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AGRICULTURE AND EDUCATION IN THE 
UNITED STATES. 
PROF. I. P. ROBERTS. 
NO. 4. 
In former articles, statements as exact as it is 
possible to make, have been given , as to the pro¬ 
visions that have been made for carrying ont in 
good faith, the conditions of the grant of 1862, 
and as to the work that has been accomplished. 
The question follows ; What has been and will 
be the effect on these two leading industries ? 
The time is too short sinco»these graduates 
have entered upon active duties, to enable us to 
form any very accurate or positive conclusions. 
We only know that with scarce an exception, they 
are found occupying respectable positions, and 
quite frequently those of honor and trust. 
From the best information attainable, I find 
about one half of those who have studied Agri¬ 
culture, either return to the farm or engage in 
some pursuit connected directly with it. This is 
about the same proportion as wo find in other 
callings ; only about half the number who have 
received special or technical instruction, enter 
and continue in the callings for which they 
prepared 
The young doctor fails for want of patients, 
the lawyer for want of clients, and the young 
farmer, for the very good and sufficient reason, 
want of a farm. Many of the graduates, to my 
certain knowledge, have not at tho end of their 
course, a single dollar: even worse than that, 
some are actually in dobt two, three, or four hun¬ 
dred dollars. 
Tho question is not so much; What would I 
like to do ? or even : What will pay best ? but : 
What can I get to do by which I can secure a liv¬ 
ing and pay my debts ? Circumstances may 
cause many of these to drift far away from their 
original plans and likings ; but I predict that in 
most cases with the first opportunity they will 
embrace their “ first love ” with all their youth¬ 
ful ardor, tempered and directed by age and ex¬ 
perience. While those who have reoeived instruc¬ 
tion at these schools, have frequently benefited 
the industries in their immediate locality, yet 
for want of time, if for no other reason, their 
influence could not well be extended or mark- 
el. 
On the other hand, the influence exerted by 
tho various teachers connected with these 
schools devoted largely to the interests of the 
industrial classes, has been marked and benefic¬ 
ial. By their writings, researches and experi¬ 
ments, by their frequont papers and addresses at 
farmers' institutes, clubs and conventions, they 
have been enabled to roach nearly all who earn¬ 
estly desire to advance; and the result of their 
labors has been to benefit the industrial classes 
and the industries beyoud expectation. The 
establishing of those colleges called forth avast 
amount of thought, discussion and criticism, 
which has not been without its beneficial results. 
There are those who still fear the old empty cans 
of dynamite labeled “ Book-farming,” “ Co-ed¬ 
ucation,’ ' “Unsectarianism," but all that is left 
of this dangerous substance is the label which 
is getting old and dim, and the nervous strain 
will soon bo relieved as it fades entirely from 
sight. 
There have been several causes that have pre¬ 
vented these institutions from accomplishing 
greater results. The chief of these may be 
stated under four heads, viz: (1) want of funds, 
(2) want of trained teachers in the department 
of practical agriculture, (3) want of a full 
knowledge as to methods. (4) prejudice. 
Several of the StatoH realized lass than $150 
000 for tbeir lands; the yearly income from 
which would build a good barn, or possibly pur¬ 
chase a Duke Bull. Few people have any con¬ 
ception of tho aotual cost of a common school 
education ; they have never stopped to consider 
or reckon it, and fewer appear to realize the 
coat of establishing and maintaining a well 
equipped college. They do sometimes get an 
inkling of tho cost of a thorough education 
when they think of sending a child to college, by 
computing as accurately as possible the cost of 
board, rent, tuition, books and traveling expen¬ 
ses ; and when they find that it foots up from 
one to three thousand dollars, they are surprised 
to say the least, and very erroneously conclude 
that the benefits to be derived will not justify 
the outlay. None of the larger and few of the 
smaller colleges, think of charging for tuition 
moro than a fraction of the actual cost of it, and 
some do not charge anything. If they were not 
heavily endowed, the industrial classes and those 
of limited means would virtually be excluded 
from a college education. Endowments to edu¬ 
cational institutions benefit not the wealthy so 
much as the common people. This being the 
case, what better disposition could we make of 
our public lands, than to make an equitable dis¬ 
tribution of them for educational purposes ? 
TEACHERS. 
At first, great difficulty was experienced in pro¬ 
curing suitable teachers, for their qualifications 
must be peculiar, and to Borne extent unlike 
all others. 
