Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1858-01-16
Agsssussussa College.

now S&lsotO0 la tn1o CSeb0, ~ MAKE - SoIIeS
Of extracts from an address on the subject
Of education in agriculture, delivered ct the
dedication Of the Agricultural College of
Michigan, at Lansing, on the 18th day of
May, 1857, by Prof. J. r. Williams, Presi-
dent Of the Institution
"By reason of Evolutionary neglect and
prejudice. seven-eighths of the race, on
whose toll all subsist, have been deemed
unworthy Of mental cultivation, while the
smaller fraction, who live, some by most
honorable toll and devotion to human inter-
ests, and some on the miseries, credulity ig-
norance, and even crimes of mankind, have
tages of education. The para.ite, insinua
ly nurtured, while the parent tree. graphing
Its strong roots in the earth has been neg
lected.
cit would be well, therefore, for gen.
erous citizen to consider whether the enter
prise before US, designed to multiply his
earnings and enjoyments, and elevate his
captious and trivial objection that it may
cents per annum for each inhabitant, embra-
cling the next ten years. would probably
cover appropriations for the College as am
pie as those of last winter, and far more
than could be required. 1t would not amount
to six kernels of corn per day. If an Insti-
tuition should perish from such considers
ton, the wisdom of the people will degene-
rate to . level of the wisdom Of the SEN
ate. ..... +.
&c The next object is embraced in ques-
tion triumphantly asked How can you teach
man to pillow or to hoe p that is, How
can his practical skill be improved?' l
contend that even in this narrow view, the
mere application Of labor, there is much to
be learned. An English ditcher will dig
three rods Of ditch to your two, and do it
better. An English plowman, taught with
implements far inferior to yours, will strike
straighter and far more even furrow than
you can. If . farmers practical skill can
not be improved, he had better abandon the
threshing machine and take up the fail, and
had better resume the sickle for harvesting
his grain. The average production Of corn
in Michigan is twenty. three bushels per acre;
of wheat, less than thirteen bushels per
acre, and of wheat in Ontario, model
county in New York, fifteen bushels per
acre. Now, if the practice is right, the far
mer does not und' rsfand the truejprinciples
of culture. If his theory is right, then his
practice is wrong. Probably theory and
practice are both wrong, and there is room
for vast improvement in both. In some of
the old countries in Europe, the wheat crop
runs up to forty, fifty, and even seventy
bushels per acre, and their average crop is
nearer forty than thirty bushels per acre.
The difference between thirteen bushels and
thirty bushels per acre would make an an
nual gain to Michigan, during the next six
years, of $4,000, 900 at least. Have the
wheat growers Of Michigan nothing to
learn?
&C. The exhaustion and deterioration of
the soil has been estimated at ten per cent
per acre, annually. There are about $780,.
600, 900 acres of arabic land in the United
States. There must be loss of $lS, 000, 600
annually, therefore, mostly for want Of
practical skill in resuscitation of the land.
The cultivated land of Michigan is 3,00O, 900
acres. The loss to M chigan, therefore,
from this cause, is about $500, 900 annually.
This exhaustion of the soil is great nation
al practical error and sin. Has the farmer
nothing practically to learn9
"Pass along any great thoroughfare, and
YOU will soon come to farmer who yards
his cattle in the public highway, wastes the
manure which should fertilize his fields, and
allows the public to thread their breakneck
passage among them. The next. perhaps,
feeds his c,rn whole, and loses third of it's
nutriment. Another deprives his pigs of
light, and their growth stops. Another al
lows pestilential gasses, generated under his
barn, to be inhaled by his stock. Another
allows his cattle to drink out of mere mud
holes, instead Of pure water. Another al
lows his sheep in winter to 60 without any
water at all. The next exposes his calves
and colts to the win,ry storms, thus arrest
ing their growth, while it would absolutely
cost less to keep them growing and housed.
The next has perhaps not fit tool to work
with efficiency on his whole farm. Another
sows poor or mixed seed, or not half enough,
and as a consequence reaps half CROP
The next ploughs his land but three or four
inches deep. He HIS little faith in deep
blowing and thorough pulverization, but
has full faith in the signs of the zodiac, the
moon and luck He believes in good luck
while putting in the seed, and has reali-
zing sense of i'll luck in harvesting costly ex-
perience in both theory and practice"
6 The plan Of the Institution is foreshad.
owed, and partially defined in the law of its
organization. A system of instruction must
now be adopted. 1t is proposed to take
some of the youth of the State from the
Common School, and give them thorough
instruction in those natural sciences and
practical arts, which conspire to aid men in
the cultivation of the earth. 1t is proposed
to do for the farmer what West Point does
for the soldier what the recently establish
ed Scientific Schools of our country do for
the machinist or engineer, or the Medical
Course of studies does for the physician
For the Board Of Education to proclaim
now, fully matured plan, is impossible.
Experience may demand q Different policy,
from what now seems imperative. What
the chief features of the Institution must be,
and what its comprehensive scope and capa-
cities ought to be, can, however, be sufd-
GENTLY indicated.
"Heretofore Q vast majority of young
men have been barred from the advantages
Of collegiate education. Free tuition is
here supplied. An ample homestead is gen.
erously furnished by the state, where It is
the duty and the privilege of the student to
be employed, not less than three, nor moro
than four hours per day. The remuneration,
after the estate is subdued and rendered pro-
ductive, ought chiefly to board the student,
leaving but few expenses incumbent upon
him.
Cali educational systems are faulty, aye,
pernicious, that do not embrace physical
health and development with intellectual
culture. "a sound mind in sound body
should be the aim and object. An amount
of labor that will invigorate without f.
tigueing the system, ought to be as profts-
bic and celebrating, as it is necessary.
AT the outset we are met with the objec-
ton, that all attempts at associating labor
with the acquisition of knowledge, in semi
naries of learning, have proved failures
Sometimes, however, the labor has been