iS.53. THE PHILADELPHIA FLORIST. 305 



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«n interests are so much bound up with tlie progress or retrogression of a ■<% \ 

 ° knowledge of husbandly, hesitate to puisue that course which appears^ 

 to be the most efficient in dispelling the clouds of ignorance and dif- \ 

 fusing v the light of knowledge, m reference to this all-important art! 

 the testimony of the agricultural inspector, as recorded in his reports, 

 of the very successful working of all those schools which have been 

 properly organized, and which have had sufficient time to develope 

 their capabilities, prcve^ to a demonstration, the usefulness of the sys- 

 tem. It is not to be expected that in agriculture, as in some of the 

 other divisions of labor, an instantaneously successful result can be ob- 

 tained. Years of toilsome labor must sometimes be expended on ex- 

 hausted or unimproved farms ere they can be brought to a remunera- 

 tive state of productiveness. This fact, however, which is as clear as 

 noon day to every one acquainted with the' cultivation of land, has 

 been sometimes overlooked by the opponents of the" system; and what 

 was, in fact, meritorious, under the circumstances, actually condemned. 

 1 weli remember that at the time when the system was first introduced, 

 those who took an active part in its development were met by the 

 sneers and jibes of even the very persons whom it was intended more 

 especially to benefit. But, in due time, the success attendant upon the 

 course of cropping and general management pursued by the agricul- 

 tural teachers, had the eifect of gradually stemming the current of re- 

 proach which was- levelled at the system : and we have now the satis- 

 faction of looking forward, with no small degree of confidence, to the 

 no distant day when the example of those teachers will be generally 

 copied, and the blessings resulting from their labors very widely, if 

 not universally, felt. 



Few who have given the subject of education that serious cofi- 

 sideratiou which its importance demands will, I should think, object 

 to a mode of imparting it amongst the rising- generation of farmers, 

 which has for its principal objects the inculcation of correct principles 

 of husbandry, the infusion of early habits of industry, the proper 

 development of the physical energies,* and strict moral rectitude of 

 conduct. It should be remembered that the youth of our present day 

 will, in some ten or fifteen years hence, become the bones and sinews 

 of the country ; and that just in proportion to the kind and amount 

 of education now afforded to them,- will the advancement of the' 

 community, in social improvement and national prosperity, depend*.- 



I have ii9Wj gentlemen, stated my views in reference to the sub- 

 ject proposed to be considered, and I should hope that you wiM 1 give 

 them that careful consideration which the importance of the matter 

 demand-.- I am the more anxious that you shoniM, inasmuch as, 

 n through yodr instrumentality, even in the capacity of literary teachers /•> 

 l*J — agricultural progress mav be very greatly promoted-. Few under- £"A 



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