Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1864-10-06

DD>tENdllou W oAb ba WIN 80 VIZ
Young. When well endowed they have
diflused knowledge both by publication
and by exhibitions. And in this way
have they enabled the landholdeL who
is Obliged TO conilne himself to his bust
ness, TO obtain his information and to
apply it TO his daily practice. They
constitute the best of schools--those in
which all are teachers and all are learn
ers. And they may be made the great |
repositories Of theories confirmed by |
experiment, of facts obtained by obser- !
walton, and OF rules of practice laid |
down by successful industry, from
which every farmer may draw his knowl-
edge. and which will be as far superior to
an organized school as their sphere is
larger and more diverse, and their teach
ers More numerous and more devoted to
the business of farming as an honest
and honorable means OF subsistence.
In claiming for an agricultural society
superiority'over an agricultural College
as a means of collecting and dfiusing
agricultural knowledge, ! do not in
tend to under-value the latter. The
foundation Of all knowledge of agricul-
ture is the accumulation of fixed facts,
suggested perhaps by accident, discoy-
cred perhaps by science, but however
obtained, proved and confirmed by the
practical farmer ON his land. Now, to
the records of an agricultural society
may come the tests OF every theory adj
vanced, from large territory, from a
variety of soils, and from considerable
| number of different modes of farming
| A theory which bears this test may be
come law at once for the farming
community. And until it has borne
! such test, it is theory still, no matter
| what its origin may have been, whether
| college or fafmyard While therefore
| an agricultural school can be no more
| than collection ofintelligent gentlemen,
| devoted to science as guide to agri-
culture, and engaged in cultivating a
| single farm according to the best known
| principles, it must depend upon a wide
| spread community of farmers for the
last grand process of proving and diff
| fusing it's theories And when we re
member that agriculture is not an eX-
act science, and cannot be, until the
| skies and seasons are subdued by man,
and that the facts discovered in the field
by the diligent cultivator are often OF
more practical value than those laid
| down by the student in his closet, we
shall not be surprised at the superior
| success which societies have thus far
met with as compared with schools in
the work Of advancing agricultural ed
ucation. | say harfthus far met a0ith, be
cause | think there is valuable work
yet to be done by the schools, which il
would be well for our States to re.
| member in founding their Agricultural
| Colleges.
Why, gentlemen, all the literature OF
agriculture goes to confirm this view.
The books which the farmer turns to
most eagerly for knowledge, are those
which contain just these facts to which
| | have referred, as q part of the treasury
Of an agricultural society.
Arthur Young traversing all England
for the materials out of which to write
| his admirable volumes, Juttero Tull
toiling with his own hands in order to
| extract from the soil itself the doctrines
| Of horse-hoing and drill-husbandry
with which to enrich his native island
Mr.. Culley devoted to the improvement
of cattle as the best college in which to
learn how to discuss their breeding anC
their feeding Fitzherbert, who, altho
Chief Justice of Common Pleas, was al
he tells us, Gan experienced farmer o
more than forty yeares" and wrote the
"Booke of Husbandrie" and so the adj
mirable writer's of modern days, al
write from the great standpoint of expe
rience. What richer fountaiR of agri
cultural knowledge can be found thar
the Transactions of the Royal and High
| land Societies. Where can a better les
son be read than is contained in these
modest volumes issued annually by oul
| local societies, and containing the re
| corded experience of the successful farm
| ers of the neighborhood We turn tt
this with confidence and hope, and we
turn from it with new light and cour
age for the pursuit of our calling. Lev
Bartlett writing from Warner, NH, DR.
Holmes making his weekly record in {
quiet town in Maine, furnish that kind
of knowledge, which gathered from thE
experience Of every surrounding farm,
is made useful to all farmers.
What treatise on sheep-husband
ry might be written, by sitting al
the fire. sides, or roaming over the pas
lures of Vermont farmers, and taking
notes of their experiences and labor:
in the business which they have brought
to such perfection. What funds of in
formation upon the cultivation Of crops
the management of orchards, the use o
manures, the conduct of the dairy, liz
concealed in the farm houses along these
valleys and hill-sides. The practical
learner and the truly scientific explorer
know this, and the great naturalist o.
America recognizes it's truth, when with
constant and unwearied toll, he gath
cred long array of facts from the breed
ers and exhibitors of the remarkable
collection Of animals at Springfield a
few days since, and stored them away
as valuable material for his lectures and
investigations during the coming winter
Agassz learning of Lang how to breed
i hol ses, and of Lathrop how to breed
cattle, and of Hammond how to breed
sheep was the grandest tribute of sci
ence to practice, that has yet been seen
alike significant of the wisdom an6
humility of the great saUan, and of the
sound sense and success of the intelli
| far,