THE CULTIVATOR. 
303 
1847 . 
masses, united with a correct knowledge of the busi¬ 
ness, and an acquaintance with the best manner of 
prosecuting the various callings in which the citizen 
is engaged, in view of the lights of science, and the 
continual improvements which science and ingenuity is 
making. It is not needful that ali the people should 
be scholai’s, but safety demands that all be well in¬ 
formed-—free to think and act for themselves. 
These general principles, I presume, will not be con¬ 
troverted ; but I shall be met here, and told that the 
duty of the state has been fulfilled—that a general 
system of education has been provided, and that agri¬ 
cultural schools are not necessary for the dissemination 
of general intelligence, and that they are not legiti¬ 
mately within the scope of legislative aid. I grant 
the state has done much; her common school system is 
worthy of commendation; but even that, good as it is, 
may be improved. Much may yet be done without 
overstepping the bounds of propriety, to perfect and 
render still more useful the system. 
The science of agriculture has just begun to develop 
itself in this country, and that most useful of all the 
sciences, may, I imagine, with the aid of the fostering 
care of the legislature, oe engrafted upon, and be made 
a permanent part of the common school instruction of 
the Empire state; and surely, if this be so, no one will 
turn away from the subject and say it is special, and 
does not come within the proper action of a legislative 
body,-—the object is designed to benefit one class, and 
not the whole, and hence it must be denied. If this 
view of the subject be true, then I say, away with jt, 
for the farmers of this state will never ask any special 
favors—never ask to be enriched or benefitted at the 
expense or to the injury of any other class. Although 
the farming interest has ever been thrown in the back¬ 
ground, and even pirated upon to enrich other Callings, 
yet the tiller of the- soil will never be guilty of the 
meanness or injustice of asking any measures which 
are not just and right. That it is proper for the legis¬ 
lature to aid by the funds of the-state in the establish¬ 
ment and maintenance of agricultural schools, is clear, 
for the following, among other reasons : 
1. Agriculture is the great interest of the state, and 
it will be greatly promoted thereby ; it is the great 
and leading interest, because it employs the most capi¬ 
tal and labor—yields the most, not only in dollars and 
cents, but produces the raw material for most other 
callings, as well as the articles necessary for the sub¬ 
sistence of the whole. Again, it is the leading inte¬ 
rest, because every other is more or less dependent 
upon it, and are only flourishing and prosperous when 
ills prosperous; and because it embraces within its 
direct influence the great mass, and in its indirect, 
nearly the entire of the state. The establishment of 
agricultural schools then, to aid and promote this great 
and important interest is but an act for the public 
good. Either by direct consequence, or through the 
means of necessary dependence and sympathy. 
As a second reason, I remark that agriculture is 
eminently promotive of virtue, both public and private; 
that those who live upon the farm and labor in the 
fields, are, to a great extent, removed from the seduc¬ 
tive charms of vice, which present themselves with 
such fatal fascination in our towns and cities. The 
state,then, is bound to watch over this interest, to pro¬ 
tect, encourage, and improve it, for it forms the great 
conservative body, upon which, in times of danger and 
peril, it must rely for support and safety. 
As a third reason, I remark that schools are im¬ 
peratively demanded as an act of self-defence on the 
part of the state. Our farms must be made more pro¬ 
ductive, and this can only be done by a better know¬ 
ledge of the true theory, and more attention to their 
cultivation. Science, with her mighty power, must 
be called to our aid. And why? it is asked. I an¬ 
swer, because the great states towards the setting 
sun, with their boundless acres and their virgin soil, 
have, and are opening a fearful rivalry with us. They 
are luring our people to their more prolific bosom, and 
they are pouring in millions of surplus productions to 
cheapen our markets; and ere we know it, wo shall 
be shorn of our power, and be forced to yield the proud 
title of Empire State, unless we bestir ourselves, and 
study out new means and processes of production, and 
apply them to our good, but long used and half cul¬ 
tivated soil. I would not snap and snarl like a 
jealous lover at the prosperity and increase of the 
rest, but I would say-—go on; your glory is our glory, 
and your prosperity our good; and would then, by 
noble example and improved cultivation, lead on— 
keep in advance in the future as in the past, of all our 
sister states. And in order to do this we want more 
knowledge, and that we can best attain through the 
school-house. It is undoubtedly true, that nine-tenths 
of our farms do not produce one-half of what they are 
capable of doing, and if we would keep our sons from 
the cheap and fertile lands of the west, we must learn 
them how to farm and make money on less quantities 
of land. And the legislature, looking to the good of 
the state, is bound to aid by all constitutional means, 
in so desirable an object. 
Again, I remark fourthly, that the aid and support 
of agricultural schools, is but the promotion of the 
general system of education, for it is not needful nor 
necessary to separate agriculture from our schools as 
they now exist, and establish separate and entirely in¬ 
dependent establishments; but, on the contrary, the 
very object of aid from the state, is to engraft agri¬ 
culture permanently into, and make it a part and par¬ 
cel of the great system of instruction now so bountiful¬ 
ly supplied by the state. The great point is to get 
started—to prepare competent teachers, and provide 
proper books, and to demonstrate by experiment tjie 
practicability of the thing. And then our glorious 
jcommon school system will answer to carry it on and 
perfect it, without increase of taxation. But 1 am 
making this paper too long. In another number, I 
will speak more definitely of the feasibility of the plan 
of agricultural schools, and of their great importance 
to the body of the people of the state; and in the 
meantime I ask the members of the legislature to look 
at the subject, examine it carefully, and then act as 
their better judgment and sense of duty shall determine. 
D. A. Ogden. 
Penn Yan , August 6, 1847. 
The Tomato. —The use of this fruit as food, is said 
to have been derived by us from the Spaniards. It has 
been long used also by the French and Italians. The 
date of its introduction to this country is unknown, 
though it is only within a recent period that it has been 
adopted as a culinary article. Thirty years ago the 
w r riter cultivated it under the name of love-apple, but 
had then no idea that it was of any value except as 
an ornament to the flower garden. 
Hon. E. Whittlesey, in a letter to Dr. Kirtland, 
(published in the Western Reserve Magazine of Horti¬ 
culture ,) states that the tomato has been used as food 
in Ohio, more than half a century. He says— u Col. 
Vigo, an Italian gentleman, lived at Vincennes, and 
prepared the juice of the tomato to mix in beef gravy, 
and for making catchup, more than fifty-tw r o years 
ago. Colonel Hamtramck raised the tomato at De¬ 
troit and Fort Wayne before 1803. Judge Thomas 
furnished his table with the raw tomato at Lawrence- 
burg, Indiana, in 1807. The French stewed it at 
Kaskaskia, in 1807 and ’8.” 
