Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1857-11-26
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

.
ing of the State Agricultural Society. That Re-
port VIC think embodies much that is worthy OF
calm, mature reflection. We have long ago been
impressed with the belief that there are no class
of men so lamentably ignorant, in what legitimate
" pertains to their daily avocation, rs farmers
If man has son of some promise, he lfor'"nd-
tbs pvcr y is dedicated to some one of the 'lcarned
professions" as confused, foggy conceptions OF
Law, Medicine or,Thcology are termed: the less
gifted arc sent to school-perhars to College, and,
like the gentle JUAN taught
"The languages, especially the dead,
The sciences-and most Of all the abstruse
The arts-at least all such rs could be said
To be the most remote from common use.
Now we would not be understood as ohjectng to
literary education for farmers. Far from it. Let
the influence of pure literature embclish and
bless the rural homestead. Let the adornments
OF n cultivated taste and polite accomplishment
blend with the morality and unsophsticated inno-
cence of the country. Let the freside, after the
tolls of the day, be nursery of genius and
frightened by the hues of poetry, the flow of wit
and the useful love Of history. We desire educa-
ton in its broadest and most elevated sense-the
higher the standard the better Let all the facu-
ties of the mind be fully developcd-let the
student be trained to think for himself--let him
receive the polish and feel the ennobling influence
of the "IIumanities" him, in short, receive
all the blessings which our Colleges so charity
diffuse and after he is prepared for the reception
of practical information, then let him be placed
at an agricultural school and thoroughly taught
the science and the prartre of farming, the prin-
ciples of economy, humanity to beast and servant,
rs we'll as the art of rural establishment and ar.
boreal culture We understand and appreciate
the distinction between education in its correct
and restricted sense, and the mere accumulation
of knowledge, and it is all.important to keep this
distinction in view 1t is education TINT envelopes
the man, morally, intellectually, and physically
It gives breadth and compass to bis mind, while
instruction is on the intellectual pabulum. But
the former is useless without the latter. An ap-
petite without food is suitable emblem Of we'll
trained, capacious mind without some field for in
vestigation. Law, Medicine, Theology, Ltcra-
ture, are open to few only-fora majority must
be nroducers. Farming is, at the South, the means
of producing-the basis of wealth and substan-
tial comforts, the end to which the mass OF our
Young men must bend their energies. This fact
gives permanent Importance to an education
pointing specially to this pursuit
But it may be asked, shall an individual who
intends to devote his life to turning the gebe,
spend three or four years in acquiring classical
educationo Yes, for this is necessary to make
him man-this is the drawing out, the develop.
ing of the mind to prepare him for the moral. So
cial and intellectual duties of life. Nor is it
matter of minor Importance, whether We consider
man ms preparing for n higher condition of exis-
tence or only in the capacity ola freeman, and as
member of democratic government. But few,
we fear, who call themselves democrats have
clear conception of the significance of that term
A Democrat is one who assiduously studies and
understands his individual rights: who is able to
act the part of legislator or constituent; who is
not the tool of party cliques, the slave of nggard
passions, the ambitious aspirant after undeserved
and unmerted honors, but in the broadest sense
ga freeman whom the truth makes free" 1t is
necessary then for tho farmer, if there are no
higher considerations, to be thoroughly educated
in order to be good citizen and true democrat
Acknowledging then the necessity for educating
farmers, as we'll as merely professional charac-
ters-the necessity for developing and expanding
their minds and imbuing them with the generous
and ,obling sentiments which adorn the classics
and commend elegant scholarship to all; still we
do not see '.ow this admission conflicts with or
dimnshes the necessity and duty of an education
looking immeG .tely to excellence in farming
This is his lifetime business and it is the first
characteristic of good and useful citizen, to see
him surprising others in some honorable, indus
trial employment The merchant, who by close
attention to business accumuates q fortune; the
barrister who by hard study has mastered the
complexities of the law; the ph sician who has ac-
ouired reputation for skill the farmer who has
brought science to the aid of practical sense
these are The useful men in any community. And
it is to amplify this latter class, to bring science
into immediate connection with skill, to inculcate
true ideas of economy as distinguished from mig
gardness-to teach the relative duties of master
and servant, to familiarze the farmer 80 far with
the laws of health that he may guard against To-
cal diseas es to accustom him to order and re-
guarity-to make him love the virtuous indepen-
dence, the hardy joys the innocent recreations Of
rural life-to make Home, which has been beauti-
fully and truthfully called "the garden of the
Affections" more cozy, comfortable and attractive,
that we propose system of agricultural educa-
tion. The scope of such an education would be
so much book-learning as could be practically il
piled to the details of life.
This is but one step towards the "Prussan
SYSTEM" to which we must come at last If the
spirit of reform is not checked by q conservative
ignorance That system is based upon the theory
that education must come down to the masses
that few educated men, diffused through the
country, will, directly or indirectly, communicate
to others higher aspirations as we'll as many of
the positive blessings of superior intelligence.
The Report on our first page does not contem-
plate connecting the movement any farther with
the Agricultural Society, but We think the society
could not labor for a more practical, more desira-
BILE, or more beneficial result than the organiza-
tion of some plan for an agricultural school
Fairs, speeches and resolutions are all we'll enough