Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1866-01-04
An Education Good Enough for a Farmer.

The best education is none too good.
Who sets out secOnd-rate fruit, if he can
get first-rate or who sows poor wheat
if he can get the best? What is the best
education that Farmer can have? Truly,
that which will fit him for most success
fully tilling the soil, for business inter
course with men, for taking a creditable
position in society, for serving best his fel-
lowmen and honoring his God. To help us
to decide what course Of mental culture
for that is what we generally mean by edu-
cation, will best accomplish these ends,
let us see what men are the best farmers,
and what their education has been As a
general thing, we believe that among those
farmers who work with their own hands
more or less, and are not merely propre-
tors of estates which they may or may not
personally manage, those not bred to the
business of farming, are by far most sue
cessful. Many of them were born ON the
farm, and others took to farming after learn
ing other business. Is then the education
which the farmer-boy picks up after he
leaves the farm, while he is at work in the
machine shop, showing the .jack-plane, or
bt hind the counter, the best he can have !?
No, indeed : but he gains something which
makes him better farmer than his neigh
bors. Promising that he would not have
returned to farming, or taken it up if he
had not a love for it, he has probably gain
ed in the shop or stOre,-FirSt, a Just eS-
innate of the value of accurate accounts, of
knowing the pecuniary success or failure of
the simplest ventures Second, high es-
timation of the value Of knowledge Of ones
business, which makes him read and think,
as we'll as work: Third, iberality in regard
to the views and opinions Of others 1t has
made him quick witted also, and not set in
his own way Besides, contact with men
has give him confidence in himself when he
knows where he stands, and lack of con-
fdence when he is not sure of his ground.
Such man will always succeed as a farm
er. He may be dreadfully green for year
or two, but in a short time he will beat the
old farmers out and out If our readers
will testify, they will confirm what we say,
and point out neighbors Of theirs that they
used to laugh at for their blunders and city
fed farming, which perhaps, was half book
farming and half guesswork, who now are
beyond being laughed at or at least the
laugh is on the other side These men have
gained their farming education by the hard
est. Our boys ought to have better
chance.
The Home School is where the boy gets
his first notions and principles, and these
will have their effect upon him to the day
of his death.
The Common School is where the founda
tions are laid Of whatever literary or book
education the boy ever gains, together with
4i,o H1icIn,,,t ,f H.. g i.
and thought, taste of mathematics, quick
ness at figures, etc.
The High Scd0ol,whether il be Academy,
College, or Agricultural College, is suppos-
ed to bring the young man forward to the
Threshold Of mature life with knowledge
enough to enable him to make good start,
and with such habits Of study and thought
that he will always value knowledge and
seek it. Finally there is
The School Of Experience, in which we
are all pupils and always have been, from
the time we first learned we could not reach
the moon, and that the candle-hamc was too
hot place for our fingers. 1t is iii the
school Of Ofexperience that men educate them
selves III their Judgment Of probabilities, in
the estimation of men for what they worth,
and in many other things which have a
great influence on their success or failure,
superiority or mcdiocrity in whatever bust
ness they follow.
This last excepted the other schools men
toned are named in order of their impor-
tancc in forming character and developing
the mind. The boy should have the best
instruction where and when this develop
ment takes place. The best teachers are
are those who inspire the child, o. youth,
with a desire to do best, and to learn most,
those who guide the young mind into those
channels in which it can and will pursue
useful knowledge with zest. child Of
fourteen we'll started, will de- we'll under
poor teachers, after that