Their education must also bo very extended, 
for in these half-endowed colleges, one Profess¬ 
or was expected to fill two or three chairs. In 
addition to this, it was desirable that he should 
bring to his aid, business and financial ability, 
equal to that found among men whoso whole 
lives have been spent in learning how to acquire 
wealth. Hero, in these colleges, created as by 
magic, was to be the ideal paradise where tho 
highest education, science and practice, were to 
dwell together with no family jars or differences, 
notwithstanding their very recent introduction 
and short acquaintance. It appears hard to find 
men, even now, that by the most scientific pro¬ 
cess of flattening and stretching can be made to 
cover two or three chairs, and have room enough 
left for the farm under one wing and the live¬ 
stock under the other. 
METHODS. 
The method to be used in reaching the desired 
results was hardly as yet conceived ; much less 
digested and arranged. Time, necessarily, haB 
been lost in learning the best systems of con¬ 
ducting the new enterprise ; where all was for¬ 
merly problematical and untried, now in a great 
degree well-defiued and tried methods are found, 
which have, in many cases, proved successful be¬ 
yond the most sanguine hopes. 
Tho finances of the farm, have been a great 
stumbling-stone; for it was argued, “If the 
farm won’t pay, the whole thing is a failure.” 
The result has been that, in too many cases, it 
has been run simply to make dollars and not for 
the purposes for which it was designed, namely ; 
illustration and instruction to tho student. 
While fields of corn or wheat should be cultivat¬ 
ed with a view to the best results, it Bhould not 
he done for the dollars, bnt for the purpose of 
instructing the students as to tho manner iu 
which the result was reached. 
The amount of manual labor required to be 
performed by tho student during his college 
course, has been dftcussed and re-discussod with¬ 
out coming to any uniform conclusion. Michi¬ 
gan Agricultural College still holds on to its 
early practice of requiring work throughout the 
entire course; Iowa has modified tho former 
practice, so that work is now only required in 
tho llrst and second years; while Cornell, which 
formerly required little or no manual labor, 
now devotes two afternoons per week to field 
practice, or to visiting adjoining farms through 
tho entire senior year ; and also requires all stu¬ 
dents who have not been brought up on a farm 
or who, from any cause, are not familiar <vitb 
ordinary farm work, to remain on the farm, and 
engage in farm labor for at- least two months 
daring tho summer vacation. Bo we see that 
the manual labor question is not yet settled. 
The preva iling public opinion at first was that 
much practice and a moderate amount of class 
instruction should be given. Wherever this ex¬ 
periment has been tried, it has resulted in expert- 
workmen rather than educated men. 
On the other hand, some have advocated that 
familiarity with all the ordinary operations of 
tho farm could be acquired more cheaply and 
rapidly at home, and that the time spent at col¬ 
lege should be devoted to studying such subjects 
as related to tbeir intended calling, a knowledge 
of which could not be bo well acquired elso- 
where; and that tho field practice should only 
extend to the intricate and difficult operation? 
and those whose special provisions would 
have to be made iu order to fully compre¬ 
hend the subjects taught. Tho subject of the 
relative amount of labor, reoreation, and study 
during a college course is one that may bo more 
fully discussed with profit. The limit of this 
article forbids giving my views here, but I may 
do so at some other time. Certain it is that four 
years is not enough time in which to become ex¬ 
pert in all of the operations on the farm, (pro¬ 
vided there has been no previous training,) and 
also to acquire a fair knowledge of the subjects 
laid down in the curriculum. 
PREJUDICE, 
Which has had much to do in prevent- 
ting these colleges from accomplishing tho 
greatest amount of good, has not been oonlined 
entirely to the industrial classes or the farming 
population. It has too frequently happened 
that the authorities in charge were men who had 
no sympathy for. or faith in what is sometimes 
called “The new education.” They had been 
taught and fully believed that no true success 
could bo attained, or thorough culture acquired, 
without a knowledge of Latin and Greek. On 
the other hand, many of those whom the new 
education was designed to benefit, still held on 
to the old idea, that ignorance was bliss in Agri¬ 
culture. But opinions are changing ; as we get 
moro light from experience, we are moro inclined 
to receive and give duo credit to all classes of 
knowledge provided they train and develop the 
man, and fit him for greater usefulness and 
happiness. 
The rural population of to-day, do not appear 
to bo vory particular about modes or systems, 
provided they can get at new facts and increase 
their fund of information. That there is a great 
and growing desire for information, cannot be 
denied, I think, by anyone who haB carefully 
observed and noted tho progress of events for 
the last twenty-five years. 
This striving for something better and higher, 
has not only given rise to tho colleges of which 
I have beeu speaking, bnt alBO to numerous and 
valnable societies and organizations, extending 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific and reaching 
every hamlet and homestead, benefiting directly 
or indirectly every tiller of the soil. Of the 
benefits of the press and of some of those or¬ 
ganizations, I propose to speak in my next. 
