44 
IMPROVED FARMS IN CONNECTICUT— AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. NO. 1., ETC. 
IMPROVED FARMS IN CONNECTICUT. 
Reading the account of your correspondent's 
tour through Connecticut, reminded me of a 
very pleasant tour I had, the past summer, in 
visiting Fairfield county, and witnessing the im- 
provements that have heen made in a few years, 
in farms, out houses, barns, &c. 
The farms in the town of Norwalk have been 
improved very much in three years, especially 
those of Messrs. L. O. Wilson, T. Cook Hanford, 
Charles Mallory, and L. M. Stevens. Others are 
deserving of notice, but very few are more pro- 
ductive than those I have mentioned. In regard 
to barns and out houses, the three, first named, 
have all good and spacious buildings. Mr. 
Stevens built his barn the past summer, and it 
is of great capacity, being 72 by 40 ft. The 
interior arrangements are very complete,' and 
the barn is well built ; and, what is more, well 
filled. Another barn in the west part of the 
town deserves notice ; but of the farm I cannot 
say much, as I know but little of it. This barn 
is owned by Mr. D. R. Selleck, a young man of 
your city; and although not so large as the one 
mentioned above, is one of the best built and 
arranged I ever saw. It is situated on a side 
hill, and has a cellar underneath, of the full size 
of the barn. This is used for stables, storage, 
&c. I understand the barn was built by Wm. 
Thomas Craw, a young mechanic of that town, 
who stands at the head of his profession. This 
building is also well filled with hay and grain, 
the products of his farm, which has been brought 
to a good state of cultivation, by the use of com- 
post, made of muck out of his pond, where there 
is at least 1,000 loads, a portion of which is trans- 
ferred to his land every year. All are using 
more or less artificial manures, and are receiv- 
ing benefits from them. W. E. 
•-•-» — 
THE WEEPING- CYPRESS. 
This splendid tree has been recently intro- 
duced into England from the East. Imagine an 
evergreen weeping willow, with compact habit 
and close, feathering foliage, like the little 
cypress vine, and you will have some concep- 
tion of the beauty of this tree as we have seen 
it described. If our little plant, of four inches, 
which has just reached us, at a cost of some ten 
dollars, ever makes itself into a tree, we can 
perhaps describe it better from personal know- 
ledge. There can be little doubt, however, that 
it will prove one of the greatest acquisitions to 
our list of hardy evergreens. 
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.— No. 1. 
There seems a disposition in many parts of 
the country to agitate this subject ; a state of 
feeling that shows very clearly two things — a 
marked and decided interest in agriculture as 
an art, and a rising and increasing power among 
farmers as a class. I am inclined to think, how- 
ever, that the term is a bad one. Agricultural 
education means, that training which fits men 
for the practice of agriculture, in the same way 
as we say a medical education, or a legal, as 
imptying a training for either of the professions 
of medicine or law. But, as I understand those 
who come forward in this important matter, they 
mean something more than a mere instruction 
in the practical part of agriculture, and design 
and desire such instruction as will prepare those 
who make agriculture the business of their lives, 
for the social, political, and moral position which 
belongs to the dignity of their occupation, and 
attaches to them as the great, controlling force 
of their country. This is something more than 
an agricultural education, and the term should 
be changed to that of " Education for Farmers." 
Now, what does this mean ? Does it mean that 
farmers are a peculiar class, and require some- 
thing more or something less than the rest of 
their fellow citizens, to make them valuable 
members of this republic ? Perhaps there are 
very few who will think that they require a 
higher discipline than any other, portion of the 
country ; but I have no hesitation in saying, and 
it is dictated by both head and heart, that they 
require, positively and necessarily, a higher 
order of mental and moral training than any 
other class of men. And why ? Simply, because 
they wield the whole moral strength of this 
republic. They shape its destinies, they create 
its character, and they control its conduct. They 
are, too, its court of last appeal, when misfortune 
or ruin hangs over it. Holding this important 
rank, who can doubt or deny that they should 
receive an education that fits them for its duties? 
But how are they to get it ? Here we meet the 
difficulty that all must encounter, who wish to 
improve the intellectual condition of the farmer. 
Our colleges are too expensive, and so are all 
those institutions that are much above the com- 
mon schools of the country ; and it is very pos- 
sible that very few would suppose a collegiate 
course necessary, or even fit, for a working man. 
It is certain that they are neither necessary nor 
fit; but without them, we are thrown back on 
the common country schools, as the sole means 
of instructing this large and important body. 
Granting this, it is very clear that no mode at 
present exists of giving them increased know- 
ledge, but by giving more efficiency to these 
schools ; and this does not involve a question 
of propriety, nor even necessity, but of power ; 
or, in other words, Have the larger number of 
states, as yet, the monied wealth on which to 
draw, to pay the increased expense that must 
come with the requiring teachers of high attain- 
ments, and all the apparatus with which they 
are to act? With the exception, perhaps, of 
Massachusetts, there is no state altogether willing 
nor able to adopt so expensive an education as a 
general system. There is, therefore, nothing to 
be done at present but to make use of such 
means as are within our reach. 
But there is another question to be considered, 
which has never yet been fully examined. It is 
the simple one, What is education? People, 
in general, assume it to mean a certain amount 
of intellectual attainment — of arithmetic, mathe- 
matics, or classics. This seems a great and 
serious error, as it appears to lose sight of by 
far the highest and most important part of educa- 
tion — its moral training. It should never be 
forgotten that it is the principles which are 
