84 
AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTIONS. 
machine, than it is usually cut by the cradle, and 
if the lodged wheat be very heavy, it will be cut 
very clean, and nearly as fast as if standing. Am¬ 
ple proof of these facts can be had from at least 
five hundred of the first farmers in the United 
States. 
The price of a machine with shafts for a single 
horse behind, is $150. The forward wheels 
as represented in the engraving, will be an extra 
charge of twenty dollars. 
Obed Hussey. 
Baltimore , April llf/i, 1843. 
We publish with pleasure the following com¬ 
munication on agricultural schools. We have had 
within the past three months, repeated inquiries 
from parents in this city, wishing to know if there 
were any institution where their sons could 
be placed to acquire a practical and theoretical 
knowledge of agriculture. They desired to have 
their children so near that they could easily visit 
them, as they would take great interest in their 
progress, as also in the agricultural operations of 
the institution. We are perfectly confident, that 
any person willing and competent to manage a 
school of this kind, if he would establish it near 
this city, would immediately obtain as many pupils 
as he might wish. The neighborhood of New 
York possesses superior advantages for a school of 
this kind, and we would earnestly recommend the 
subject to the consideration of our citizens. Mr. 
Bement has recently joined the New York Central 
Farmer. We welcome him to the editorial corps, 
satisfied that his ability as a writer, and practical 
experience as a farmer, will make him a valuable 
co-laborer in the great cause. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTIONS. 
I have long been impressed with the necessity 
and importance of an agricultural institution for 
the education of young men in the theory and 
practice of farming. Every revolving year only 
tends to strengthen my conviction. From the nu¬ 
merous applications made annually, not only by 
parents who wish to place their sons under the 
care and guidance of good farmers, but by young 
men themselves, who look to commerce, manufac¬ 
tures, and the learned professions with a sorry 
prospect, and have finally come to the conclusion, 
that after all, farming is as honorable , respectable , 
and possibly in the main, as profitable as any other 
profession, and they are very anxious to place 
themselves in a situation to obtain the desired in¬ 
formation. 
I have long admired the model farm of the cele¬ 
brated Fellenburg of Hofwyl, in Switzerland, and 
think one such establishment in this state would 
be of immense importance, ay, of much more im¬ 
portance than some of our colleges. An American, 
travelling in Europe a few years since, paid a visit 
to this establishment, was highly delighted, and 
much surprised to find a student there from the 
city of New York, who informed him there were 
several other boys in the school from the same 
place. “ There were pupils on the ground,*’ he adds, 
“from Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, North 
and South America, and Tiffiis.” It has furnished 
to continental Europe the best modes of its agri¬ 
culture, while it has sent forth into the above-nam¬ 
ed countries, some of the most useful, virtuous, 
and enlightened citizens. 
“When,” said the lamented Buel, “shall we 
become wise, and imitate the good, as we are ever 
ready to do the bad examples of our European an¬ 
cestry ? Where shall we establish schools of sci¬ 
entific and practical agriculture for our sens ? 
Whenever their importance shall be duly appreci¬ 
ated, and our citizens consult their true interests 
in endeavoring to promote the best interests of 
their country.” 
It is difficult to estimate the advantages that 
might justly be expected from such an institution, 
in which theory and practice would go hand in 
hand; where the mental, as well as physical pow¬ 
ers were justly cultivated. 
An improvement is the great object in every 
science ; the ingenuity of man is constantly at work 
in order to find out by experiment some new in¬ 
vention better calculated to produce the desired 
effect; in this way the great and important im¬ 
provements in mechanics have been accomplished. 
Agriculture may be practised without any 
knowledge of its theory, that is, established prac¬ 
tices may be imitated; but in this case it must 
ever remain stationary. The great proportion of 
our farmers jog along as if there were no improve¬ 
ment necessary; adhering to the old practices and 
beaten path of their fathers, grandfathers, and 
great-grandfathers, before them. 
The mere routine practitioner can not advance 
beyond the limits of his own particular experience, 
and can neither derive instruction from such acci¬ 
dents as are favorable to his object, nor guard 
against the recurrence of such as are unfavorable. 
He can have no resource for unseen events but or¬ 
dinary expedients, while the man of science resorts 
to general principles, refers events to their true 
causes, and adapts his measures to meet every 
emergency. 
Within the last twenty-five or thirty years, there 
has been a decided improvement in the cultivation 
of the soil, still there is much yet to learn. The 
object of the art of agriculture is, to increase the 
quantity, and improve the quality of such vegeta¬ 
ble and animal productions of the earth, as are 
used by civilized man; and the object of the agri¬ 
culturist is to do this with the least expense, or, 
in other words, with profit. 
I feel convinced that the establishment of a farm 
for the purpose of educating young men, and im¬ 
parting that knowledge, which is necessary, in or¬ 
der to farm on scientific principles, and to good 
purpose, would confer a great boon to the country, 
and materially promote our agricultural prosperity;, 
I would consider it to be the first and main object 
of such an establishment, to make the pupil thor¬ 
oughly acquainted with, and understand the prin- 
