108 THE CULTIVATOR. / 
SHORT HORN BULL PRESIDENT—[Fig. 62.] 
Owned by Messrs. Gaylord Fuller, Skaneateles, Onondaga county, N. Y. 
The Bull President, a good engraving of which is given above, is a pure Durham, from the celebrated herd of the 
late Gen. Van Rensselaer, of this city, and is owned by Messrs. Gaylord & Fuller, of Skaneateles, Onondaga county. 
His stock is highly spoken of, and he will doubtless effectually contribute to still further improve the cattle of that dis¬ 
trict. We are always pleased to give figures of fine American animals, as such representations, if faithfully executed, 
give more correct ideas respecting such stock than the best descriptions without them can do. We consider the great 
questions as to which of the foreign breeds is the best adapted to this country; or whether the different sections may 
not require different breeds, as open to discussion, and as they are of the greatest consequence to the public, we shall 
he happy to be able, through our columns, to throw light on the subject. We allude here particularly to the Short 
Horns, Devons and Herefords, as those to which the attention of the public is at this time directed. 
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW-YORK. 
The report of this survey for the year 1839, being the 
fourth annual report, is now before us, and is a most, 
valuable document, embracing some 480 pages, and in¬ 
cluding reports from all the gentlemen engaged in the 
survey. The reports from Dr. De Kay on the Zoology 
and Entomology, and of Dr. Torrey on the Botany, are 
very full and ample; as is also that of Mr. Conrad on the 
Palaeontology or fossils of the state ; and must be con¬ 
sidered as valuable contributions to science, as well as 
necessary illustrations of the natural history of New- 
Y ork. 
When it is remembered that the grand object of the 
survey, as undertaken by the state, was the development 
of its agricultural and mineral resources; the making 
the mass familiar with topics now little understood or 
prized by them; the placing the history *of the plants 
. and insects of most consequence to the cultivator of the 
'"soil, whether for their beneficial or destructive proper¬ 
ties, in the hands of all; and the necessity of paying 
particular attention to every object of practical inter¬ 
est is realized, it is pleasant to observe the direct ten¬ 
dency of these reports to the fulfilment of these inten¬ 
tions. 
To render the investigations now going on beneficial 
in their fullest extent to all classes, it is desirable and 
necessary that figures and descriptions of all the most 
important insects and plants should be given ; their 
changes and habits described, and all that can interest 
the public, divested as far as possible of its purely sci¬ 
entific aspect, and clothed in a dress and language fa¬ 
miliar to all. In all cases where a plant or an insect 
has a popular or vulgar name, it should by all means be 
given as well as the scientific one, that the farmer may 
recognize his friends as well as his enemies. The cry 
which is made by some against the use of terms which 
constitute the language of science every where, is most 
ridiculous; but this labor and expense has not been un¬ 
dertaken for the use of the scientific alone, and in mak¬ 
ing out the final reports, this fact must not be overlook¬ 
ed. 
Already have the annual reports embodied a vast 
amount of economical geology; but as was to be ex¬ 
pected, the full illustration of the several topics embrac¬ 
ed in the survey, and their adaptation to practical pur¬ 
poses, has been deferred to the final reports. For these 
the public will look with much interest, and with every 
reasonable prospedt of not being disappointed. The 
practical skill, scientific investigation, and patient re¬ 
search which have been brought to this great work, af¬ 
ford the surest guarantee for its honorable and useful 
accomplishment; and of such a result, the series of an¬ 
nual reports may be considered as a satisfactory pledge. 
We had prepared an extended notice of the report 
for this year, embracing a synopsis of the labors of 
each of the gentlemen engaged; but have deemed it 
proper, from the mass of interesting agricultural matter 
on hand, to defer its insertion. We do this with the less 
reluctance, as we have in a late number alluded to the 
subject somewhat at length; and shall doubtless here¬ 
after have occasion to avail ourselves of the important 
discoveries and facts detailed in these reports. 
Annual Report of the Regents of the University. 
We have just received this report for 1839, and exam¬ 
ined its pages and statements with a care proportioned 
to the interest we feel in the great cause of education, 
of the state of which in New-York, this report, and that 
of the Superintendent of Common Schools, may be con¬ 
sidered as an official exhibition. 
Reports were received from 109 academies, and their 
present condition, number of students, &c. may be seen 
from the recapitulation given below for the last six 
years. 
Year of 
reports. 
No. of 
academies 
reporting. 
No. of scho¬ 
lars report¬ 
ed. 
Public mo¬ 
ney distri¬ 
buted. 
Average 
rate per 
scholar. 
1835 
64 
5,296 
$12,000 
$3 21 
1836 
65 
5,548 
12,000 
2 98 
1837 
69 
6,056 
12,000 
2 63 
1838 
■ 74 
6, 391 
12,000 
2 35 
1839 
106 
10,111 
40,000 
5 66 
1840 
109 
10,881 
40,000 
4 52 
There are in the 1st district 2 academies; in the 2d 
district 17 academies; in the 3d district 15 academies ; 
in the 4th district 23 academies; in the 5th district 17 
academies ; in the 6th district 8 academies ; in the 7th 
district 16 academies; and in the 8th district 18 acade¬ 
mies, that have reported to the Regents the past year, 
and there are several subject to visitation that have not 
reported. 
It appears from the above table, that during the past 
six years the academies have increased in number from 
64 to 109 ; and students reported, from 5,296, to 10,881; 
while the sum distributed has risen from $12,000 to 
$40,000. 
