Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1858-08-05

fourth the mber which the Institution
designed to accommodate, will be receive
In the hrst instance, and similar numbe
every succeeding year.
We propose to teach Mathematics, Natu
raj Philosophy, Agricultural Chemistry, Ag
rlculture, and Agricultural History, Horti
culture, Veterinary Practice, Geology, Bot
any, Entomology, Civil Polity, Ethics, and
all branches requisite to Il thorough practi
cal and scientific English education, which
can he acquired in a four years course. Ii
short, we propose to afforI facilities for The
acquisition of such an education as will
qualify for the discharge of any duty oul
country may require of her citizens.
But independent of the benefits which the
Farmers High School of Pennsylvania, as
an educational institution, will afford to its
inmates, there are other advantages directly
flowing from it, in which every man reuuir-
ing food aud raiment will Participate
! Among these are the benefits derived from
the Institution as an experimental farm.
Experience Is the foundation of knowledge.
induction from the results of Experience is
Science. lnductions from the Experience
OF the past and present age in agriculture
Is Agricultural Science. A full and accurate
knowledge of these results-of this science
IS all to which the individual farmer. as n
general rule, should aspire. Ifhe leave the
attainments of science for the uncertain
field OF experiment, he is much more likely
to fali than to succeed and should he sue
ceed IN the first experiment, his success hay-
ing arisen, as it may, from fortuitous cir
cumstances OF season, affords but slight as.
surance of success in the second
Experiments in agriculture are, therefore.
too expensive for the ordinary farmer. If
this were not so, however, experiments by
individual farmers as they are published in
many OF our periodicals, are wholly unreli-
able, and are calculated rather to mislead
than to direct. This class of experimenters
publish only their success-not their failure.
The farmer, seduced from the beaten path
by the result of single experiment, under
other circumstances of season, signally fails.
lie loses, it may be, his crop, and he and
his neighbors are led to attribute the result
to what they are pleased to denominate the
fallacy of +" book farming"
Experiments in agriculture, which lead to
scientific knowledge, are those only, present
ed from year to year, through every diversi.
ty OF season, whether hot or cold, wet or
dry. The results of every crop must be
noted and registered with accuracy Where
will this be done ? where can this be done,
excepting at an institution such as YOU have
IN the Farmers High School, with a portion
OF her lands set apart and designated as the
" experimental farm" in charge of scientific,
practicalmen, whose duty and whose delight
It will be, to institute, to register, aud to
publish from year to year, for your benefit,
their experiments, whether successful or un.
successful
Wheat, the staple of Pennsylvania, has, in
some sections Of the State, entirely, and in
others partially failed. No remedy has yet
aro1 a. 4 II
midge; and yet we are not without hone in
the fact that the science of Entomology is yet
in its infancy, aud that some new variety of
wheat may be found or produced bv cross
Foundation, exempt, by early maturity or
otherwise, from the ravagcs Of the insect.
But can we reasonably hope, until we raise
up and place in the fed of labor experiment
ters qualified for the faithful discharge of so
high and important a trust?
Great benefits will also be derivable from
the Institution as chemical laboratory for
the analyzation of soils and manures. For
this purpose, in several of the States, an az
rlcultural chemist Is appointed and supported
at public expense. In the rapid advance of
chemical science, it is not for US to say what
attainment may be reached by the agrlcultu-
raj chemist in ascertaiuing the defects and
directing to the means Of supplying the wants
of particular soils; but this we can say, with
confident assurance, that chemistry affords
the only reliable safeguard against imposition
and fraud in the sale Of the whole class Of
artificial manuTes.
As a veterinary school, this Institution will
be invaluable in ditfusng that highly useful
and much needed branch of science q knowl-
edge OF the anatomy, structure and constitu-
ton Of animals, and the prevention and cure
Z i. 4. IL
sands of horses and other valuable domestic
animals are lost in Pennsylvania every year,
from the professional ignorance which prevails
upon this subject. In France, England, and
Germany, veterinary schools are common,
and are we'll supported, and prove highly ben
efcial to the community.
As affording to all who desire it an oppor
tunity of seeing and examining the machines
and implements used in agriculture or horti-
culture, ascertaining their uses and the soils
to which they are respectively adapted, the
Institution will be highly beneficial. For in
formation, the farmer now goes to a State
Agricultural Exhibition. Seeing around him
none but strangers, he experiences feeling
of solitude in the wilderness of society He
views vast number and variety of machines
and implements of husbandry, and after all
his examination and enquiry, he comes away
feeling that he has acquired little, if any in
formation deserving the name of knowledge.
He turns, 1t may be, into an agricultural
warehouse. Beset by men whose business it
Is to sell, he looks upon no implement-if he
accept their epreSentatiens-not exactly suit
ed to his wants.
How different his situation at the Farmers
High School! Come whenever he may, with
IN the bounds of the Commonwealth, he there
| NM nfa H. 4. L
greets him with hearty welcome, saying
Come and see the work they have done-come
and see the work they are doing, and notice
the soil to which they are adapted. Thus
guided by friend, the visit is extended from
the implement-hall to the books containing
the registry of experiments-these are left, to
view, on the experimental farm, the unregis