Cornell University. 
--- 
RURAL TOPICS. 
T. B. MINER. 
SAIT AS A FERTILIZER. 
There has never been an established value of 
salt as a fertilizer, given to the public ; and tho 
question: “ Is it a fertilizer in any degree ?" 
remains unanswered, so as to settle the question 
forever. If wo refer to all that has been said 
about its use by farmers, in the agricultural 
press during tho last twenty-five years, we shall 
find a large number who claim that they have 
used it to advantage, while as many more Bay 
that they could see no benefit from its use; and 
the facts in tho case appear to be about as 
follows: In the vicinity of tho ocean, where 
the dews are somewhat impregnated with it, salt 
is of no value as a fertilizer; but. iu tho 
interior it is of slight benefit to all crops, hut 
not sufficient to warrant its purchase at the 
regular market value. At the saltworks at 
Syracuse, N. Y., damaged salt can be bought 
for about ten cents a bushel; and at that price, 
with short transportation, it will pay to use it. 
It may be used to a good advantage when mixed 
with ashes, as a fall top-dressing for grass 
lands; and also on lands to Vie plowed in tho 
spring, as the virtues of both salt and ashes 
daring tho winter become disseminated through 
the surface soil. If applied iu the spring to 
land that is to be plowed for any crop, it should 
be spread by hand upon the eurface after 
plowing, and harrowed in. 
A FARMER'S ICE-HOUSE. 
Every farmer should have one, not only for 
the profit in it, but also for the luxury it affords. 
Yon don't require a carpenter to make one, as 
you can build it yourself, not under ground, but 
on the surface. Select a Bhady place if you can ; 
ir not, put it in the “blazing ” sun, and I will 
guarantee that tho ice will keep well, if you 
follow my directions: First, seleot your loca¬ 
tion, and then draw in a few loads of sand, 
gTavel, or any light soil to raise the bed, about 
twelve feet squaie, a few inches to carry off tho 
drippings of the ice. Then lay the sills of 4x6 
timber (hemlock will do) and put up tho frame; 
posts 8 feet high, 4x4; plates 3x4, with studs 
2x4 ; and with a couple of 2x4 ties across from 
plate to plate, to prevent the building from 
spreading when full of ice. Hemlock weather¬ 
boards will do, it your object bo to build a very 
obeaj) house. Tho roof should have a double 
pitch, and be quite steep, to be covered with 
sound boards and battened over the cracks. In 
one end of this roof, the shady end, have a 
window about 12x18 iuebes to allow the heated 
air within to escape. The door also should be on 
tho north side. When you are ready to put in 
your ice, lay down some Ioobg boards as a iloor, 
on which you put sawdust, eight or ten inches 
thick, at the Bame time having a supply to pack 
at least twelve inches thick around the ice, as it 
is put in. 
To cut out tho ice, you need an ice-saw, some 
six feet long with one handle. Such a saw rh is 
used for sawing logs may be UBed, with one 
handle removed. Saw tho ice in square blocks, 
and pack it close iu the ice-house, filling tho 
openings with fine ico as yon proceed with each 
layer, and the whole will become a solid body 
of ico. The ice should be at least a foot from 
tho building on all sides; and tliia open space 
must bo filled with eawdust, well packed down ; 
at the door-way put loose boards, as the filling 
proceeds, to keep tho sawdust in its place. 
Also put sawdust, about a foot deep, on the top 
of the ice, when the building is full. If your 
ice-house is to ho built in a sightly place near 
your dwellings, it would be better to employ a 
carpenter a couple of days, and put up a nice 
building, clapboarded, shingled and painted— 
all complete for about $25. Such an ico-houso 
as the above cannot possibly fail to afford a 
supply of ice for any family through the entire 
season; and probably one only ten feet squaio 
would be large enough for farmers. Think of a 
farmer’s family living, year after year, with no 
place to keep butter, fresh meat etc., when for 
$26 a fine, oonunodious ice-house can be built! 
SUPERPHOSPHATES AND GROUND BONE. 
