Agricultural Education. 121 
sometimes failed, without being able to tell the reason. Thus the 
men of science and the practical men come in contact, and per- 
haps neither can tell which is right. But if both went together, 
the truth would be established and practised. There is now a 
prejudice against what is called book farming. But let both be 
united in the great body of farmers, by being a part of their edu- 
cation, and all will be right. But just so long as we have theo- 
rists to write for us, who are not practical men, and practical men 
to apply the theories, who do not understand the principles, so 
long will book farming, whether correct or not, be in disrepute. 
The scientific man may sit in his office and calculate the power 
of a steam engine, and the quantity of machinery that can be 
moved by it, and the number of hands that will be required to 
turn off a certain number of yards of cloth in a given time, to- 
gether with the cost of the whole concern, with considerable accu- 
racy. But can he sit in his closet and calculate the products of 
a farm, with the same ease and accuracy ? Can he tell the amount 
of agricultural products that can be produced by the outlay of a 
given amount of capital, with the same certainty? Most certainly 
not; there are so many unforseen contingencies in agricultural 
operations and productions, that the probability is, that if a calcu- 
lation was made by a scientific man in the closet, and by a prac- 
tical experienced farmer in the field, the latter w'ould be most 
likely to come nearest the mark. If I am right in this, it shows 
most clearly the necessity of blending the science and practice to- 
gether, w-hich can only be done in a way to reach the great agri- 
cultural portion of the country, but by introducing the study into 
our primary schools. 
If the object of an agricultural education was only to teach 
men who are not to follow farming, it would be necessary to have 
an experimental farm attached to the school, as that would be the 
only chance they w'ould have to test the principles by actual ex- 
periment. Not so with those Avho are to follow farming as an 
occupation. The principles once attained while young, the whole 
of their remaining lives would be spent in testing and experi- 
menting upon what they had learned. Thus all that was useful 
would be reduced to certainty; not from mere speculative motives, 
but because they would be urged to it by that strong principle so 
peculiar to the American farmer, the love of gain and the strong 
desire which they have to accumulate for themselves and their 
children, would induce them to put in practice every part of the 
science that would be profitable, while they would reject as use- 
less, all that was theoretical, unpractical and unprofitable. They 
would ascertain the natural causes, and rely upon them, aided by 
their own exertion, to produce their natural effect. By this course 
we should soon have a generation of farmers understanding the 
