State Convention - —Grass is King. 405 
said the best way for a young man to learn about agriculture is to 
bind himself out in a three-years 1 apprenticeship with some good 
farmer, and, at the expiration of his engagement marry his daugh¬ 
ter. 
This may, and doubtless will settle his hash; but unless he is a 
royal good fellow, he ought not to be invested with that high de¬ 
gree; as the price of a farmer’s marriageable daughter, reared under 
proper influences, should be far above rubies; lor she will do her 
husband good and not evil all the days of her life, she seeketh wool 
and flax; she girdetli her loins with strength, and strengtheneth 
her arms; she perceiveth that her merchandise is good; she layetli 
her hands to the spindle and distaff; she reacheth forth to the poor 
and needy; she is not afraid of the snow, for all her household are 
clothed with scarlet, strength and honor are her clothing; her 
mouth utteretli wisdom; her tongue is the law of kindness; she 
looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the 
bread of idleness—her children arise up and call her blessed; her 
husband also, and he praiseth her.” Under such auspices a man 
may become a good farmer; for he will learn from his sensible wife 
that progress and godliness are profitable, with less technicality, 
but in a more practical form,* than if he had hoisted his heels 
higher than his head, in a purposeless and indolent sojourn of four 
years in one of our Yankee-Doodle subsidized colleges, which has 
assumed an agricultural title to secure a land-grant endowment that 
practically contributes little or nothing to agriculture. 
We need in this country more of those facilities for the acquisi¬ 
tion of a thorough agricultural education which exist in France; 
where, in nearly all the primary schools, the elements of agricul¬ 
ture and horticulture are taught; while in many of the larger towns, 
such as Amiens, Bordeaux, Nantes, Rouen, Toulouse, etc., public 
courses of agricultural information are conducted at the joint ex¬ 
pense of town and State, by learned professors; and government 
schools of agriculture are maintained, with choice breeding-studs, 
sheep, dairy, and stock farms, and imperial establishments of great 
completeness and perfect equipment for the propagation of accurate 
and practical knowledge upon the several branches of, and acquain¬ 
tance with a technical and scientific education appertaining to 
agriculture. There are over fifty farm-schools in operation in dif¬ 
ferent parts of France. Above these are three great veterinary 
