The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1870-06-09
!. From the Rural carozinian for June.
Education for the Agriculturist.

From the Rural Cdrolinian for June.
Education for the Agriculturist.
The time has come for us to think. That
great God, which has given to man all his bles-
sings, has commanded him to till the ground.
Hence he has made the tilling of the earth the
foundation of all civilization. Look abroad
upon man from the creation, and everywhere he
is savage-a roaming barbarian, till he sits
down to make his bread by the sweat of his face.
High and low are dependent on it for bread
high and low are alike affected by its prosperi-
ty or decline 1t is, therefore, the most impor-
tant of all the labors Of man, and the one for
which he most needs education.
Education should be considered in a four
fold relation /. That which directs our atten-
ton to God and Immortality g. That which
teaches us our duties to our fellow-men. 8. That
which endarges and gives control of our mental
faculties; and 4. That which prepares us for a
particular avocation.
l. The first class, that which directs our
attention to God and Immortality, should begin
in the nursery, and be continued, and be part
of all future instruction to manhood.
2. That which teaches our duties to our fel-
low-men, should also be early and forcibly
impressed, from youth to manhood. With rev.
erence and ilial fear towards God, the moral
faculties are, comparatively, easy of develop
ment. Then man is fortified with pure and
noble principles that, in the hour of fierce
temptation and trial, he will be covered in an
armor of protection. Inspire him with the
love of the beautiful-set before his view a
pattern of refined manners; let him see what
is excellent in painting, music and poetry; call
his attention to birds and insects, then to his
own organism, to see with.what admirable apti-
tude the internal constitutions of natures works
are to their external circumstances Let him
see what is sublime in nature; present him
with examples of moral grandeur, and kindle
within him aspirations Of glory, honor and i'm
mortality-then you will have aman bent to do
justice and love mercy.
8. That which gives control and strengthens
the mental faculties, should have large scope.
Embracing first and prominent, mathematics,
chemistry, astronomy and philosophy, to culti-
vate the faculty of reason; and the classics, to
cultivate the faculty Of language.
4. Under this head all the sciences are en-
hraced, in addition to the first three classes.
But most prominent such as are allied to, and
choose for himself With full understanding
of all these heads, the man is then Independent
of the.outer world, except for his bread, let
him take to whatever pursuit he may.
y, A knowledge of the first three of these class
SesNepares a man to be lawyer, doctor or di-
yine.. But it requires the fourth to make a
successful general, statesman, farmer or plant
,er. A full education has many and great ad-
.yantages, and, most important of all, it cannot
be taken away from him. 1t makes him active,
enterprising, circumspect, far-sighted, and pre-
pared for any emergency. Above these it Sc
cures to him the regard of the wise and good,
and he learns to respect himself To him men
look for counsel Of him his country claims
deliyerance in times of danger and distress.
He is-the pilot to steer the ship of State into a
safe harbor.
Still, learning the sciences without the prop
er moral training, will neither make safe
leader nor happy and prosperous people To
do both, the young must be inspired with rev.
erence for their parents and old age; with
proper Difference for the opinion of the wise
and good of all ages, and with that graceful
diffdence in their, own sagacity and power,
which leads them to have due respect for the
records of wisdom of the past; that honest
candor and earnestness- in contemplating all
things which strives to hunt truth-and a total
absence of arrogant forwardness and self-suf-
<fciency, which considers everything silly or
useless that does not agree with their own
views or does not conform to custom. With a
full education, the man of energy can turn
himself to any of the pursuits of life with con-
fdence of success.
Bat what in this country and age will be con-
sidered strange, though yet strictly true, it
requires more extensive, scientific knowledge
to make successful farmer or planter than for
any other pursuit of man. Yet, some tillers OF
the ground of more than ordinary capacity,
and of good Judgment closely watching his
own and the experience of others, have gone
so far ahead of the generality of tillers, as to
be by them considered successful But to draw
rfb o,r orl o,r 1ofo
and united power of production, demands in
the operator the capacity of general to dis
cipline and command his laborers; of mer-
chant, to keep accounts of all things connected
with his farm, his experiments, sales and pur-
chases; of the political economist, to know how
to prepare, when and where to send his products
to the most advantageous markets, and what
products to raise to suit his soil and climate,
by which to secure the greatest profit; of the
chemist, to analyze the soil, the plants, and the
manure he uses the historian of both ancient
and modern nations, and especially the politi-
cal condition of the nations around him; and
of the mathematician most of all, for strength
eniug the mind so as to grasp and master all
other knowledge. He should understand all
about mechanism and its laws, to see that all
his tools and implements are not only in order,
but properly adapted to the purpose intended
and how best 10 adapt Ine urauSnt 10 tne AMI
mails. He should understand hygiene, to man
soc the diseases of man and beast. He should
be, able to distinguish between the birds and in
sects that are beneficial and those that are in
furious to, his crops, and how to protect the one
and destroy the other. He ought to know all
about vegetable physiology; the effects of light
heat, water, electricity and the air upon vege,
tation. There are also the sciences of botany
rineralogy and hydraulics equally, if not more
essential to ensure the maximum of success
When thus prepared, it may suit his fancy to
study divinity, law or medicine, for either Of
which he is doubly armed And he is emf
nently prepared to be statesman to guide the
helm Of State, or general to lead armies, or q
farmer to draw from the earth, air and water
the maximum Of the blessings our kind Father