1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



511 



age to form a class of sufficient size, and they shall 

 consult together and combine for the purpose, 

 there seems noio to be nothing in the way to hin- 

 der the ex])ediency of this new branch and study 

 in schools being put to the test of experiment, save 

 only to secure a teacher of ordinary intelligence, 

 and possessing ambition to do his very best for 

 the interest of his pupils and his employers. And 

 ■with such pai-ents, and such a teacher, (no more 

 than all teachers are in duty bound to be,) and 

 such a text-book, and such aids as have been re- 

 ferred to as available for the assistance of the 

 teacher, it seems as if the experiment could no- 

 wise fail of proving a most gratifying success. 



Surely, such parents as I have described will 

 not allow themselves to be deterred for more than 

 a few minutes by any such objections as those 

 which have been submitted by Mr. Goldsbury in 

 the issue of this journal for July 12th, and in tlie 

 August No. of the monthly edition. The state- 

 ments which appeared to him, doubtless, to be ar- 

 guments of great force and vaHdity, have been 

 shown to be nothing more than unproved assump- 

 tions and erroneous assertions, in the Farmer of 

 August 30th. It was there shown, in opposition 

 to one of the assumptions of Mr. G., that there is 

 no good reason for any sucli limitation of school 

 studies as he insists upon, that with scarcely an 

 exception, any study may occupy the time of chil- 

 di'en during their school life, which may serve to 

 develop and invigorate, or discipline the mental 

 faculties, and also to furnish the mind with stores 

 of knowledge likely to be useful in the general 

 business of adult life. This being the principle or 

 rule by wliich the appropriateness and value of any 

 study are to be tested, what could justly be ranked 

 more highly than a study so intimately related to 

 the life-business pursuits of a large majority of 

 the American people ? There are, certainly, sev- 

 eral of the studies to which Mr. G. would limit 

 youth in our common schools, which are of small 

 value, and are likely to yield results of little im- 

 portance, when put into comparison with the 

 knowledge of "that which before us lies in daily 

 life," and which the study of agriculture, in all its 

 branches, h so well adapted to furnish to every at- 

 tentive and inquiring mind. 



This will appear more obviously when it is con- 

 sidered that agriculture in all its branches, or even 

 as it is presented in the brief "Manual" of Messrs. 

 Emerson & Flint, leads the student to a knowl- 

 edge of the more practical and important portions 

 of the sciences of meteorology, climatology, chem- 

 istry, botany and vegetable physiology, geology, 

 zoology, entomology, &c., and to a knowledge, 

 also, of whatever comes under the usual appella- 

 tion of gardening, orcharding, husbandry, rural 

 economy, domestic economy, ice, &c. If, then, 

 the best use of schools is to prepare the young for 

 the duties, offices and employments of adult life, 

 what could be named as a more appropriate 

 school study than that which leads to a knowledge 

 of these most common, most important things? 



Again, it was shown in the Farmer of August 

 30th, that it is assumed or implied, in all the ob- 

 jections urged by Mr. G., that the study of agri- 

 culture, if introduced into schools, would be ob- 

 ligatory upon all. On the contrary, it must be 

 manifest to all not blinded by biasing influences 

 of some kind, that it would be a study perfectly 

 elective, like algebra and several others, and that 



it would be chosen only by or for the more ad- 

 vanced pupils. But we must not repeat what has 

 already been said on tliis matter ; but refer the 

 reader to the article above referred to. All who 

 read carefully and candidly that article replying 

 to the objections of Mr. G., will see that if the 

 study he objects to is to be, and to be universally 

 considered, an elective one, not at all obligatory 

 upon any one, then all his objections are void and 

 of no force whatever. 



To this refutation of the objections of Mr. G., 

 in the Farmer of August 30th, he has not yet 

 seen fit to reply. True, he has written a notice of 

 the article in the Farmer of August 30th, which 

 is printed in the issue for September 20Lh. But 

 this notice of his consists only of certain utteran- 

 ces of a resentful nature, as if greatly oft'ended 

 by having his opinions called in question ; and as 

 the public cAre little about the bickerings of dis- 

 putants who tread on each other's tender toes, I 

 leave all Mr. G.'s personalities and accusations 

 without reply, and would only remind him that 

 I the public care only about the poiyits at issue be- 

 j tweeu us, and not whether we wound each other's 

 I self-esteem, or otherwise. We wait Mr. G.'s re- 

 \ ply. More Anon, 



THE CATTLE MABKETS. 



The close of the first year of the services of our 

 present reporter seems to be an appropriate occa- 

 sion for a review of some of the facts which are 

 embodied in his weekly reports. 



According to his figures, the number of live 

 stock at market during the year ending Septem- 

 ber 30, 1862, is as follows : 



Cattle of all kinds 90,153 



Sheep and lambs 208,592 



Shotes and pigs 46,080 



Fat hogs 44,790 



Veal calves 8 ,000 



The following table shows the numbers of cat- 

 tle and sheep from the "North," and the number 

 from the "West," arranged by Quarters, with the 

 average number of each per week. The Northern 

 or Eastern includes those from the New England 

 States, the northern part of New York and Cana- 

 da, and the Western, those pui-chased in Albany, 

 and those that come direct from the Western 

 States. 



CATTLE. SHEEP. 



Quarter , '■ , , '■ > 



Eiid/112 N-irth. irest. T-.ta'. Ni.rfli. ire.f. TM 



Dec. 31, 1861, 23,835 6,980 30,315 51,048 4,142 55,190 



Mar. 31,1862, 8,834 7,223 16,062 ai.I46 13,7 ".5 34,901 



.June 30, " 5,094 11,0.39 16,133 32,673 2,124 34,797 



Sept. 30, « 15,il3 11,725 27,143 81,290 2,414 83,704 



Total for year, 53.181 86,972 90,153 186.157 22,435 203,592 

 Aver, per week, 1,023 711 1,734 3,580 431 4,011 



For the purpose of arriving at some conclusion 

 as to the value of the stock sold at this market for 

 the year past, we assume the sales of Northern 

 and Eastern cattle, large and small, to average 

 $35 per head, and the Western $60 per head ; 

 Northern or Eastern sheep and lambs, $3,62, and 

 Western $4,25 each ; shotes and pigs .$4, fat hogs 

 $8, and calves $4,50 each, and multiply accord- 

 ingly. The following result is ofi"ered as an ap- 



