all subservient to min's use ; and it 

 is only in this view that they should be appreciated. 

 But it is admitted on all hands, that agriculture is 

 the most universal, the most dignified, the most 

 congenial, virtuous and productive pursuit of man- 

 kind — the substratum of all other pursuits — the life 

 and soul of commerce and manufactures — the moth- 

 er of the arts and sciences — the basis of civiliza- 

 tion ; and wc insist, it is not seeking too much 

 when we seek to give to her own child, the hus- 

 bandman, a higher grade of education. Whatever 

 description of know ledge, relates nearly or remotely 

 to the multifarious labors of the agriculturist, should 

 be an object of his study, and constitute a poition 

 of his exercises at the primary school and the col- 

 lege, and employ his reflections in all the riper 

 years of after life. One of the most absurd and 

 mischievous errors of the day, is that of the fiither, 

 who gives to the son destined for a farmer an edu- 

 'C-ation inferior to that he bestows upon the one des- 

 tined for a profession. The husbandman deserves 

 a l-ette'f education than a lawyer or a doctor; be- 

 ■cawi'e hi's occupation requires tlie exercise of more 

 kaowJedg'5; but it is too generally tlie case, that 

 He us .only ; allowed some snatched intervals between 

 1 be crops, «^'o learn to read, write and cipher" — 

 a tid this is dee ^"''' education enough for a farmer ! 

 O). what .a wretc. ''*"'• "i'--*erable error is this — what 

 a foe to tl le impro "^'n*^"' =*°'' dignity of the cla.ss I 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



jri.T IS. 1S38. 



It ought, it must be banished, and the practice 

 which results from it abolished, and a wiser and 

 better one substituted. Now, however the remark 

 may seem to censure the general opinion and prac- 

 tice on this subject, and although we may be even 

 ridiculed by many farmers themselves, for tlie ap- 

 parent ultraism of the sentiment, we are bold to 

 declare, nevertheless, that the farmer luis need of a 

 better education, and he actually more often re- 

 quires the aid of more various branches of science 

 in his ramified operations, than the member of any 

 profession ; and we sincerely believe, that if any 

 discrimiijation should be made in the education of 

 two sons, one destined fiir a farmer and tlie other 

 for a profession, it should be in favor of the former. 

 Let us not be misunderstood — the bny destined for 

 a profession or trade should be thoroughly educated 

 in all branches pertaining to his distinct calling ; 

