318 PKOCEEDINGS OP THE VICXOKIA INSTITUTE. 
tion is no substitute for, but a complement to the ordinary 
course of education and that Technical Instruction given in Ele- 
mentary or other schools, must be of a general and not a special 
character. 
The antipathy to field labor which is alleged, no doubt 
with reason, to be so prevalent in this country, is the conse- 
quence of the degradation of labor, and this is the result of 
slavery and superstition. This truth may be, and no doubt 
is, unpleasant, nay, bitter to many — but your Patron told you 
that the independent man speaks truth — and I, though not 
independent (as indeed who is), am here to speak truth. The 
establishment of school gardens if compulsory, would not 
diminish the distaste for work ; but it would, increase the 
distaste for going to school and the irregularity of attendance 
already so much complained of. Parents would say, “ I have 
my own garden, when I want my child to work in it, I keep 
him away from school to do so. I send him to school to learn 
and not to dig garden.” Again in many of the schools especially 
in towns and populous places, a large number of the scholars do 
not belong to the class o’f agricultural labourers, but are the. 
children of clerks, artisans, shopkeepers, domestic servants and 
others to whom agricultural education would be inappropriate. 
I say nothing of the waste of money and the utter failure to 
produce useful results which would follow • for these, though 
weighty, are of less consequence than the ill effect upon school 
attendance. School gardens have, from time to time, been tried, 
and I have in my mind a picture of a very neat one, in which 
teacher and scholars took much pride. The work was purely 
optional, and it was done out of school hours. But I cannot 
imagine that any one can seriously propose to teach work or 
agriculture by means of school gardens. It is of no use devis- 
ing remedies .until you have removed the cause/ The cause in 
this case, is the degradation of labor and the laborer. The tiue 
remedy is to raise labor by raising the laborer, and until you c o 
this, all other remedies will be unavailing. The constant endea 
vour has been, not to raise but to degrade labor. How often, 
have sugar planters and others said to me, “wliat do you wan 
to educate little niggers for 1 put lioes into their hands an 
send them' into the cane piece.” Can you wonder that the tree 
bears the fruit of which you have sown the seed ? 
In combatting the hydra-lieaded errors which constantly, 
develop themselves around us, I am obliged to call attention 
facts. Those required for my present use are neatly set out ia 
statement published some time ago in one of our newspape^ 
from which I extract the following : “ Our population is 
