172 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
turnips are generally employed; in the United States the coarse 
grains are mostly used. As our turnip culture progresses, and 
progress we are confident it will, we shall be able to make cheaper, 
if not better beef. Assuming that 600 bushels of Swedish turnips 
will grow upon an acre of ground that will produce thirty-five bush¬ 
els of corn, and that six bushels of the Swedes will fatten as much 
as one bushel ol corn, it will be seen that one acre in ruta baga will 
go about as far in making beef as three acres in corn, with the fur¬ 
ther advantage, that the latter will cost four limes as much labor in 
its culture as the former. Now we give an instance, in another 
column, of the Swedes yielding more than 1500 bushels to the acre, 
and the opinion of an intelligent feeder, that two bushels are worth 
as much, for feeding, as one bushel of corn. The mangold wurtzel, 
the carrot and the parsnip, may be all raised in field culture, at about 
the same expense per acre as corn; and they will give as great a 
yield, and afford as much nutriment as the ruta baga. The pota¬ 
to, whose culture we are all acquainted with, should be made to 
yield 300 bushels per acre; and these afford a far more profitable 
feed than grain. A bullock will consume trom 120 to 240 lbs. of 
ruta baga per day ; but if full fed with this or other roots they will 
consume but little hay, and havG little or no occasion for wa¬ 
ter. 
We shall abstract from the work above quoted, in due time, some 
remarks upon summer stalling, or soiling. 
MANUAL LABOR SCHOOLS. 
“ It is essential to every system for giving a liberal education to all classes, 
that it should include the means of inuring the people to manual labor. By 
this labor the multitude must subsist. An education unfitting them to work, 
would make their future lives useless and dishonorably dependent.” * * * 
“ It is by manual labor schools , that this great achievement of civilzation and 
philantlirophy is to cease to be a dream, is to become a reality. In no institu¬ 
tions have the laboring classes such an interest. A philanthropist who de¬ 
sires the happiness and honor of giving the most effectual spring to social pro¬ 
gress, cannot better employ himself, than in studying, improving and extend¬ 
ing these.”— Rev. Dr. Channing upon Education . 
It is conceded on all hands, that it is important, as well for the pe¬ 
cuniary interests, as for the moral habits and good order of society, 
that a better system of instruction, than now exists, should be pro¬ 
vided for the great classes of the laboring community: That in¬ 
struction should no longer be merely mechanical, and limited to the 
rudiments of knowledge, and confined to the superficial rules of the 
pedagogue,—but that the faculties and powers of the mind should be 
developed, and directed to the ultimate good of society;—that our 
boys should be taught so much of the physical sciences, now be¬ 
come the handmaids of the arts, as will benefit them in their trade 
or business, and “ enable them to comprehend the phenomena which 
are continually passing before their eyes that they should be in¬ 
structed in their social and political duties—be made acquainted 
with our history, government and laws, and instructed in the re¬ 
sponsibilities that devolve upon them as citizens of a free state. In 
fine, that their minds should be so disciplined in school, as to make 
them proficients in their business of life, and wholesome, useful mem¬ 
bers of society. 
And it is also important, as regards the mass of population, that 
the hands be taught and inured to labor. The habit must be formed 
in youth. Practice alone makes perfect; and besides, few resort to 
labor in manhood, who have not been practised to it in youth. The 
time of youth is too short to admit of separate and distinct periods 
tor improving the mind, and instructing the hands. The grand de¬ 
sideratum, therefore, would seem to be, so to blend study and labor, 
in the business of instruction, that they shall not interfere with, but 
aid and stimulate each other. To do this successfully, the study and 
the labor should have, generally, a common object. In no country 
can this proposition of rendering study and labor reciprocally bene¬ 
ficial to each other, and of imbuing the minds of youth with useful 
knowledge, be as readily adopted as in our own. The mass of po¬ 
pulation, whose condition we would improve, are farmers and me¬ 
chanics. And experience has fully shown, that if we would improve 
the condition or the habits of any class, or of society at large, we 
must begin our work with the young, who are to he managers on 
the business stage of fife. It is easier to bend the pliant twig than 
the stubborn bough. 