To the general or the scientific reader, the abstract 
of the meteorological returns from the several acade¬ 
mies, with the valuable papers furnished by Mr. W. C. 
Redfield, on the monthly mean height of the barometer 
for the past year, and the average mean for the last 
seven years ; and by Mr. Coffin, on the prevailing di¬ 
rections of winds in this state, will prove the most in¬ 
teresting part of the report. The returns in general 
appear to be made with a considerable degree of accu¬ 
racy, and the further introduction of approved instru¬ 
ments will annually tend to ensure such a result. By 
such annual reports, a vast amount of information 
will be collected, always available in attempts to ex¬ 
plain some of the most important phenomena of the 
universe. 
New-York, with a liberality most honorable to the 
enlightened policy of the statesmen that devised the sys¬ 
tem, has laid the foundation of the universal education 
of her citizens, broad and deep ; and the carrying out of 
the principles involved, and the proper management of 
the vast interests concerned, constitute one of the most 
important subjects of state legislation, or philosophic 
or philanthropic inquiry. That all men should be edu¬ 
cated, is a proposition that seems to meet with universal 
assent: the best manner of effecting this result, may be 
considered a question open for discussion. 
Our system of state education recognizes three class¬ 
es of schools; primary or district schools, academies, 
and colleges; and these are intended to embrace all that 
is required to qualify a man for any situation or busi¬ 
ness of life. The gradation appears a very good one, 
and no serious practical evils seem yet to have resulted 
from the working of the system; still we question 
whether essential modifications will not be hereafter 
required to meet the just hopes and expectations of 
the community on the subject. We think the primary 
or the district schools should be the grand point of in¬ 
terest with those who have the care of education in this 
state ; and every movement or tendency which looks to 
the elevation of other departments at the expense of. 
this, should be looked upon with distrust. It may well 
be questioned, whether the too great multiplication of 
academies, or what is in courtesy called select schools, 
may not have a tendency to produce undue distinctions, 
and a state of things not contemplated by the founders 
of our school system. One of the most unequivocal 
benefits of our academies, is the opportunity they 
offer to young men and women for qualifying them¬ 
selves as teachers of district schools, a privilege exten¬ 
sively embraced, as is evident from the several reports 
of trustees of these institutions, included in the above 
report. So far the influence they exert is good ; but if, 
by their multiplication, they are to be brought in direct 
contact and contrast with the district schools ; if, in the 
academy, the children of the wealthy and respectable 
are to be educated, while the less fortunate are to be con¬ 
tent with such instruction as the district school can 
give; if the feeling is to become general that it is more 
respectable to go to school at the academy or select 
school than at home, (and children readily embrace 
such notions;) and if the influence which should elevate 
the district school is to be withdrawn, and concentrated 
in the higher schools, the result would be most disas¬ 
trous to the hopes of the real friends of education 
That there is such a tendency at the present time is 
obvious, and it must be counteracted in time, not by de¬ 
pressing the standard of learning in the academies, but 
by elevating that of the district school; by checking in 
the bud that aristocratic feeling which leads the chilyl 
or youth whose school is the academy, to look with con¬ 
tempt on the one who remains where both should have 
done, in the district school. 
It was doubtless the intention of the projectors of our 
school system, that in the district school should be taught 
every branch of learning necessary to the active busi¬ 
ness of life; that the academy should be considered as 
a preparatory step to the college, or a place where those 
intending to teach, could be qualified for the occupation ; 
and that in the colleges, that education was to be found, 
more strictly belonging to the class named in courtesy, 
professional men. We do not regret that good advan¬ 
tages are enjoyed in our academies; we would only in¬ 
sist, that as far as possible, the same should be had in 
the district school; we would not depress or destroy the 
academies of our state, but we would have the district 
schools so organized and the course of studies so com¬ 
plete, that academies, as such, would no longer be ne¬ 
cessary ; we would not pull down the few, but we would 
elevate the many, and take effectual measures to check 
tendencies to castes and distinctions incompatible with 
the nature of our social and political institutions. 
After all, perhaps the most serious defect in our sys¬ 
tem is the one that allows of no provision, or takes any 
measures for teaching a science that lies at the base of 
state and national prosperity, and has and will continue 
to have more influence on the public happiness and wel¬ 
fare than all other sciences and arts united—the Science 
of Agriculture. There is not in the rich and powerful 
state of New-York, a single institution where the prin¬ 
ciples of agriculture are systematically taught, or where 
the practice can be illustrated or exhibited. The state 
has made ample provision for every branch of learning; 
from the spelling book of the beginner to the languages 
of Greece or Rome ; from the simplest and most impor¬ 
tant principles of knowledge, to the most abstract, and 
what some are pleased to call useless; with the single 
exception of that one which relates to the earliest, and 
by far the most important, of the avocations of the hu¬ 
man race. The cultivator of the soil has been left to 
instruct himself as he may ; and wffiile the farmer’s son 
is invited and urged to the pursuit of sciences useless to 
him, and the acquisition of knowledge xvhich is of doubt¬ 
ful utility, that which interests him the most, and most 
nearly concerns his usefulness, is to him a sealed book. 
While years are required to master subjects embracing 
much less extensive fields than agriculture, he is expect¬ 
ed to understand this science by intuition, and become 
a successful farmer by instinct. Unless we have xvhol- 
ly misapprehended the bearings and importance of this 
matter, there is here a defect in our system that requires 
removal; and to this conclusion we believe every un¬ 
prejudiced mind in the country will at last arrive. 
