THE CULTIVATOR. 
31 
accelerating the progress of children in all the branches 
now common in schools. Connected with it, very na¬ 
turally and agreeably, are penmanship, (which by the 
way is but one species of drawing) composition and 
grammar, or exercises in the study of language, for 
which thousands and hundreds of thousands in our coun¬ 
try have wasted, and much worse than wasted, several 
years of their precious time, in repeating, several thou¬ 
sand times, “ prepositions govern the objective case; I 
might, could, would, or should have loved; prepositions 
are words prefixed to nouns to point them out and show 
how far their signification extends/’ and dozens of other 
phrases jtfst as well calculated to give a pupil the “ Art of 
speaking and writing correctly,” as it w ould to give an ap¬ 
prentice to a blacksmith the art of axe-making, to re¬ 
peat for three or seven years, “ axes are made of iron, 
iron is heated in the fire, the fire is blown with the bel¬ 
lows,” &c. without once taking into his hand or seeing a 
bar of iron, hammer, bellows, anvil, or any material 
or instrument used for making axes. A practice more 
supremely ridiculous, certainly more entirely abortive 
and mischievous, can probably not easily be imagined, 
than repeating the rules and definitions of grammar, or 
of parsing, for the purpose of acquiring the important 
art, and the elegant accomplishment of speaking and 
writing correctly. With Lord Kaimes, author of Ele¬ 
ments of Criticism, Thomas Dick of Scotland, Rev. 
Orville Dewey of New-York, and all the intelligent edu¬ 
cators, of the Prussian schools, every candid mind must 
agree that grammar is only the science or theory, and 
language the art of speaking and writing correctly. 
Hence, under the floods of grammars with which our 
country has, for years, been deluged, there is a general 
and constant bungling in the art of sentence making, 
while there is much skill, good workmanship, if not per¬ 
fection, in the arts of making plows, axes, shoes, and 
various other kinds of mechanism. 
A few cuts or figures may show more clearly the uses 
of linear drawing, both in its connection with other 
branches of instruction, and its direct application to the 
business of the farmer. The starting point for begin¬ 
ners is in parallel straight lines, in horizontal, verti¬ 
cal and oblique positions, thus: 
[Fig. 15.] Horizontal Lines. 
5 
w' 
In connection with the drawing of these lines, whether 
upon the slate or paper, may be a description of their 
properties and uses, especially by pupils a little ad¬ 
vanced, something as follows: 
Parallel lines are at the same distance from each other 
at every point, and are extensively used by farmers, me¬ 
chanics and scholars. In measuring, dividing, fencing 
and planting gardens and fields, in erecting houses and 
all other buildings, in weaving, printing, writing, en¬ 
gineering, surveying, navigation, and nearly every art 
and science, straight parallel lines are almost constantly 
used. 
Equilateral Figures. 
A square is a four sided figure with all its sides and 
angles equal. A rhombus has all its sides and its op 
posite angles equal. All three sided figures are called 
triangles; those having their three sides equal or of 
the same length are called equilateral. All six sided 
figures are called hexagons; when the six sides are all 
equal, they are equilateral hexagons. 
By drawing these and,^ various other geometrical 
figures upon a slate or paper, or cutting them with seis- 
sors or a knife from colored paper, and pasting them 
into a blank book, a “ Geometrical Album” is formed: 
the hand, eye, judgment and taste exercised ; the mind 
stored with some of the most useful principles in the 
f-hole circle of science, and the application of those 
principles to agriculture and the mechanic arts illustrated, 
and the pupil of course amused and instructed. 
Sketching various circular figures, also the geometri¬ 
cal solids, such as cubes, cones, cylinders, prisms, py¬ 
ramids, &c. both from figures on paper, and from the 
solids themselves, is found to be highly profitable, as 
one of the first exercises in linear drawing. Delineating 
also, and at the same time describing various articles of 
household furniture, agricultural implements, animals, 
&c. especially from the objects themselves, greatly im¬ 
proves the powers of observing and describing objects, 
while they furnish the pupil with the laws and the prac¬ 
tice of perspective drawing. 
Some of the articles referred to are pitchers, lamps, 
candlesticks, pails, funnels, jugs, bottles, chairs, ham¬ 
mers, axes, spades, plows, rakes, forks, flails, horses, 
birds, fishes, insects, trees and other plants, machinery, 
houses, bridges, &c. &c. 
A farm is a school of morals, industry and useful 
knowledge; for the study of botany, mineralogy, che¬ 
mistry, entomology and the other sciences, it is among the 
best schools that ever were or ever can be provided. 
Farmers are hence the most virtuous, the most useful and 
the happiest people in the world. How foolish then are 
young farmers in leaving their farms for the profession of 
law, medicine or merchandize. Far better would it be 
for lawyers and merchants to exchange their business 
for that of the farmer. 
[Fig. 22.] 
An axe for the forest, a spade for the garden, and the 
sickle for the wheat-field; and all for adding to the com¬ 
forts of every person in the community. Those who 
use them, provide food, clothing, shelters or materials 
for all other classes, and are hence worthy of the re¬ 
spect of all who eat bread, wear clothes, or live in houses. 
[Fig. 23.] 
