4Bbatatinnal Itportmrai 
BY L. WETHERELL. 
SUPERVISION OF SCHOOLS. 
There is a diversity of opinion upon the 
subject of School Supervision. Some main¬ 
tain that there should be a State Superin¬ 
tendent of Schools and a Board of Educa¬ 
tion, acting as a sort of Executive Council; 
that the State Superintendent should from 
time to time issue his orders and directions 
to the several counties, each of which shall 
appoint or elect a County Superintendent, 
who shall receive these directions and in¬ 
structions, and send them to each of the 
Town Superintendents, who shall transmit 
these orders and directions to the Trustees 
of the respective districts within the town— 
thus constituting a State central power, to 
which each district shall yield implicit obe¬ 
dience in all things. Others maintain, that 
the more exclusively the whole matter of 
schools is left to the districts for control, the 
better and more efficient will they be—ad¬ 
mitting, of course, that matters pertaining 
to the finances, must be regulated, at least, 
in part, by the State, and town—all else be¬ 
ing left entirely to the district composed of 
the families whose children are to be edu¬ 
cated. It is to be supposed that such per¬ 
sons feel a deeper interest in the school than 
State officers, and will, consequently, man¬ 
age it better; and this is not all—the more 
directly accountable agents are to the peo¬ 
ple whose money they appropriate for pub¬ 
lic use, the greater the individual responsi¬ 
bility ; and this is one of the best guarantees 
that wc can have that public, or any other 
funds, thus managed, will be judiciously 
expended. Just in proportion as this re¬ 
sponsibility is interfered with, divided, or re¬ 
moved, by the State, will the school suffer. 
We believe it to be the wisest policy for the 
State where the schools are free, to leave 
the management of them to the towns, pro¬ 
vided, however, as an inducement to the 
faithful administration of the system, that 
the funds shall be divided according to the 
average attendance as well as numbers. 
After the State has enacted some general 
laws and regulations for the schools, such 
as arc deemed necessary by the people, we 
believe the wisest and best policy is, to leave 
their administration to tlic pcoplo within the 
several districts over the State—and the 
less official interference from abroad the 
better will be the schools. There are men 
in every town and in almost every district 
in the State that are competent and would 
be willing to see that the school interests 
were looked after, and attended to if made 
responsible for the discharge of this duty. 
Suppose certain wise ones in the State to 
come to the conclusion, that, because some 
parents come short of discharging their 
whole duty to their children that the State 
should, therefore, appoint guardians to pro¬ 
vide for and take care of all such children. 
Would not such interference with the fami¬ 
ly relation strike at the foundation of one of 
the most sacred principles of the family ?— 
How long do you suppose it would be, be¬ 
fore the State would have more children to 
feed, clothe and educate, than would individ¬ 
ual parents? Not long we think. Such a pro¬ 
vision would soon destroy nearly all parental 
duty and obligation toward children. So 
we look upon all foreign interference with 
the affairs of a school district. Leave the 
administration of its affairs to itself—do 
nothing to divide the responsibility which 
naturally devolves upon it — so divide the 
public moneys as to make it an object to 
have a good average attendance at school 
—by so doing, the schools of the State will 
be elevated far above what can be done by 
any system of State Supervision. So we 
are fully convinced from both observation, 
and e.xperience. 
STRUCTURAL BOTANY. 
Chemists now admit that there-are about 
sixty simple substances of which. Prof 
Gray the Botanist, says, “ only four are es¬ 
sential and necessary constituents of vege¬ 
table structure, viz., Carhon, Hydrogen, 
Oxygen and Nitrogen:' Besides these he 
says a few earthy bodies are found in plants 
in small and varying proportions, viz., sul¬ 
phur and phosphorus, potassium and sodium, 
calcium and magnesium, silicon and alumi¬ 
num, iron and manganese, chlorine, iodine 
and bromine. 
The plant like the animal is an organized 
entity, substance or body. It is composed 
of common earth and air, the most common 
elements within the compass of our obser¬ 
vation. The chief difference between or¬ 
ganic and inorganic matter is, that the for¬ 
mer is possessed of the principle of life 
[ whose mysterious agency converts inorganic 
matter into both animal and vegetable tis- 
[ sue. The tissue of plants consists chiefly 
of three elements, viz., carbon, hydrogen 
and oxygen: animal tissue contains these 
with the fourth, called nitrogen. 
