Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1869-01-08
eiven YOU seek and We shall find knock

and it shall be opened unto you"
But the Immediate province of your
committee is to consider available or
practical education " in its bearings on
agriculture. The importance of this view
of education gives it vast claims upon your
attention, and the committee freely con-
fess their inability to treat the subject as
it should be, and especially in the narrow
limits before them.
Agricultural education is of recent orr
gin. The first school of this character, of
which we have been able to find any no.
tice, was established about the close of the
last century. This department of educa-
ton may be said to be the legitimate off
spring of modern science, for until the
year 1914, when Liebig published his first
work On agricultural Chemistry" it had
made little progress. Since then, it has
taken firm root in all the more enlighten-
ed countries of Europe, and in several of
the Northern States of this country
Wherever introduced, it is remarkable
how rapidly it grows into favor.
For highly interesting and instructive
history OF agricultural schools and colleges,
both in this country and in Europe, to-
gether with the methods of conducting
them, the sciences taught, and the many
advantages which they promise to agricul-
ture, we refer the members to the report
of the Commissioner of Agriculture for the
year 1865. This highly instructive paper
was written by Henry T. French, Presi-
dent of the Massachusetts Agricultural Col
lege, and covers nearly fifty pages in the
report referred to.
Among the many advantages to be de-
rived from agricultural education, it prom
ises to supply a desideratuna now felt in all
our schools, viz: some means of physical
development.
The old system of examining a boys
head, and stinting his body till his legs be-
came as small as broom straws, is rapidly
passing out of favor. People of sense be-
gin to believe the ''Sana mems in SQnO cor
pore" of the ancients was no myth. In
other words, that bone, sinew and muscle
enter into the composition of man as yell
as brains. With view to meet this de-
mand the military feature is introduced
into many of our schools. Much as we
admire the soldier, in his place, we cannot
advise the general adoption of this thing,
especially as we can recommend something
better instead OF it. A very small proper
ton Of any people need be educated to the
profession of arms. 1t is hardly necessary
to provide schools for educating the rank
and file as, at best, they are to become mere
machines at the will of superiors /; besides,
at this time, the military is not very
promising field for the display of Southern
talent. Another evil to be apprehended
from the too general adoption of military
schools is that it gives undue Importance
to this department, and has tendency to
raise the military arm over the civil, some
thing that we have seen quite enough of in
our day.
This desiderole31 may be we'll supplied,
especially among an agricultural people, as
Ge enaphticdLly are, by introducing "agri-
cultural science and practice" into our
schools and colleges. To our young col
lege friends this would be an introduction
of the " MiLe cum ,lulce," which We take the
liberty of rendering for them to mean,
"when they return home from q school
possessing such advantages, they would be
able to make themselves useful as we'll as
ornamental"
Byintroducing an agricultural feature our
entire scheme of educationwouldb be utilized;
for, whilst its higher operations would not be
interfered with, its physical bearings would
be turned to profitable account and made
to tell in favor of the general scheme.
We maintain that no exercises can be in
troduced into our schools more wholesome
and invigorating than those connected with
the operations OF agriculture" quiet III
their nature and carried on in the open
air, when pursued WI, moderation, so far
from fatiguing, agricultural labors refresh
and invigorate the mind and prepare it for
pursuits more purely intellectual Mr..
Coleman, In speaking of agricultural schools
in Europe, further remarks There can
be no doubt that man will perform more
intellectual labor who devotes a portion,
and not IL small portion Of every day to
healthful, physical exertion, than the man
who abandons himself in his study excu-
sively to his books"
There can be no doubt that the science
taught in a course Of agricultural education
furnish equal training with any other
course, and far moro practical results for
future use.
Agricultural education aims to elevate
the laboring classes by combining skill and
education with labor ; and with the aid of
science to shorten labor and increase pro-
duction. It aims to draw to thesupport of
agriculture the master minds Of the age,
and enrich it with the treasures of science
till it stands on an equal plain with the
learned professions. 1t aims at more, that
the men who follow this God-ordained call
ing, shall stand forth the peers of any other
class of men, the aristocracy of this earth,
if there is to be any.
With us at the South, where the sciences
are destined to play SO important part in
the development of our vast agricultural
resources, agricultural education can only
be question of time. Already we begin to
discover the out groupings of a deep seated
desire for it, in the rapidly increasing de-
mand for agricultural literature among
our people. Agricultural clubs, agricul-
tural societies, emigration societies, agri-
cultual libraries and associations are all
the precursors of this mighty engine of
modern civilization and progress So sure
as fate, agricultural education will sweep
over this fair Southern land of ours, and
leave in its train a prosperity never before
witnessed by our people. We may do much
to hasten the propitious day of its advent,
if we make the effort and perhaps no pc
Rod of our history could be more suitable
than the present.
We have just experienced social con-
vulsion in which many of our customs and
habits of thought have been broken up
New customs and new ideas are rapidly sue
ceeding ; and it is strange with what IA
cility they take place. Society seems to be
still in a sort OF transition or plastic state,
and easily impressed with almost any de-