The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1865-08-16
GOlIsIJ:MB:IA.:
Wednesday Morning, Aug.1s 1865.
Farm Schooling.

We republished, some short time
since, preamble and resolutions sub
mitted more than twenty years ago to
the Agricultural Convention of the
State, embodying q plan for-.th i'm
provement of the common school edu-
cation of the State. we believe that
the time has come when the necessity
for the adoption Of some such plan
will be generally recognized. 1T Will
be idle to continue any longer the
ancient system i'll any other than the
thicllly settled towns. In the sparsely
settled regions of the country, the old
plan is a physical Mpossibiity-a
moral absurdity--unless you can put Il
school house at every poor mans door;
and it will pe useless to do SO unless
you put a decent and capable school
master in it. Our next Legislature
will be forced upon the consideration
Of this among other topics vital to the
prosperity, the growth and proper
development of State and people. In
a conversation, yesterday, with the
Rev. MI. Yates, who is the regent or
superintendent of the (so-called) Ma
rine School of the State, he reports
the more recent experiments in that
institution to have been OF the hap
piest results. This school, it will be
remembered, was devised for the pnr-
pose of training.and educating ccr-
tain portion of the poor youth Of the
State, for the business of the sea, as
sailors and marines. The blockade
and shelling of Charleston harbor
compelled thc removal of the school
to the interior. Here, without chang
ing its name, the school somewhat
chanSedAits character, and became Il
farm school instead OF marine school.
The boys, instead Of ploughing the
seas, were set to ploughing the land,
and .tacitly, as it were, the plan as
submitted by us to the State Agricul-
tural Society twenty-odd years ago
was put in practice. The school was
required to be a self-supporting one.
SO many hours of the day were as
signed to book, and so many to prac-
teal farming studies. The result, ac-
cording to MI. Yates, has becnSemi:
nently encouraging. The boys are
growing equally in mind and body.
They will become useful raceSof
farmers, with a far higher intellectual
development than in the case of farm
ers generally; learn to read, write,
cypher-t,le r. r. r. sand to plough
and hoe, and reap and SOW, and rake
and mow-learn, in brief, all the de-
tailed processes Of thorough tillage
and a good farm yard. Briefly, the
school is not only superior to all other
free schools of the country, but is. or
will soon be made, entirely selt-sup-
porting. This is one of the great
desiderata in all such institutions. We
trust that, among the first hbors of
the Legislature, when it shall meet,
shall be the appointment OF a com
mission to examine and report upon
this institution especially, indicate its
advantages and defects. and suggest
the processes for enlarging the one
and repairing the other. AS matter
of course, like commission should
report upon the college and the sol
dsamt military schools. Education,
Of the proper kind, and guided by the
most Intelligent wisdom, must be one
of the greatest essentials in restoring Q
our State and people to prosperity and
strength.
Gen. Lee, it is understood, is now
engaged in writing a history of his