510 



NEW ENGLAND FARIVIER. 



Nov. 



In such schools as the State establishment at 

 Weslboro', and others of a similar character, agri- 

 culture of course can be taught practicalhj, but 

 our common schools in the summer season, as is 

 well known, are under the care of female teachers, 

 and in the winter no practical application could be 

 made of any principle connected with farming, ex- 

 cept perhaps in some places the older boys might 

 ^jrrttY tee preparing greenwood for the fire, as "Jo- 

 nas" did when the famous "Memorious" was sent 

 out to spell him." 



"More Anon" says it is implied or understood 

 throughout the remarks of Mr. G. that if agricul- 

 ture is introduced into our schools as a study, all 

 the scholars would be obliged to attend to it. I 

 find nothing in any of the objections to justify such 

 a conclusion. But perhaps my per cepitue faculties 

 may be shghtly impaired. A. c. w. 



Leominster, Sept., 1862. 



For the New Englarid Farmer. 

 "AGKICULTITRE IN COaiMON SCHOOLS." 



Ever since the publication of The Progressive 

 Farmer, by Prof. J. A. Nash, in 1853, the ques- 

 tion as to the expediency or probable utility of in- 

 troducing agriculture as a study into our common 

 schools has occupied the attention of the writer, 

 and doubtless of many others, every now and then. 

 In his preface to that excellent little manual, in 

 which the more important facts and truths of ag- 

 ricultural chemistry and geology, and of Vvhat is 

 known in regard to the plants and animals, the 

 soils and manures, with Avhich the former has to 

 do, are very plainly and clearly stated, and made 

 available for practical application to every-day 

 operaticiis on the farm, Mr. Nash informed the 

 public that his work was the result of an effort 

 to render science — that is, well-established and 

 systematic knowledge — available to practical far- 

 mers, to young men desirous of qualifying them- 

 selves for so useful an em.doyment, and especial- 

 ly to the more adoanced classes in our public 

 schools. This announcement of his intention to 

 have his book used in public schools, in connection 

 with a trial of a portion of it in our own fireside 

 instruction, first started in our mind the question 

 as to the expediency, benefits, or utility of having 

 it regarded by teachers and parents as one of the 

 studies which might be attended to by those who 

 wished it, in our common schools. 



In a few months after the publication of the 

 above-named work, and while engaged in using it 

 as a text-book for instruction at the fireside, the 

 new edition of Johnston's "Elements of Agricultu- 

 ral Chemistry and Geology," by the editor of this 

 journal, made its appearance, and was found by 

 the writer to be a most admirable aid in making 

 the study of Mr. Nash's manual at once more in- 

 teresting and more instructive. By the help of 

 the very copious index attached to that edition, it 

 was very easy for either the student or instructor 

 to turn at once to the pages in which might be 

 found the remarkably lucid, practical and interest- 

 ing statements and illustrations of Prof Johnston, 

 in regard to any subject treated of in our text- 

 book. And so very plain and interesting to the 

 student was this book found to bo, that it has 

 seemed there could scarcely be a better one for the 

 study of the more advanced classes, if it v. ere as 



Avell fitted for the pui-pose of recitation, or for use 

 as a text-book, by appending to it a catechism or 

 set of questions, as it now is for ready reference 

 by its very copious and really useful index. So 

 useful, however, did the writer find this book, and 

 so well adapted to interest as well as to instruct 

 one young mind, that it sensed to bring up afresh 

 the subject of the expediency of introducing some 

 branches of agricultural science as a study, for 

 those who might choose it, or whose parents might 

 choose it, in our public schools. 



So great had thus gi-adually become my interest 

 in this question, and so great my desire that a 

 text-book more exactly adapted to the capacities of 

 the young might make its appearance, that I was at 

 once induced to procure and examine, with this ob- 

 ject in view, the "Rural Handbooks," prepared and 

 published by Eowler & Wells in 1858. These I 

 found better adapted for study and reference by 

 young farmers, and those who had never made 

 themselves acquainted with the principles of farm 

 operations, than for youth at the age they usually 

 attend school. Still it seemed that a very good 

 text-book for the more advanced pupils — say in 

 the last year of their attendance at school — might 

 be prepared, by re-writing, with this special end 

 in view, two of these hand-books, viz. : "The 

 Farm" and "The Garden." 



Again, when in 1861 it was announced that a 

 manual of agriculture for the use of schools was in 

 preparation, and when soon afterwards it was giv- 

 en to the public with the sanction and approval of 

 the State Board of Agriculture of Massachusetts, 

 — a State which has always taken the lead and 

 held the foremost place in all educational concerns 

 — I hoped that the expediency of such a study in 

 schools was now generally felt and acknowledged, 

 and felt persuaded that a text-book as good as we 

 were likely to have for many years, was now with- 

 in the reach of all who were independent and pro- 

 gressive enough to venture upon the innovation. 

 And although it seems to me that this "Manual 

 of Agriculture," by Emerson & Flint, might have 

 been more likely to interest the young, had illus- 

 trations from orchard and garden-culture, — with 

 which all children are more familiar than with op- 

 erations on the form, — been more frequent, still I 

 think any teacher of intelligence, and ambitious to 

 do his very best, might, with this manual as a text- 

 book, and by consulting the agricultural books and 

 papers which he could scarcely fail to find in any 

 school district in which there were parents intel- 

 ligent and progressive enough to furnish a class 

 for such a study, extemporize illustrations from 

 the things with which all children are more or less 

 familiarly acquainted, so as to make the teachings 

 of this text-book both more interesting and more 

 likely to be remembered, as well as ready for prac- 

 tical application. Indeed, wherever there are par- 

 ents intelligent enough to appreciate the truth, so 

 pithily expressed by Milton, namely, that 



"To know that which before us lies in daily life 

 Is the prime wisdom," 



and sufficiently judicious and energetic to regulate 

 the education of their children by that and other 

 cognate truths, so that their employments during 

 their school life shall be the best possible prepara- 

 tion for their employments in after life ; wherev- 

 er there are in any school district such parents 

 having children enough among them of the proper 