 while the boy intended for a farmer should be thor- 

 oughly instructed in all the principles to which the 

 intelligent and scientific agriculturist stands in- 

 debted for the successful result of his labors. Wo 

 could easily show, that these principles are drawn 

 from a wider range of sciences than are necessary 

 to be consulted by one destined for any of the so- 

 styled learned professions; and consequently it 

 would be shown that the husbandman needs a more 

 extended education. A young man preparing for 

 the bar is ready to enter upon his legal studies on 

 attaining some smattering of Latin, (or it may be 

 Greek;) and many do not even go thus far before 

 taking up Blackstone. A short course of reading 

 elementary works on the principles and practice of 

 law, and the student enters on the practical field of 

 his profession. The physician requires more prep- 

 aration to qualify him for practice. He too, learns 

 the dead languages, and studies the principles and 

 practice of his art, but those principles involve a 

 knowledge of various abstract sciences, and he is 

 constrained to invoke the aid of anatomy, physiolo- 

 gy, chemistry, mineralogy, botany, &c. before he 

 enters upon the practice of his profession. We are 

 speaking of those studies only as tliey relate to the 

 professional qualifications of the student, and of 

 course we are not to be understood as denying 

 eitlier the possession or the importance of other 

 branches of learning to professional men. They, 

 as well as agriculturists and others, in their social 

 and political relations to community, are equally 

 required to discharge the duties of ciVire^i ; and we 

 hold that all classes should avail themselyes of ev- 

 ery accomplishment which learning or science can 

 bestow, in aid of the performance of those high 

 duties. But we need not array comparisons or il- 

 lustrations on the subject ; our opinion? may be 

 piesented at one vie-r. We would give to every 

 one, of whatever pursuit, precisely the education 

 adapted to it — and it should be thorough and per- 

 fect in all its branches, or at least so far as any or 

 all the branches related to the peculiar pursuit 

 adopted by the student. It should thus quality him 

 for the intelligent prosecution of the labors of his 

 life and ensure his complete success. It would 

 render the farmer as illustrious, and certainly as 

 useful, in his sphere, as the profoundest statesman 

 or professor. But the subject is too interesting to 

 be treated satisfoctorily in the narrow limits to 

 which we are circumscribed ; and we mean to pur- I 

 sue it. In the meantime, we submit to the board i 

 of education, and to tlie commissioners of common 

 schools, the propriety of early considering the i.n- 

 portance of adopting a series of agricultural works, j 

 as text books in the school about to be putinoper- j 



ation under the excellent common school law of 

 the state. They may do incalculable good to the 

 children of Kentucky, which •mH flow to other gen- 

 erations, and they may render v.c system far more 

 u.^eful and effecti\e, by scasmiably directing their 

 earnest attention to tlic subject — Frankfort, Ky. 

 Fanner. 



THE COMING HARVEST. 



Never was tliere the jirospect of a richer fulfil- 

 ment of the gracious promise nj^de by the Al- 

 mighty, when he set his bow in the heavens, and 

 declared that thenceforth " seed time and harvest 

 should not fail." From every section of the coun- 

 try, and more particularly from the principal agri- 

 cultural districts, the accounts of the coming har- 

 vest are of the most cheering description ; every 

 where is the promise of an abundant reward fertile 

 labor of the husbandman. The continuance of 

 warm weather and the abundance of rain has brought 

 forward the fruits of the earth with unusual rapidity 

 and perfection. The grass crop, which is partially 

 cut and will be secured in the course of a week, is 

 the heaviest that has been known for years. The 

 pastures look nearly as well as the meadows have 

 the two past years. Corn, wheat, and grain of all 

 kinds look uncommonly well. Wheat, the great 

 staple of the West, it is confidently anticipated, 

 will be gathered in such abundance as will enable 

 us to export instead of importing it Not only is 

 there the prospect of an abundant crop, but a large 

 portion of the land has been devoted to its cultiva- 

 tion. The Spring wheat has succeeded admirably 

 in h\titudes where the season has been generally 

 considered too short for this grain. Large quanti- 

 ties of this species have been sown in .Vew Eng- 

 land. On the Eastern shore of Maryland, and in 

 Virginia, where the wheat crop has failed for suc- 

 cessive years until tlio cultivation of it has been 

 abandoned, the Spring wheat has been very suc- 

 cessful and a great deal has been planted. 



The Baltimore American says : — 



" The Crops — the Harvest. An all bountiful 



Providence has not only blessed our country witli 

 abunbant crops, but also with the most favorable 

 season for their ingatliering. We never recollect 

 to have witnessed a more genial period for the 

 growth and final ripening of the crops than tlie last 

 six or eight weeks have presented, or a more ad- 

 vantageous condition of the weather since the har- 

 vest has commenced. Each day's continuance of 

 such weather as we have had for tlie eight or ten 

 just past, secures to the country hundreds of thou- 

 sands of bushels of wheat. 



In Maryland the husbandmen are busy, and ex- 

 traordinary wages are given to the best harvest 

 hands, in order that the crops may be secured. As 

 much as five to six dollars a day have been paid in 

 some cases to first rate cradlcrs." 



Respecting the wheat crop in Virginia, the Far- 

 mer's Register of Juno 2.5th says: — 



"The present wheat crop throughout Virginia, 

 and otiier adjacent states so far as we have heard, 

 is the best in quantity and quality combined, that 

 has grown for many years — if not the best that has 

 ever been made. Some partial disasters, on partic- 

 ular farms, have been suffered, from chinch bug, 

 hessian tiy, or rust ; but nothing worth naming as 

 atfecting the general crop of Virginia. A more 

 considerable cause of diminution will be found in 

 the circumstance that there is less surface now 

 under wheat than a few years ago ; as the repeated 