In American forests are forty-four different kinds of 
oak. Several of them grow to the height of eighty or a 
hundred feet; others grow but eight or ten feet high, 
and one kind, called the running oak, seldom rises more 
than twenty inches above the surface of the earth. The 
white oak is the most useful tree among the oaks, and 
perhaps the most valuable among all the trees that grow 
upon the earth. By some of the ancients it was made 
an object of worship. 
[Fig. 24.] 
Forty-four thousand different kinds of insects are al¬ 
ready known, and many are supposed to exist which 
have not yet been discovered. Butterflies are among 
the most curious and beautiful of the insects, and dis¬ 
play most strikingly, the wisdom of Him, who created 
and preserves, not only them, but men and angels. 
Most insects exist in three different states, viz : in those 
of a butterfly, chrysalis, and a worm; by the last, most 
of the food is consumed, and the great ravages made, in 
the vegetable kingdom, by which the fruit and hard 
earnings of many industrious farmers are entirely des¬ 
troyed. If farmers would study the habits, modes of 
existence, and powers of insects, they might avoid, in 
some measure at least, their ravages. 
The above drawings and descriptions are given merely 
as specimens or examples, to show the mode in which 
this subject may be pursued by children. Almost every 
child, if encourged in it, and is furnished with a slate 
and pencil, and after he has made some progress in 
his work, with paper and lead pencil, will of his own 
accord, and nearly or entirely without the aid of a teach¬ 
er, learn both drawing and writing, and with them of 
course, spelling and reading. For example, a little boy 
five or six years of age, having a slate and pencil, and 
an outline drawing of a bird, entirely of his own accord, 
attempted an imitation of the drawing, and then wrote 
in the printed character, birds fly in the air. It was his 
first attempt at drawing or writing, or at forming cha¬ 
racters of any kind, either with a pencil or pen. 
By these and kindred exercises, children are now to 
be found in nearly every part of the country, who have 
literally learnt themselves the arts of writing, spelling, 
reading and speaking correctly, and with those arts thus 
acquired, they never fail to acquire a love of self-im¬ 
provement, which secures to them future progress, re¬ 
spectability and usefulness. While the seven years 
course of repeating “ bla, ble, bio, and I might, could, 
would or should have loved,” furnishes children with lit¬ 
tle more than a strong dislike, if nota disgust, for schools 
and books, and every thing under the name of study 
or learning. 
Throughout Prussia and other parts of Germany, and 
in some sections of our own country, every school and 
every family is furnished with a cabinet of nature and 
art, and some articles of apparatus; especially a few 
instruments for drawing, and the figures and elements 
of practical geometry, which seldom fail to lay a strong 
foundation for self-improvtment and substantial charac¬ 
ter. By these instruments and exercises, the schools in 
some sections of Pennsylvania, probably now stand the 
very first among American schools. 
Drawing constitutes a universal language, by which 
all the nations of the earth may, and to a great extent 
do, already hold intercourse with each other. As such 
it may evidently be used as a most powerful, perhaps the 
most powerful, instrument for diffusing knowledge oyer 
the globe, and for the redemption of the human family 
from ignorance and vice. Already a system of “ Scien¬ 
tific Exchanges,” has made great progress among the 
members and friends of American schools and lyceums, 
and between them and similar institutions mother parts 
of the world. 
Hundreds, and probably thousands, of young ladies in 
our countrv, and many of them the daughters of far¬ 
mers, who have closed their school education, are now 
most delightfully and profitably employed in studying 
and sketching the beauties and wonders of creation, for 
the double purpose of their own improvement, and aid¬ 
ing in the “ diffusion of knowledge over the globe.” Spe¬ 
cimens, many specimens, have already gone from their 
hands to nearly every Missionary station in the world, 
for which other specimens have been received in return. 
Many Sabbath schools have taken the spirit, and have 
formed their u Missionary Cabinets,” and by the aid of 
drawings, executed by the hands of teachers and pupils, 
numerous Bible illustrations are prepared for enliven¬ 
ing, extending and enriching the instructions in their 
own schools; and by sending them abroad, they confer 
similar advantages to other schools in other states and 
countries. 
As a means of national defence, a general system of 
scientific enterprise and intercourse among the nations 
of the earth, deserves particular consideration. During 
the wars of England and France, the scientific men in 
those countries, interrupted though they might be in 
their intercourse and co-operation with each other, 
were entirely preserved, both from the acts and leelings 
of hostility which convulsed the nations of which they 
were members. 
Suppose that the seventy thousand American schools 
should enter upon a system of scientific exchanges with 
similar institutions in England, France and the other 
nations of the earth, must it not lessen the liabilities to 
war, and consequently the expense of arsenals, naval 
ships, and other munitions of war, rendered necessary 
by a real or supposed danger of national hostilities? 
But some will say that could not be done. Mhen the 
question is put to the schools themselves, and their veto 
is received, such an objection will be in time, but not 
before. 
The subject of drawing, though elementary and es¬ 
sential in the education of every child, and particularly 
useful to farmers, farmer’s wives and daughters, is but 
one of the many subjects highly important, but entirely 
neglected, and even discouraged and forbidden, both in 
schools and families. On some future occasion I may 
attempt some illustrations in chemistry, as useful to far¬ 
mers, and entirely within their reach; also geology, 
botany, entomology, &c. At present I can only add my 
highest respects and fullest and kindest sympathies for 
all American farmers, among whom I am proud, by my 
parentage and life, to claim a place, however humble it 
a v be. JOSIAH HOLBROOK. 
m New-York, Dec. 1839. 