The embryo contained in the seed is the 
simplest state of the plant. Heat and mois¬ 
ture develop this, and if the seed be placed 
in soil, it is found to consist of two parts— 
the root, or descending axis, and the trunk 
I or ascending axis, sending out leaves, branch¬ 
es, &c. 
It is found in microscopic examinations 
! that both of the essential pai*ts of plants 
are composed of cells and cellular tissue, 
so called from being composed of separate 
cells. The following illustration gives the 
reader an idea of some of the many forms 
of vegetable tissue. 
(Fig. 1.) 
[Fig. 1.—Forms of tissue; a, cutting of elder 
pith, cellular; b. cells from the gritty centre of the 
pear; c, from the stone of the plum — both streng¬ 
thened by solid matter; d, woody fibre; e, spiral 
vessel with a single fibre partly drawn out; f, ves¬ 
sel with a quadruple fibre.— Wood.'\ 
The cells vary greatly in size; the largest 
are found in aquatic plants, where some of 
them are one-thirtieth of an inch in diame¬ 
ter—their ordinary diameter being only 
about one-five-hundredth of an inch. It 
has been computed that the common Pink 
contains nearly 3,000,000 of these cells in 
a cubic inch. Woody tissue or fibre con¬ 
sists of tube-like organs tapering to a point 
as seen in d, fig. 1. Vascular or spiral tis¬ 
sue is represented by /, fig 1. 
V/c. here, give a further illustration of the 
forms of tissue: 
(Fio. 2.) . 
[Fig. 2.— Forms of tissue, &c.; a, annular ducts; 
b, spiral and annular at intervals; c, laticiferous 
tissues; e, stomata of iris, vertical section; d, d, 
green cells at the orifice; f, f, cells of the parenchy¬ 
ma; e, air chamber; g, g, epidermis and stomata of 
yucca; h, stomata closed; the dots repr(?i)cnt small 
luminous bodies in the cells.— Wood.l 
■ The office of ducts (Fig. 2—a, b,) like 
the spiral vessels, is that of conveying fluids. 
Air is found only in the spiral vessels. 
Lactiferous tissue (Fig. 2, c,) so called 
because it elaborates and conveys the true 
sap. 
The bark or the outer covering of the 
tree and the herb, consists of a tissue of 
flattened cells, perforated by apertures, cal¬ 
led stomata, (mouths,) which are so small 
that more than 100,000 of them have been 
counted on the surface of a square inch.— 
The largest known are said to be about 
one five-hundredth,of an inch in length.— 
They are breathing-pores. The stomata 
communicate with the spaces between the 
cells of the tissue. These breathing-pores 
are never found on the woody part of the 
structure —they are abundant in the green 
tissue of the leaves, which constitute the 
lungs or breathing apparatus of plants. 
The surface of the epidermis, or outer 
covering of the plant, is either furnished 
with hairs, prickles, thorns—or it is smooth, 
or.rough like the bark of many trees.— 
Hairs arc minute expansions, simple or 
branched, composed of cells, containing air. 
These are found sometimes upon leaves.— 
Stings are' tubular, acute, hair-like organs 
which secrete an acrid juice—nettle, for 
example. Prickles are expansions of the 
epidermis, and, unlike the thorn, have no 
connection with the wood. Example, rose 
and raspberry. Plants having thorns, prick¬ 
les and the like, are said to be armed— 
those without them, unarmed. 
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 
I We clip the following from the Penn- 
Yan Democrat: 
“ While upon this subject we wish to say 
one word in reply to the position taken in 
the Rural New- Yorker, of the 16th ult, in 
an article on the subject of ‘ agricultural 
education.’ Our friend of the Rural says: 
‘ We are fully of the opinion that if the State 
desire to aid in furnishing better means and 
facilities lor an agricultural education to her 
citizens than is now enjoyed, she can do it 
with much less expense than by any other 
plan proposed, and put the means within 
the reach of a far greater number, by ma¬ 
king appropriations to such of our colleges 
as are favorably situated, and are willing to 
aid in promoting the object.’ To this we 
dissent In our judgment the cause of ag¬ 
ricultural ediiphtion would receive but little 
aid and less encouragement in this way.— 
Instead of^being primary the subject would 
only be s^ondj if introduced into oui’ col¬ 
leges in this way. Instead of being at the 
tail of the institution, and soon be kicked 
out or rendered of no avail by neglect— 
We are for a distinct organization—an in¬ 
dependent College, liberally endowed, richly 
provided with all the necessary appliances 
and apparatuses by the State. We are for 
an Agricultural College, and not for tacking 
it on to your existing institutions 3^a kind of 
useless appendage. We are confident such 
an operation would never work or be pro¬ 
ductive of real advantage. We are no great 
sticklers for Colleges, and we should have 
no objection to converting some of those 
now existing int6 agricultural ones. What 
the agriculturists of the State want is, an 
institution of an elevated character, devoted 
exclusively to the spread of knowledge pe¬ 
culiar to their calling—one that will be hon¬ 
orable to them and to the State—one that 
they can rally round as their own, and 
where themselves and their sons can learn 
what will be useful to them in pursuing 
their occupation. The course of study in 
such a college would be entirely different 
from that pursued in a mere literary institu¬ 
tion—Avould embrace a Avide and an entire¬ 
ly new range of subjects, and Ave say let it 
stand alone, embrace the wide field of ag¬ 
ricultural science’ and knoAvledge, and the 
art as Avell as the science, and nothing else.” 