Our remarks apply particularly to the business of agriculture, 
which gives employment to five-sixths of our population, and which 
mainly depends, for its future improvement, upon the measure of ge¬ 
neral and scientific knowledge which shall be brought to direct its 
labors ; while this class of our population, from its numerical force, 
must ever determine our general character—whether we regard 
the social virtues,-—or our political and moral standing as a nation. 
This clsss of our youth may, at least, be greatly benefitted in prac¬ 
tical knowledge, while they are acquiring a good education at 
school. 
That well conducted farms, connected with schools of instruction, 
and under the direction of competent, scientific and practical men, 
would tend eminently to improve our agriculture, we think no one 
will question. That to the mental improvement of youth, such as 
would fit them for the higher duties ol society, such schools would 
superadd a knowledge of the science and best practices of agriculture, 
a useful qualification under all circumstances, and a certain and ho¬ 
norable resource under pecuniary misfortune, must be no less appa¬ 
rent. Such schools would do more—they would improve the moral 
condition of society, by rendering labor more honorable and more 
inviting, and by winning from the paths of idleness and dissipa¬ 
tion, where their examples contaminate and corrupt, multitudes of 
the children of wealth, and transforming them into men of industry 
and usefulness. 
The objection has been urged to the establishment of an agricul¬ 
tural school , that but few, comparatively, can share in its advantages, 
I and these would of course be confined to the rich. The like objec- 
| tion would in a measure hold good, though it is not allowed to have 
weight, against all the higher literary and professional schools and 
colleges, for all these accommodate but a fractional part of our 
youth. Every class shares indirectly in the benefits of existing 
schools, though they are not immediate participators in their instuc- 
tion, because they serve to promote the general knowledge and im¬ 
provement of society. This remark would lose none of its force if 
[ applied to a school of agriculture : for, to embrace no other consi¬ 
deration, whatever improves agriculture, adds to our wealth, our 
commerce and our comforts. Besides, schools of agriculture may be 
multiplied, like other schools, to meet the wants of the public ; and 
instruction in them can be afforded as cheap as it is in other manual 
labor schools. The great object is, first to make a fair experiment, 
, and to demonstrate, in practice, their usefulness, and their adapta¬ 
tion to the state of our society, and to our civil institutions. The 
defect in our existing manual labor schools is, that although they 
mure the body to rural labor, they do not instruct the mind in the 
principles which ought to regulate that labor, nor, generally, in the 
best models of practice. The pupils work to save money, and to 
promote health,—not to learn a business which they expect to fol¬ 
low in life. Whereas, in a school of agriculture, all these objects 
might be combined. 
But the advantages of an agricultural school would be more gene¬ 
ral than the advantages of most other schools, inasmuch as the re¬ 
sults of its experiments in husbandry, and the new plants, imple¬ 
ments and improved modes of culture, which it would introduce, 
would become common property, and a knowledge of them would be 
diffused throughout the community, by our agricultural journals; and 
because the pupils, settling down in different parts of the state, would 
carry with them this knowledge and these improvements, and by 
their practice, render their benefits available to all around them. 
There is another consideration worthy of notice. The advantages 
of an agricultural school might be still more generally diffused, by 
making it. a place of instruction for common school teachers. Who so 
well qualified to instruct those who are to become farmers, as those 
who are already farmers, both in practice and in science 7 In this 
sort of normal school the future teacher would learn farming effectu¬ 
ally, if he could learn it any where. Here he would be instructed 
in his civil and political rights, and in his moral and social duties.— 
He would be accustomed to think, to investigate, to reason, and to 
form correct conclusions ; and his physical powers would be nerved 
and disciplined by labor. Being effectually taught themselves, they 
would know best how and what to teach others ; and if the school 
did not afford them an opportunity of teaching the practice, they 
could imbue the minds of their pupils with the principles of natural 
science, of eminent use in farming, and thus lay a substantial foun¬ 
dation to build a good practice upon. Suppose the state should 
adopt the policy pursued by the general government at the West 
Point academy—educate a number of promising young men—free of 
charge—on condition that they should devote a certain number of 
years, say four or five, at the close of their pupilage, to the public 
service, in teaching common schools, at a fair salary 7 The Regents 
of the University now dispense $3,000 per annum, towards eauca- 
