Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1870-02-11
THE AeRIoULTURAL oOLLEeE.

disagreement as to Its suitable location !
than to the difficulty of arriving at
such plan fer its organization and
management as would give assurance
of its success. No Legislature wants
to be responsible for failure, and the
results of the agricultural college ex-
pertinent in some other States have
been such as to impress our General
Assembly with the necessity for eau
tioD. tbs we'll known that the last
Legislature would gladly have availed
itself Of the presumable popularity
with the farmers to be derived from
establishing the college. had it not
been for the fear that in 80 doiug it
might be providing grave for mil
lions Of the public money. This, and
not the controversy about location.
was the real secret of tho failuze of
the agricultural college measure in
that body.
The all important thing, then, is to
bit upon the true idea of a successful
agricultural college, for with that the
location Of the Institution becomes a
secondary if not an indifferent matter.
What, then, is that true idea?
The law of Congress in substance
declares that the leading object of the
college shall be to diffuse agricultu-
raj information, in other words to
make educated farmers. But man is
not educated in the higher and truer
sense Of the word who has acquainted
himself with only one branch Of
knowledge. A man who haswever SO
good knowledge of law or Medicine
but knows nothing of any other sub
ject can hardly be said to be educated.
Education moreover implies training
as well as the acquisition of knowl-
edge The mere act of memorizing
facts develops one faculty only and may
destroy that balance and harmony Of
intellectual powers which is the very
essence of a highly cultivated and
we'll disciplined mind.
We conclude, therefore, that the far
mer no less than any other profession
alist should have a thorough, or what
We would call finished education.
Indeed, there is scarcely any calling
which brings into requisition so many
different branches of science as that
Of the agrieulturist, and there are many
reasons why the farmers should be the
most thoroughly educated of all
classes of society.
Whether the Agricultural College
should, within its owr walls, furnish
this general education is proposition
we shall not now stop to discuss. We
presume there is no doubt, however.
that on whatever plan the institution
is established it will afford facilities
for this general training, more or less
complete. The inquiry to which We
would now direct special attention is,
whether the institution should be or
ganized with view to the training Of
the young farmers only, or, in other
words, of those who are preparing for
farming Why should not the Ag-
rieultural College be to farmers gen err
ally what, for example, a Medical Col
lege is to doctors, or a University to
the professional teacher The prac-
tioing physician frequently spends his
winters attending lectures at some
prominent medical institution the
teacher often avails himself of the
advantages of some great school of
science that he may more thoroughly
train himself for his profession Why
should not the practical farmer or the
ljourneyman mechanic have equivalent
i advantages ?
We conceive that the greatest popu-
Iarity and success of the coming Ag-
ricultural School are to be attained in
the instruction it is to afford to
those who are already engaged or in
interested in farming, and not merely
to the young who are preparing for
that pursuit. The institution should
aim not merely to train the next gen.
GRAFTON of farmers but to benefit the
present one; to be not merely a place
of instruction for the young but a
fountain of agricultural knowledge
around which the older and even old
est farmers may every winter find it
a profit and delight to gather,
To this end the institution might
provide, during the winter season, a
course of lectures by the most eminent
scientists Of the country, together with
a series Of experiments in agricultural
chemistry, and suitable illustrations in
natural history and agricultural geoIo-
gy. We would have provided from
our Geological Survey. in a 70 oa@
dapted for the purposes a mineral
agricultural and botanical o-S:-. go
arranged geographically ee ,bs Ilno a1an :
the map of Ohio. aaa sbowing =.
glance the geoloGy, b ,t.nv ana ~
eralOgy Of every county Of the Stat
as wen = o4 =, great valleys and o
the Ss4a's ~ large. We would hav
'ne iecteF'ss, under certain restriction
&C Sesslble to everybody, bu
more Specially to farmers and meehan
les o. whatsoever age or station.
With these special features alone W.
believe the Agricultural School could
be made popular and successful while
without them, though combining every
other advantage, it might fail. OI
schools and colleges for general edu-
cation We have an abundance; what
the farmers and mechanics need il an
institution which shall do for their
professions what no other school does
or can do. IF our Agricultural and
Mechanical College shall not succeed
in accomplishing this twill degenerate
into an ordinary high school and be
compelled to compete under disadvan-
taRes with every nthar inskikution nj