We are sorry that our friend should dis¬ 
sent from our views on so important a sub¬ 
ject as that under consideration. His rea¬ 
sons, hoAvever, for so doing, Ave do not deem 
Avell founded. The same objections might 
have been urged against establishing the 
Scientific Department in connection with 
r'nTnViriHfyp Pr>llf'£jf>, Moss., Ore Urg'cd 
I against connecting an Agricultural Depart¬ 
ment Avith some of the Colleges in this 
State. Yet in the former case it is found to 
Avork Avell, as Ave have no doubt it will in 
the latter, if tried. 
The great advantage the plan Ave propose 
has over “ an Agricultural College, ” is, 
that it puts the facilities of acquiring agricul¬ 
tural knoAvledge Avithin the reach of a very 
much larger number of our citizens, and for 
less expense. One Agricultural College, 
Avould, like one Normal School, cost the 
State a large sum of money for a small 
amount of service rendered. If there be 
a demand for agricultural knoAvledge above 
Avhat the common school can give, by those 
who purpose to till the soil, Ave have no 
doubt that the colleges will be glad to fur¬ 
nish it, both as to the quality and amount 
demanded; and can afford to do it Avith much 
less aid from the State than it Avill cost to 
estbalish one Central College. 
The Democrat proposes to teach Agri¬ 
cultural Science and Chemistry in our Com¬ 
mon Schools, as Avill be seen by the folloAv- 
ing extract: 
“ For years we haVe been the adA'oeates 
for the introduction of the science of agri¬ 
culture as a regular branch of study in dis¬ 
trict schools. Years ago we presented the 
subject to the public in the Genesee Farmer, 
and ourreflectiong since haA*e but confirmed 
and deepened our impressions. The dis¬ 
trict school is emphatically the farmer’s 
school; it reaches every neighborhood, pen¬ 
etrates every rural district, opens its doors 
near to every farm in the country, and is 
therefore always accessible to the farmer’s 
son, and is indeed the school Avhere nine- 
tenths of the rural population of oUr State 
receive their education. Hoav appropriate 
then, that agriculture should be a part of 
the system of education in these schools.— 
We ask Avhy not ? Why not study chemis¬ 
try in its application to agriculture, as Avell 
as grammar ? It is no harder to compre¬ 
hend, nor difficult to master. Why not ex¬ 
amine and study the nature and properties 
of soil as well as arithmetic ? The one is 
much easier to comprehend than the other; 
and so of all the general information to 
qualify a man for an intelligent agriculturist” 
The district school is no more emphati¬ 
cally the farmer’s school than the mechan¬ 
ics : it is emphatically the people’s school, 
if it be free as it always should be, in order 
iuniiaq 
PULPIT FIDELITY. 
The following powerfully expressed 
thoughts, on the duties and responsibilities 
of the Pulpit Teacher, are from the pen of 
the Rev. H. Ward Beecher, of Brooklyn; 
We now re-affirm our doctrine of the 
Pulpit;—The Gospel is a system of truths 
designed to be this world’s medicine. It 
has no intrinsic value as a system. Its end 
and value are in its poAver to stimulate the 
soul, to develope its faculties, to purify its 
emotions, to cleanse its evils, and to lead 
forth the whole man into a virtuous and 
holy life. 
The Pulpit is, therefore, the Dispensatory 
of Society. The minister, a physician.— 
Preaching, a prescription of medical truths 
for heart-evils. There is not an evil which 
afflicts life, nor a temptation proceeding from 
any course of life, which the Pulpit should 
not study. The sources of right conduct, 
the hindrances, the seductions of business, 
the lures of pleasure, the influences of pub¬ 
lic life, the maxims of society, its customs, 
its domestic, commercial and public institu¬ 
tions ; in short whatever directly or indirect¬ 
ly molds the human character, is to be stud¬ 
ied by the minister, and its benefit or its 
danger made knoAvn from the Pulpit. 
