340 



NEW ENGLAND FARjMER. 



July 



ence, in its most comprehensive form. In this 

 noble work, God puts in all the "stock in 

 trade" — man puts in his highest conceptions 

 of Divine wisdom and power, and of physiolo- 

 gical laws to guide him in carrying forward 

 the noblest of all avocations within the scope 

 of human industry. 



How unlike the tricks and schemes of art 

 and trade are the study and practice of agri- 

 culture. To learn the nature and use of min- 

 eral and vegetable substances, the agents that 

 influence and govern them in their composi- 

 tion and decomposition; the relations they 

 hold to each other, to light, heat, fr.osts, rains ; 

 the overhanging atmosphere ; the process of 

 condensing volatile fluids in vapors, dews 

 and showers, by the changing currents of the 

 atmosphere. This is the science of nature. 

 God is the teacher ; the open field the school- 

 room. Science shows the relation both mind 

 and matter hold to physiological laws ; its ap- 

 plication to agriculture, by theory, is vague, and 

 positively uncertain. How the raw and unor- 

 ganized materials of all cultivated plants should 

 be re-combined, so as to give the greatest return 

 for any given capital and manual labor, are 

 problems in agriculture, which learned scienc ■ 

 and steady industry alone can solve. Every 

 dollar dug out of the earth by the agriculturist, 

 pays a double toll into the treasury of the 

 State. 



I believe it was the design of the mover of 

 this great enterprise to diffase among the 

 masses the scientific and primary knowledge 

 of agriculture, by establishing in every State in 

 the Union a fund that should be devoted to 

 the interests of those engaged in rural pur- 

 suits. It must be admitted by all that every 

 other human enterprise would be largely 

 benefited by encouraging the productiveness 

 of rural labor. Such a course of instruction 

 would give mind the power over matter in all 

 results of rural industry by which, instead of 

 exhausting the soil of its bread-forming ele- 

 ments, the earth should be made to grow 

 richer and the State stronger. Why should 

 not farmers have the same facilities for scien- 

 tific and special education so long enjoyed by 

 lawyers and doctors ? The speculative philos- 

 ophy which is allowed to keep the company of 

 the "arts and sciences" of the old theoretical 

 schools is no guide to one engaged in rural 

 pursuits, but would lead him astray in the ac- 

 quisition of that knowledge which imparts 

 productive value to the labor of human hands. 

 As the mind of a human being lacks science 

 or knowledge, his physical force depreciates 

 in value. Give us a model farm -and model 

 farming ; not model buildings, not a palace 

 for professors and chemicals ; but teach such 

 farming as may be done profitably by any in- 

 telligent farmer. Not only sow seeds in the 

 earth, but also sow seeds of knowledge in the 

 minds of men that shall produce a harvest in 

 future generations. 



In this country we spend too much money 

 in educational buildings, and then starve the 

 teachers and paralyze the germ of the science 

 to be taught. There is no nation under the 

 sun where knowledge gives man so much 

 power as it does in this country. With un- 

 bounded fields and a broad liberty, full scope 

 is given to the noblest ambition of the highest 

 aspiration. Give the young ruralist clear and 

 comprehensive views of the cultivation of the 

 earth, and a correct knowledge of the nature 

 and power of the elements that surround him, 

 and with which he has to deal. Liebig says, 

 "you have no first class professors in America ; 

 but you have instead first class mechanics, 

 first class business men, and managers of 

 large and colossal establishments." The 

 great philosopher runs aground here ; we 

 need no "great professors" in progressive 

 "young America," no more than we need 

 great bishops or great priests. If there is 

 one thing we need to know, it is how to till 

 our soil. Agriculture is one continual expe- 

 riment. Science, as applied to agriculture, in 

 my next. L. L. PiEKCE. 



East Jaffrey, N. H., 1870. 



Remarks. — In discussing the character of 

 the institutions established under the congres- 

 sional grant, it should always be remembered 

 that the fund was accepted under certain 

 conditions. The law expressly provides that 

 the interest of the fund shall be devoted by 

 each State "to the endowment, support and 

 maintenance of at least one college, where 

 the leading object shall be, without excluding 

 other scientific and classical studies, and in- 

 cluding military tactics, to teach such branches 

 of learning as are related to Agriculture and 

 the Mechanic Arts." The acceptance of this 

 grant, obligates compliance with its condi- 

 tions. And hence it would seem that the 

 name, "Agricultural College" is an improper 

 one, for a single institution, as the title of the 

 Bill reads, "Colleges for the benefit of Agri- 

 culture and the Mechanic Arts." Massachu- 

 setts established two colleges under the Act — 

 the Institute of Technology, "to teach such 

 branches of learning as are related to the 

 Mechanic Arts ;" and the Agricultural College 

 "to teach such branches of learning as are re- 

 lated to Agriculture." Maine calls her insti- 

 tution the "State College of Agriculture and 

 the Mechanic Arts ;" New York christens 

 hers the "Cornell University." 



Whether a better law could have been 

 passed, or a better plan devised for the pro- 

 motion of agriculture is another question. 