The most reliablo commercial fertilizers of 
the day, are the superphosphates and ground 
bone, or flour, as it Is called. Originally, wo 
had simply “phosphate of lime”; but in later 
years the manufacturers added oil of vitriol 
(sulphuric acid) to make it soluble—that is, in a 
condition in which plants can draw sustenance 
from it immediately; and they now add the 
prefix " super.” Some manufacturers add pot¬ 
ash aud other fertilizers; and, probably, no 
two make the Bame artiolo, as rogards constitu¬ 
ents. We will take an ordinary superphosphate 
that is sold at 843 per 2,000 pounds by one of 
the most reliable donlera iu New York. It con¬ 
tains as follows, as per his own circular: Ten 
per cent, of soluble phosphoric acid, and three 
per cent, of ammonia, worth about 830. These 
two constituents are all that a ton of 2,000 
pounds contains of plant food, tho balance of 
about 1,740 pounds, may consist largely of land 
plaster, or of dried swamp muck, or of some¬ 
thing else of no great value. 
Tho difference between superphosphate and 
ground bone is that the latter is composed more 
of bones; and, consequently, contains more 
phosphoric acid ; and these two fertilizers are 
seldom applied to land without showing a bene¬ 
fit to crops, especially wheat, corn, rye, turnips, 
beans, peas and carrots, as all of these draw 
considerable phosphoric acid frum the soil. 
The way that superphosphate and ground bone 
should be applied to lands to be cropped, is to 
bow them on the land, aftor it has been plowed 
and harrowed once, then cross-harrow the fer¬ 
tilizers in. Superphosphates ought to embrace 
all the essential constituents of a fertilo soil, as 
potash, nitrogen, and phosphorio acid, and 
some are thus made. They then approach a 
“ complete manure,” like stable dung, and will 
give better general satisfaction. From 800 to 
600 pounds of these fertilizers are generally ap¬ 
plied per acre. 
"COMPLETE MANURE." 
The following “ complete manure” is sold m 
New York, and said to contain as follows: 
“Ammonia, 7 69 per cent.; phosphoric acid, 
5 per cent.; and potash, 7.5.0 per cent.” This is 
what is called Professor Ville’b formula; and 
it has been before the agricultural public of this 
country and Europe many years. It comes, 
perhaps, as near stable dung, in its results, as it 
is possible for commercial fertil/zerstodo; but it 
is absurd to say that tho proportion given must 
be exactly as the formula caLls for. as 7.69 per 
cent, of ammonia, when 7.25 or 7.75 would un¬ 
doubtedly show as good results. 
.--- ■*■-*-+ - ■ ■ 
NOTES FROM MAPLEWOOD FARM. 
HECTOR BERTRAM. 
HANDLING FENCE POSTS. 
February is, without doubt, the best time to 
cut fence posts, and all rail timber, for that 
matter. It is evident to us from what experience 
we have had. that if cut then tbey will last much 
longer free from rot, than if out at any other 
Boasou of the year ; and moreover, tho farmer 
has moro leisure at ibis time than in the spring 
aud fall, when they should be set. We can have 
them cut, peeled, sharpened, and distributed 
where needed, so that as soon as the frost is out, 
they are ready for driving. Many people leave 
their fence posts from six to ten inches in diam¬ 
eter, making them heavy to handle, and difficult 
to drive. This, to our mind, is a needless ex¬ 
penditure of labor, and a waste of Umber. Small 
poets season much sooner aud last fully as long 
as large ones, and if tbey are driven deep enough, 
two feet at least, form a strong fence. They 
should always he peeled before tho time for set¬ 
ting, aud the latter should be done as soon a3 
the frost is ont, before tho ground Bottles. We 
can then got them down deeper, and they will be 
firmer. 
ERROR IN PITTING POTATOES. 
A neighbor opened his potato pit the other 
day. He w«s led to this by noticing that the snow 
was all molted off on top of the pit, although 
there was plenty about it. Upon removing the 
earth aud manure from the potatoes, he found 
that they had been buried too deep, and were re¬ 
duced to a rotten mass in consequence of heat¬ 
ing. Out of forty-five bushels buried last fall, 
he can save only four or five bushels fit for eat¬ 
ing, Potatoes, like apples, need just enough 
covering to save them from frost, if buried ; aud 
if stored, a cool, dry, well-ventilated cellar is tho 
proper place. 
SCRATCHES IN HORSES. 
A horse was troubled with scratches, owing to 
neglect in grooming. The joints were badly in¬ 
flamed and swollen, causing lameness. As soon 
as noticed, the diseased parts were thoroughly 
cleansed with csstilo soap and warm water, and 
an ointment of tho pulverized root of Indian 
Turnip (Anna triphyliuni) mixed with boiling 
lard, applied and allowed to cool- It was well 
rubbed in with tho hand, and after a very few 
applications a cure was effected. The limbs of 
horses should be well rubbed with straw every 
night when working, whether any mud adheres 
to them or not. There is nothing that will rest 
