270 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



JUPTE 



The farmer needs very much to have access to 

 agricultural reports, both State, and national, and 

 every town should have a town library, and they 

 should be entitled to one or more volumes, so 

 that every farmer can have access to them. I 

 know that many farmers laugh at the idea of book 

 farming, and say that they want something that is 

 more practical. They forget that among a multi- 

 tude of counsellors there is wisdom. I know that 

 farmers can obtain much information by reading 

 agricultural matter, and they are those who profit 

 by it. Let me say, as I close, that the monthly 

 Farmer is to me an indispensable household ar- 

 ticle, and I greet its monthly visits with great 

 pleasure. Otis P. Josselyn. 



Pembroke, Feb., 1862. 



Remarks. — Thank you, sir. 



COTT^S VERSUS HORSES. 



At a plowing match held on the estate of the 

 Right Hon. Earl Ducie, Crummel Park, we no- 

 ticed, says Bell's Messenger, a team of cows, en- 

 gaged in plowing at one end of the field ; and as 

 they appeared to exact a tolerable amount of at- 

 tention, we thought it worth while to make a note 

 or two on the spot. The animals were polled 

 cows in full milk, and belonged to Mr. John Ev- 

 ans, of Woodford, Gloucestershire, who is, we be- 

 lieve, a small enterprising farmer. Two of the 

 cows were rather old ; the hindmost one, the own- 

 er assured us, had been worked regularly during 

 the last seven years, has had a calf every year, 

 and one season was worked up to the day previous 

 to calving. The middle cow was a three year old, 

 and this was her second season, the owner putting 

 his cows to the plow at two years old. Our read- 

 ers must bear in mind that these cows were in full 

 milk, being milked twice every day ; on very hot 

 days it was found necessary to milk them three 

 times. 



Mr. Evans assured us that the cows gave more 

 and richer milk when they were regularly worked, 

 and that the goods were larger in amount, as well 

 as better in quality ; to use his own words, when 

 there was a less quantity of goods made, his wife 

 would tell him that he had not worked the cows 

 so much, which was invariably the fact. Our 

 readers will, of course, imagine that the cows 

 were, and ought to be, well fed ; hay, oil-cake, 

 bran and chaff, we were told, was the food given 

 them during their working time. We give no 

 opinion as to the policy of working dairy cows as 

 above, leaving our readers to draw their own con- 

 clusions. We must say it was rather slow work, 

 although the plowing was pretty well done, and 

 there seemed no lack of strength or will on the 

 part of the cows. 



Pure Bees-Wax. — Messrs. Stimson, Valen- 

 tine & Co., 36 Lidia Street, Boston, sent us a 

 sample of refined bees-wax, the other day, which 

 surpasses in clearness and purity any Ave have ev- 

 er before seen. Those who desire wax for house- 

 hold or for grafting purposes, can obtain it of 

 them of the best quality. They are, also, dealers 

 in paints, oils and varnishes, and sell at moderate 

 profits. Call and see them. 



For the New England Fanner. 

 AGRICUIiTTTRE IN OUR COLLEGES. 



Mr. Editor : — In a former article I endeavored 

 to show that agricuitui'e could not be successfully 

 taught in our common schools. In this communi- 

 cation I propose to offer a few reasons why I 

 think it can not be successfully taught in our col- 

 leges. To be taught successfully, it must, in ray 

 opinion, be taught in the family and on the farm, 

 or in farai schools provided expressly for the pur- 

 pose. 



Our colleges were established for the sole pur- 

 pose of educating young men for the learned pro- 

 fessions. All the college studies prove this, from 

 the study of the dead languages to the higher 

 branches of mathematics and metaphysics. They 

 were designed to teach all the higher branches of 

 science and ai-t, and lay a solid foundation for fu- 

 ture eminence and usefulness in the different pro- 

 fessions. Thus far, they have done this, and done 

 it well. They are still doing it faithfully and im- 

 partially, taking young men from all the walks of 

 life, and training them for the higher fields of use- 

 fulness. 



But our colleges cannot teach everything ; and 

 it is more than ought to be expected of them. 

 They have enough to do to teach and explain the 

 general principles of science and art, without at- 

 tempting to teach the particular principles of sci- 

 entific agriculture which is so foreign from their 

 general object and instruction. They cannot, if 

 they would, teach agriculture, and teach it well, 

 because they have not the means of doing it. Ag- 

 riculture is an art, as well as science, and it re- 

 quires not only theoretical but practical instruc- 

 tion, such as can be given only on the farm and in 

 the field. Our colleges cannot do this. They can- 

 not go out into the fields and teach all the various 

 branches of agriculture by example. They cannot 

 bring together the young farmers in the State, nor 

 can they reach, influence and benefit them. They 

 cannot teach by precept and example. Every one 

 at all acquainted with college life and studies, and 

 with what is daily going on there, must be fully 

 convinced that agriculture cannot be thoroughly 

 taught there, without interfering with the college 

 exercises and studies. Besides, college students 

 engaged in the study of other languages, and of 

 the higher and more obstruse branches of philoso- 

 phy and mathematics, can have but little sympathy 

 in common with the student in agriculture, because 

 their tastes, their habits, their ideas, their intellec- 

 tual improvements, are so diflerent. There would be 

 a great gulf between them on the subject of their 

 studies, their views and feelings; and a small 

 prospect of harmony in their daily intercourse. It 

 is easy to see that our colleges, designed and in- 

 stituted for literaiy purposes, are not the right 

 place for the education of the young in agricul- 

 ture. Crops, soils, manures, the rearing and feed- 

 ing of animals, and the management of the dairy, 

 cannot be conveniently or successfully taught 

 there. These must be taught in the family and 

 on the farm, or in farm schools established for the 

 purpose, where everything may be taught by ex- 

 ample. 



Either agriculture does not need schools, or the 

 right kind has not yet been established. Students 

 in agriculture should be under the instruction of 

 a teacher who is at once scientific and practical — 



