1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



341 



It was this : Take common salt, and pound or 



; fijriud it as fiue as you can possibly get it, and mix 



it with spirits of turpentine enough to make it 



something like paste, and rub it on the ringbones 



(or spavin) once in two or three days, for three or 



four times, and if they have not been of too long 



, standing, I think you will effect a sure cure. This 



colt of mine had but three applications of this 



- medicine, and I then turned her out to pasture, 



I and she soon grew better, and in a short time was 



I entirely free from lameness, and has been ever 



since. She is now coming three years old, and 



: has as sound feet as any colt, though there arc 



some bunches to be seen yet, but I think in two 



years more, they will entu-ely disappear. — Cor. 



Country Gentleman. 



SCHOOLS OF AGRICUTiTURB. 

 BY JUDGE FRENCH. 



There is much that can never be learned from 

 books or oral teaching. No man can learn hov/ 

 to bo a horseman, or swimmer, or skater, in any 

 other Avay but by practice. So it is v.ith all that 

 belongs to the practice of the art of agriculture. 

 To be able to direct others with authority, the 

 farmer should have skill in all the manual pro- 

 cesses of fanning, to hold the plow, or to cWve, 

 to use the scythe, the ax and the hoe. There are 

 a thousand things to be learned by the farmer in 

 every department of his business, which can be 

 learned only by actual observation on the farm, 

 and which may be suggested in considering the 

 plan of such an institution as we recommend. 

 It may be premised, in the outset, that an experi- 

 mental farm makes a part of almost every system 

 of agricultural instruction that has ever been 

 adopted in the old world, or projected in the new. 



Dr. Hitchcock says, in his report : "With a 

 very few exceptions, — I do not recollect any save 

 the University of Edinburgh, — a farm, or at least 

 a few acres of land, is connected with the school." 



A school of agriculture with an experimental 

 farm, we propose as the one thing especially need- 

 ful in our present condition, to be established as 

 soon as practicable in each county. 



We should abandon, for the present, the idea 

 of a "splendid university, where everything, in- 

 cluding the dead languages and abstruse mathe- 

 matics are to be taught. 



The existing institutions of learning are suf- 

 ficient for Latin and Greek, and mathematics 

 in general, and common schools, with perhaps 

 some modifications with reference to prepara- 

 tion for schools peculiarly agricultural, are lay- 

 ing the requisite foundation for more advanced 

 education. While we admit the utility of lec- 

 tures and of farmers' clubs in the dissemination 

 of knowledge among those v.'ho are already farm- 

 ers, and therefore full-grown men, we conceive 

 tluit t'lpy furnish no substitute for schools for the 

 training of boys and youth. 



Lectures upon science or art may amuse a gen- 

 eral audience ; but only they who have prepared 

 their minds by previous training, can profit much 

 by knowledge in so condensed a form. Farmers, 

 as we now find them, even in Massachusetts, have 

 not had the discipline to enable them to appre- 

 hend by a mere statement, the principles of chem- 

 istry, of geology, of physiology, or even the pro- 



cesses of subsoiling, drainage, and the like, which 

 may be made very easy to a lad of eighteen, by 

 a regular course of instruction. In agriculture, 

 as in other studies, we must educate in youth ; 

 and farmers' clubs, however useful, must be lim- 

 ited rather to the diffusion of the knowledge ol 

 facts than of principles. Both lectures and farm- 

 ers' clubs are modes of instruction rather than 

 of education, if we may take the distinction indi- 

 cated by the derivation of the words, methods of 

 pouring out knovtledge upon those not well pre- 

 pared for its reception, rather than of deducing 

 it from principles which are fixed landmarks in 

 the mind. 



We see no agency yet in operation which can 

 reach the class whom we have in view. Our aim 

 is to meet the present want of the community, to 

 give aid to a numerous existing class of young 

 men, Avho desire more knowledge of their busi- 

 ness of agriculture, and know not how to obtain 

 it. There are two obstacles in the way of grand 

 agricultural colleges, which have been met, it is 

 believed, in every attempt at their establishment 

 thus far in this country. First, the want of com- 

 petent teachers. Secondly, the want of pupils. 

 There are few scholars with special qualifications 

 to take charge of agricultural professorships, and 

 few young men ready to devote their lives to a 

 long and expensive course of study looking ex- 

 clusively to agricultural life. 



There are many young men, of good general 

 education, who wish to learn thoroughly the art, 

 with profit, who have no means of advancement 

 in the knowledge of their peculiar business. 

 Hov/ can v/e teach them the best methods of man- 

 aging their farms ? The true answer is, by show- 

 ing them the best methods of cultivation, and 

 teaching them to perform with their own hands 

 the processes connected with them — by making 

 them thoroughly acquainted with the best farm 

 implements, the best farm buildings, the different 

 breeds of live stock, and their various qualities, 

 by teaching them system and habits of careful 

 observation, and by making them understand the 

 reasons of things, or the imnciples and science 

 of husbandry." — Essay in Transactions of Mass. 

 Ag. Society. 



A ISTEW SOCIETY. 



A new Society, called '■'■TlieNeedliam Horticul- 

 tural Society" has recently been formed in that 

 town. Its objects, as stated in its Constitution, 

 "shall be the promotion of Horticulture, and in- 

 cidentally. Agriculture, Floriculture and general 

 improvements. Its plan of action shall be by 

 meetings, discussions, lectures, correspondence, 

 exhibitions, premiums, prizes, planting of trees, 

 gathering of statistics, and making record of im- 

 portant local events." 



The Society has been organized by the choice 

 of the following gentlemen as officers : 



President— Vion. E. K. Whitaker. 



Vice Presidents— C. E. Keith, Rev. A. Harvey, Galen Orr, 

 W. M. Stedman, W. N. Eayrs, Jona. Avery, J. M. Colcord, E. 

 P. Hollis, J. W. Shaw, Esqs. 



Treasurer — Geo. Howland, Esq. 



Secretary — H. N. Bachcller. Esq. 



Standing Committee— G. W. Palmer, J. M. Harris, 0. E 

 Bowen, A. Eaton, John ilinchin, C. H. Dewing, M. NewelJ, M 

 S. Scudder, Chas. Blaisdcll, Esqs. 



