Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1850-07-04
Agricultural Education.


missioner ofParents, cannot be too much
weighed by our farmers. We have long
seen, that Education, both agricultural and
general, could alone secure for that calling
the success in husbandry, the position IN So
cety, and the influence in our Legislatures
which it now as certainly does not as 1t
certainly should communication.
Since 1923, when Judge Buel INTRODUCED
tbn first bill TO establish an Agrlcniturdi
CoIlere in the State of New-York by leg
;slatiye aid, constant efforts have been maze
to render the study ofrural economy as
sr;onc, not less than its practice as an 6rt'
popular in this country. IWcnty-seVeh
wears have now elapsed, a whole generation
has passed off the stage, and New ork,
with her five hundred thousand cuItlvators
Of the soil, is still without the first Agrlcu l-
tural School worthy of the name; nor Isl
any other state in better condition. Dark
as the view of Agricultural Education re-
ally is, it is the darkness that proceeds the
dawn OF bright and happy day. Men VINO
have Iabored for the improvement OF agrI-
culture. and the elevation of AgucuIturlsts,
for a quarter of century, with little hope
and less of pecuniary reward, now realize
the beginning Of an suspicious change IN
pnblic sentiment, Thanks to Agricultural
Journals and societies, the people will soon
dicoyer that labor and capital devoted to
tllage and husbandry are as worthy of con-
sidcration as labor aud capital employed in
Mining, Commerce aud Manufactures. so
soor as this truth shall be fairly comprehen-
ded, the long struggle of the friends OF IN
Droyement will be crowned with success,
and the victory Won over both ignorance
and It's traditions.
tits, indeed wonderful how long those
, eulighncd and reasoning farmers, who,
like WASHINGTON cherish a due respect for
their bioh calling, have had to beg, and
BEG in vain, of State Legislatures and of
CONGRESS. for little assistance to prevent
the universal impeverishment of American
. soils. Whatever has been done to arrest
The exhaustion of araled lands, has been
effected not only without due aid from
, Government, but in spite o. a mistaken pol
icy which encouraged the removal ofall the
clements Of bread and meat from cultivated
fields, and their speedy transportation be-
yond the possibility ofreshtutlon Neither
the earnest recommendation of the lIlustrl-
Gus farmer of Mount Vernon, nor the pray
crs of two carnations Of agriculturalsts,
nor the painful fact that nearly all titled
lands were becoming less and less product
i've, could induce auy Legislature to foster
-. the study Of agriculture as SCIENCE
Happily this term, when used in connec'
ton with rural affairs, is no longer the sub
ect Of ridcule.
Some pains have been taken in this re
port to prove that one thousand millions
n dollars judiciously expended will hardly re
store the one hundred millions Of acres o
partially exhausted lands in the Union t
: that richness Of mold and strength of lerti
ity for permanent cropping which they pc
scssed in their primitive state,
The continued uifulness of the cart
is an interest far greater and more eudurln
'e than any fern Of Government.
a 1.-THE % ,000, 600 of ofpeopIe now in tn
T. United States may righlluly exhaust tn
re natural fertility of one-third of the arab
'e lands of the country, the a. 900, 600 VIII
'e will be there 20 years hence may properI
al consume the productiyeuess of the remain
y nr twoIhirdsof all American terrltoty
e \ greatprincplc is involved int the scienc
u ofaariculturc, whichrcaches through indet
y mite generations, and forms the basis of a
III passibe Improvements and Of the highe
CT hopes of our race All advancement is in
'e practicable in untry that closely appro
g mates the condition of desert
" As anation of farmers, is it not time tn
y we inquire by whatmcans, and on what tern
II the lruitiulness of the earth and vigor off
IN invaluable products may be forever mai
N tanned, ifnot forever Improved!
y These are questions OF universal concer
H. ment to the carful and rigid investigate
g. OF which no man should refuse to lend
NC listening ear. A governmental policy viii,
al result in inproyerishng the natural fertiIi
q Of land, no matter by what popular name
u is called, must have an end. 1t is only
question Of time, when this truly spendthri
course, this abuse Of the goodness of Pro
idence, shall meet its inevitable punshmer
dy To show the necessity Of reform, pla
or estimate has been made, in the chapter {
hit d" Agricultural Statistics, TO prove that '
ed annually waste enough Of the elements
ID bread, without which not the first kernel
nd corn can be formed, to produce one thou
h. aud million busheI of this important stapI
m The Board Of Agriculture Of Ohio est
ne mates the crop of corn in lS49, within Il
I'd limits Of that State, at 20, 0G0, 600 bushel:
lis and it will hardly be eXtrayagant to sa
he that fbp farmers of Ohio Indiana MiChira
- Illinois and wisconsin, export million tor
ut of breadstuf5 and provisions. where the
st Import one tun the atoms drawn from the
o. virgin soil, to form agricultural product
n Can it be said, in truth, that million tut
IS. OF bread and meat are produced from nothing
ne VIII it be contended that the earth with
Il the reach of pIowIng contains an unlimite
I'd amount of the precise things consumed
In make the plants, whose organic and mo
Is ganc elements are taken from the SOIL an
I'd never restored If this be true, then a
tx fertilizers are not only unnecessary, BIT
I'd absolutely worthless. This cannot be SO
- for lands that seventy years ago produc
,e from IS to35 bushels of wheat in the Stat
n of Now York, now yield only from six I
er nine bushels per acre and in all the oil
e, planting States the results of exhaustion ar
~ still more extensive and still more dsas
y trOus.
as A lack Of mental culture and discipln
TX is the most serious impeachment TO the diffu
.. sion of agricultural science among tn
ct mass of farmers. Its language is to then
e an unknown tongue. Hence tho mos