Litchfield enquirer., 1870-10-06

denv them the facilities afforded by our present agricultural schools and colleges.
 You are aware that under the act of Con- eress passed June IT, 1862, giving public lands to all the states end territories for the purpose of endowing colleges. and for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts, the Massachusetts Agricultural College was established, and is now in the fourth year of it's existence. It is B fiourishiug in- and numbers over one hundred students, most of them the sons of farmers, and official duties having required me to attend the public examinations during the past year, and to investigate the internal and external arrangements of the college, l can speak of it's merits with some knowl- edge. It is the only institution we have in New England where young man can &C., quire thorough practical education at slight expense. The outside expenses per annum are $25O, but through scholarships of our agricultural societies, and by per sonal labor on the farm, the student can easily get through with an outside expendi- ture of $1OO. The instruction is not all from books and lectures, but is carried on in the field, where every process of farming is under the eyes of the students and par- ticipated in by them, and explained by the professors. I have been an occasional visi- tor at the college from it's commencement, and have been astonished at the progress made by boys who came from the farm ap' parently dead to every thought of advanced scientific culture, but who are now physic' ally and mentally equal to any of their com peers. Most of these young men will return to their homes and accomplish much good by their example as farmers, and others will be needed as editors and teachers to promote tbe advancement of agricultural education throughout the country. Har- yard University is about adding agricultu- ral instruction to her already numerous branches of learning, and private munifi- cenoe is providing for schools in which the agricultural and mechanical arts shall be taught to male and female and why shall not the girls be instructed in the science of horticulture and agriculture There are some 10000 virgins in Massachusetts, and perhaps nearly as many in Connecticut, who are in want of husbands and healthy en- ployment. Most of them are probably bet ter instucted than the daughter of the con- traband who, being requested to indicate
 what kind of accomplishments she was de- sirous of having her hopeful daughter pos
 sess s,said, "De gal must be larned de piano
 and painting anyhow; and mebbe arter a while readin, and writin."! But, whilst the
 accomplishments are eagerly sought after,
 the homely virtues are getting rare, e,and our
 daughters are apt to neglect their house. hold duties for piano drumming and novel reading and good many parents who see
 the last employment pretty sedulously fol-
 lowed, are almost ready to join in the an-
 athemas of the early settlers of Virginia g.
 gainst education of any kind. An instruc- tion in outdoor pursuits would create
 taste which would not only lead to the mind and body having healthy occupa- tion, which would exclude those more friv- olous and unhealthy, but would afford op- portunity for assistance te the husband or parent, and for profitable employment when
 other resources have failed. The horticul- tural school for females just started in Mas sachusetts is step in the right direction,
 and though we would not repress the petit
 coated attorneys who we hope may all be. come mothers is laac, nor the medical women, nor even the minister in chignons, nor the public lecturer in silks and satins-for lee. turing is female vocation, as every hus- band knows, s,-yet we sOould encourage at- tention to gardening and lighter modes of farming as more within the sphere of wo- men than even these various callings.
 There are many fine ladies of England who are noted as breeders of domestic anil mals, and nearly all those living in the country are qualified to give general over- sight of the farm, and the exigencies Of war in our own land, and now in Germany, have developed the ability of the mothers and daughters to perform nearly all the la- bor usually devolving upon the head of the family. But we don't ask our wives and daughters to haul out manure, nor plough. nor mow, nor rake but we desire they should know how to plant and prune, di- rect the preparation and cultivation of the garden, and know enough of the duties of the farm to give intelligent direction to our intelligent hired men-sOhen ,ue get Mens. Perhaps they have got to come from China.
 Let us examine for few moments the agricultural record of your own State. com pare what she has done with the progress of other States of the Union, and see whether with her productive land, her in- dustrious and intelligent yeomanry, she might not by educating her young men in their calling and by more systematic farm- ing. have accomplished more. A comic historian remarked that "Some people of