VOI,. XXXVII. No. 
WHOLE No. 14 64 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the 
year Offs, by the Rural Publishing Comj>any, in the oflice of the JLibrar 
would appear that for the most rapid advance- I 
ment, we need not only the aid of the preBS 
but alHO those great educators, the annual 
fairs 
Because they are sometimes turned into horse 
trots, and baby shows, is no argument that the 
day of their ueefulnesB has passed. Instead of 
abandoning them, correct the abuses that have 
crept in and diverted them from their legitimate 
purposes. The social advantages of these year¬ 
ly gatherings are alone worth all they cost, to say 
nothing of the information gained and the de¬ 
sire for improvement that is stimulated to fruit¬ 
ful effort. I trust the day is far distant when 
farmers will cease to meet together for the pur¬ 
pose of acquainting themselves with the great¬ 
est successes of their neighbors and of learning ! 
the methods by which these were attained. 
•ian of Congress at Washington.] 
FARMERS’ CLUBS, CONVENTIONS ETC,. 
I believe there are no organizations turn, give 
so much practical and profitable information for 
so little cost as some of these local organiza¬ 
tions. John Doe of Kentucky publishes an ad¬ 
mirable article on corn culture, but it may cause 
Wm. Smith of Maas,, to make some expensive 
mistakes ; for many of Doe's theories may only 
be applicable to a small extent of territory, pos¬ 
sibly not larger than a township, or at most, a 
county. Therefore, local organizations are of 
the utmost Importance as practical educators ; 
for the successes or failures of one man, if the 
causes that produced them are explained, are of 
great value to his neighbor, because their cir¬ 
cumstances and surroundings are so nearly iden¬ 
tical. 
The great advance in agricultural literature 
AGRICULTURE AND EDUCATION IN 
UNITED STATES. 
PROF. I. P. ROBERTS, 
That great power of the nineteenth 
- -century, 
the Press, has benefited Agriculture fully as 
much as any other industry, and far more than 
it has politics. 
The discussion and debate through the press, 
relating to the industries, have been for the 
praiseworthy object of arriving at and dissem¬ 
inating facts, and also of correcting error and 
removing prejndico ; 
while in politics it 'V\ [ I V $ A / 
would seem at times, W / 1/ l j 
as though the only \\{/ fi 
object was to gag \ /Vj, j ,/ !j 
truth, and promul- , \ \jjj Jtf 
gate error; uot that \ f J'X ., 
some possible trood \\ /v K . . 
of local application. I have spoken at length 
of the small local organizations, because 
there is great danger of their becoming extinct, 
which, in ruy ©pinion, would be a great calamity: 
for they are to the larger organizations what the 
district schools are to the academies at d col¬ 
leges. 
As to the larger bodies, such as the State Ag- 
—■ - ricultural S ciety, 
Dairymen's Associa¬ 
tion, Patrons if Hus¬ 
bandry, HortUnllur- 
al Society etc. i need 
not speak at length, 
for they are so well 
organized and their 
usefulness is so well 
understood and ap- 
predated, that there 
is no one but that 
bids them God-speed- 
I am neither a proph- 
et nor a son of a 
prophet, and tbere- 
fore cannot predict 
to a certainty what 
the ft; lure; but 
it is the patt of wis- 
a <iom to look back OV6r 
.> Sh- the past, that we may 
t j u'n/i he enabled to learn 
nPtBlS ! •' something of the 
? . iv/ ’ probabilities of the 
* I ■ • I ! - : 1 h futnre - 1 way be of 
HOW TO DO IT. 
► our Long laland Fox ll\»ixtex*s 