In this work it is to deal first and most 
faithfully with the evils of its own age, its 
own country, its own city, its own congre¬ 
gation. Wherever men go, the Pulpit is to 
follow them with its true light. Whatever 
invades its proAnnee—that province is Right, 
Humanity, Purity—be it Fashion, Com¬ 
merce, Politics, they are fearlessly to be 
met, grasped and measured by the Word of 
God. Not only may the Pulpit thui explore 
Life, but it must, or else prove bankrupt to 
Fidelity. It is not to follow the camp; but 
in spiritual things to lead the people. It is 
not to wait till foes are slain before it raise 
its spear; nor go asking of Political cabals 
what it may say, nor cringe to supercilious 
men of commerce; but occupy itself with 
only this twin thought, how best to please 
God and benefit man. 
Therefore, against every line of the Cow¬ 
ard’s Ethics we solemnly protest, and de¬ 
clare a minister made his pattern fitter to be 
sent to the pyramids and tombs of Egypt 
to preach the old world mummies, than to 
be a living man of God among living men, 
loving them but never fearing them! God 
be thanked! that in every age hitherto such 
pulpits have been foundi^he ally of suffer¬ 
ing virtue, the championof the oppressed. 
And if in this day, after the notable exam¬ 
ples of heroic men in heroic ages, when life 
itself often paid for fidelity, the Pulpit is to 
be mined sapped by insincere friends 
and insiduous enemies, and learn to mix the 
sordid prudence of business with the sono¬ 
rous and thrice heroic counsels of Christ, 
then, 0 my soul, be not thou found conspir¬ 
ing with this league of inquiry! that so, 
when in that august day of retribution, 
God shall deal punishment in flaming meas¬ 
ure to all hireling and coward ministers, 
thou shalt not go down under double-bolted 
thunders, loAver than miscreant Sodom or 
thrice polluted Gomorrah 1 
THE BIBLE. 
This book, a multifarious collection of 
oracles, written in various ages and coun¬ 
tries, and at intervals of two thousand years, 
having in it every form of composition, fa- 
mliar and profound; songs and history, eth¬ 
ics and biography, scenes from the hearth 
and episodes from national annals; number¬ 
ing among its authors, him who wore a 
crown and him who thr«iv a net, the Per¬ 
sian prime minister and Caesar’s fettered 
captive: written, too—sections of it—under 
the shadow of the Pyramids, and others on 
the banks of the Euphrates, some in the 
Isle of Patmos, and others in the Mamar- 
tine dungeons. 
This book—so lofty in its tone, and so 
harmonious in its counsels, has become the 
more venerable from its age, and the more 
Avonderful as its history and results are ex¬ 
amined and understood. Whence sprinf^s 
its originality if its claims are disallowed? 
It tells of expeditions prior to Jason and Ar¬ 
gonauts. It describes martial adventures 
long before Achilles and Troy. Its ethical 
system preceded Thales and Pythagoras.— 
Its muse Avas vocal before Orpheus and 
Hesiod. Its judges flourished before con¬ 
suls and archons. Its feasts and gather¬ 
ings rejoiced the tribes when the Nemean 
games had no existence; and it reckoned 
by Sabbaths and jubilees when neither 
Olympiad nor lustrum marked and cliAnded 
the caleniBI. It embodies the prophetic 
wish of the Athenian sage; for it “scatters 
that darkness which covers our souls, and 
tells us how to distinguish good from eAul. ” 
The valley of the Nile has now uncovered 
its hieroglyphics to confirm and illustrate its 
claims; and Ninevah, out of the wreck and 
rubbish of three thousand years, has at 
length yielded up its ruins to prove and 
glorify the Hebrew oracles. 
Ip the Spring put forth no blossoms, in < 
Summer there will be no beauty, and in ^ 
Autum no fruit—so, if youth be trifled \ 
aAvay without improvement, riper years wiU 
be contemptible, and old age miserable. 
Scripture History— Where can we find 
in antiquity anything so touching, anything 
so AA’onderful, as tKe last CA'ents of Scripture ? 
