1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



491 



For the New Englniid Farmer. 



AGEICULTUEE IN COMMOW SCHOOJLS. 



The true, fundamental idea, I think, which 

 should govern the introduction of studies into our 

 common schools, is — 



1. That no sectarian doctrines of religion should 

 be taught. The importance of this prohibition 

 has long been discovered. 



2. That the studies permitted should be general 

 and not special. That is to say, studies which 

 will undojibtedlij be of subsequent use to all, and 

 not those which mar/ ])ossibly be so to some schol- 

 ars in the avocations in which they may engage. 



Hence Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and Eng- 

 lish Grammar are taught as fundamental studies ; 

 and then follow those which may be termed sec- 

 ondary, such as the Elements of Chemistry, Ge- 

 ology, Botany, the higher Mathematics, some of 

 the ancient and modern languages, &c., usually 

 as the scholars may elect. 



But a small number of individuals in the State 

 — quasi or amateur farmers, irregular teachers 

 and book publishers — usually actuated bjr good 

 motives, now ask that the Elements or the Prin- 

 ciples of Agriculture be taught in these schools ; 

 and to further the object, the State Board of Ag- 

 riculture has recommended it, and its Secretary, 

 in connection with another gentleman much in- 

 terested in education, has prepared a very good 

 and neat Manual adapted to this purpose. The 

 advocates of this plan seem to be possessed with 

 the idea that farming in Massachusetts is unduly 

 on the decline, that it is an occult science, and 

 not sufficiently scientific in its operations, and 

 that its prospective manual resources are alarming- 

 ly deficient. Hence this new mode for its recu- 

 peration. 



Whether agriculture is or is not on the decline 

 in Massachusetts, it is pretty clear that it cannot 

 be controlled by the school-house ; it is suliject 

 to other and higher laws. As to its being an ab- 

 struse matter, (except in the broad field of theo- 

 rj',) requiring early induction in our schools, to the 

 practical farmer who can revel in his manure 

 heaps, it is ridiculous. Agriculture should be as 

 simple and confined to as few principles as possi- 

 ble ; and these few principles — most every practi- 

 cal farmer will admit — are best wrought out from 

 the soil by each individual, rather than confound- 

 ed in the school-room, where more, probably, 

 would be attempted to be taught than our exact 

 knowledge would warrant. 



Of those boys who attend our schools, only a 

 small proportion intend to become farmers. To 

 iiUroduce the study of agriculture, therefore, would 

 be well nigh futile, unless its study should be 

 made nldigatory — like some of the general stud- 

 ies — which no one, probably, will have the eff"ront- 

 ery to demand. Besides, unless the farmers sus- 

 tain it, it must fail. Have theif asked for it, and 

 will ii'ieif sustain it ? I think not. And here, as 

 a partial answer at least to these queries, let me 

 ask, (looking in the most favorable light upon all 

 that has been said and done in furtherance of this 

 "consummation so devoutly to be wished" by 

 many good men, can any one tell the public how 

 many boys have engaged in this study in our com- 

 mon schools in this State during the past year ? 

 The facts would be interesting to all concerned. 



Admitting even that agriculture miorht be taught 



to advantage to some in our schools, it is an im- 

 portant inquiry whether they can possibly admit 

 all the studies which may be useful to some schol- 

 ars who attend them. Heretofore it has been 

 considered wise to restrict them to those of a gen- 

 eral or universal character. Much, it is supposed, 

 is to be left to the student after he leaves school 

 — more particularly the acquisition of his trade 

 or profession. If one class of persons claim that 

 the elements of agriculture be taught, another 

 has as much right to claim that the elements of 

 law (Blackstone and Kent) be also taught ; still 

 another those of medicine, and so on to the prin- 

 ciples of carpentering, shipbuilding, tailoring, &c. 

 All these studies or o])erations, in their proper 

 place, are very useful ; but it must be plain to ev- 

 ery reflecting mind, that the common schools are 

 not the place for them, and that the committees 

 or powers over them, must economize and closely 

 discriminate in the selection of useful studies to 

 be there taught. This being so, the best rule 

 they can adopt is, that they shall be general, not 

 not special. 



We are now engaged in an important civil war. 

 The church has fated about and buckled on the 

 kna])sack, and all our schools, from the highest to 

 the lowest, are reveling in the odor of gunpow- 

 der ! A remarkable change has come over New 

 England ; her Peace Societies are a mockery, if 

 in being, and her desire is that her plow-shares 

 and pruning-hooks should be transformed into 

 spears and implements of war. And some teach- 

 ers, even, catching the spirit so rife, have urged 

 the policy of teaching military tactics in our 

 schools as a regular branch of education ! Real- 

 ly, what next in the march of improvement ? Un- 

 doubtedly the national defences, as well as agri- 

 culture, are all-important ; but that their rudi- 

 ments should be forced into the common school- 

 room must strike the mass of reflecting persons 

 as impolitic. If the young men of our higher 

 schools and acadamies wish to drill — at proper 

 seasons — for pleasure or physical development, 

 (as those of one, at least, do in Boston.) there 

 probably can be no serious objection to it : but 

 military drill and kindred exercises should not 

 be allowed to interfere with the ordinary duties 

 of the common schools, for they are not institut- 

 ed to make farmers, mechanics, professional, men 

 or soldiers ; but to give a proper, general educa- 

 tion to all, which shall be of value to them in 

 whatever vocation they may engage. 



It has been frequently said that our schools are 

 already too much crowded with studies. But it 

 is thought that in making room for agriculture, 

 some others should be omitted or abridged, or 

 that scholars should select the number and kind 

 of studies they M'ish to pursue. Under these con- 

 ditions, perhaps no one would object to a scholar's 

 pursuing a course of agricultural rudiments. But 

 even then, its utility is somewhat doubtful, as it 

 may be well questioned whether the larger schol- 

 ars who attend our common schools are of suffi- 

 cient age to understand the many abstruse points 

 involved in the theory, if not in the economj- of 

 this art. In fact, they are not well understood 

 by any one. But even if what is taught is well 

 settled, scholars must have a deep interest in the 

 subject to retain anything of any value. Too 

 much, undoubtedly, is sought to be crowded into 

 the youthful mind, at the present day — or perhaps 