Not here are the fantastical adventures of 
a divinity strange to humanity; but the most 
pathetic history—a history which not only 
draws forth tears by its beauty, but the con¬ 
sequences of which—applied to the universe 
—have altered the aspect of the world. 
that the means of a common education may 
be within the reach of all. It will be found 
upon trial, that it is far more difficult to 
teach a child or a young person to analyze 
soils than the analysis of the science of 
arithmetic. We are willing to admit that 
much useful instruction can be impart¬ 
ed to the children in the public schools on 
the subject of Agriculture, and the several 
departments of Natural History; but before 
this can be successfully done higher quali¬ 
fications must be required of teachers, and 
they must be better paid for services ren¬ 
dered. We hope the day is not far distant 
when every public school will demand a 
teacher who is skilled at least in the ele¬ 
ments of Chemistry and Natural History, 
in order that he may be a source of knowl¬ 
edge and instruction for all inquirers Avithin 
the school district This is one of the ways 
to elevate the profession of the teacher and 
a way that will cause him to be both hon¬ 
ored and loved. 
FREE SCHOOLS. 
Are the electors of the State of New 
York, in favor of Free Schools for the peo¬ 
ple ? The Legislature sometime since con¬ 
descended to submit the question to them, 
and they decided it in favor of free schools 
by one hundred and fifty thousand votes. 
The majority' seems to have been entirely 
too large! There are a number of xoise 
men, some feAv men of property, and noAv 
and then a political agitator, who think that 
this was not sufficiently decisive; and these 
have had influence enough at Albany to in¬ 
duce the Legislature to submit the same 
question to the people over again, at the 
November election of 1850; expecting, no 
doubt, that the intelligent electors of this 
great and pioneer State in the cause of edu¬ 
cation, will stultify themselves by treading 
a step backward, and confessing that they 
Avere wrong in supposing that the yeoman¬ 
ry of the State of New York Avould tax 
themselves to pay for the schooling of other 
people’s cliildren. 
We have no fears that the State will re¬ 
trace its steps when it is clearly right, and 
so well supported; and Ave hope no mysti¬ 
fication can be throAvn over the subject, by 
reason of certain defects in the details of the 
laAv estabhshing and makino; the schools free 
-it ® ® 
to all. 
A Convention to be held at Syracuse, 
July 10th, will, we trust, be so represented 
as to bring the best lights of the State on 
this subject together, so that from it there 
will ffo forth information and influence, 
which will make the majority 200,000 in¬ 
stead of 150,000, at the next November 
election. —Journal of Education, 
Hamiltox College. —The anniversary 
exercises at this institution will commence 
on Sunday eA'ening, July 21st, by an ad¬ 
dress before the Society of Christian Re- 
seach, by the Rcal Albert Barnes, D. D., of 
Philadelphia. 
On Monday evening Avill occur the annu¬ 
al Prize Declamation. 
On Tuesday morning at 10-^ o’clock the 
anniversaries of the Phoenix and Union So¬ 
cieties Avill be delivered by D. W. Gillet and 
J. H. ToAvnsend, members of the Gradua¬ 
ting Class. 
On Tuesday afternoon the address before 
the Alumni by the Hon. William J. Bacon, 
of Utica, member of the class of 1822. 
On Tuesday evening the address before 
the Literary Societies by the Hon. Henry 
B. Stanton, of Seneca Fidls—the Poem by 
Alfred B. Street, K A., of Albany. 
On Wednesday Avill occur the usual com¬ 
mencement exercises, and in the evening 
the levee at the President’s.— Utica Her. 
Death of a Great Max.—Gay Lussac, 
the eminent chemist, died in Paris, on the 
9th of May, in his 73d year. Lussac, whose 
Avhole life has been occupied by a series of 
greatand useful labors in chemistiy and phys¬ 
ics, gave very early promise of the reputation 
he Avas to acquire. The friend and pupil 
of Berthollet, he first distinguished himself 
by a Avork on the gases and vapors, which 
placed him at once by the side of Dalton. 
As a savan he extended the bounds of sci¬ 
ence by the most brilliant and startling dis¬ 
coveries. Making his researches sometimes 
alone, sometimes in conexion Avith other em¬ 
inent men—Thenard and Humboldt, for in¬ 
stance—there is hardly a branch of physical 
science in which he has not labored with 
signal success There is hardly a savan in 
his study, or a manufacturer in his factory, 
but is inbebted to Gay Lussac for some in¬ 
vention, some method, some apparatus, some 
scientific suggestion, which facilitates his 
labors and renders his result more perfect. 
MOOEE’S EURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
