The Republican journal., 1871-02-09
THOUGHTS UPON AGRICULTURE BY EMIL
NENT MEN,

During the Farmers Meetings. held while the
New England Agricultural Societies. Show and Fair
at Manchester, n. H., Sept 60 was holden. The
following thoughts were elected in the deoale>' WE
copy for the benefit OF our readers
Agricultural Chemistry Failure.
| think we are in the infancy Of agricultural de-
yelopment, We know very little about the appli-
cation of science to agriculture: There was time
when it was thought that agricultural chemistry
would be material aid to the farmer but it has been
found that agricultural chemistry. as theory. can
do very little. 1t is worth something, but we find
that we have placed too much confidence In it; and
from the fact that it amounted to but very little in
the hands Of men who had been practically educat-
ell in the business of farming were prejudiced
against ''book farming" as they called it. Now,
there was no objection to ''book 1armng. ht the
objection was TO the idea of farming entirely hy
book.
Practical knowledge Essential.
think there is no true farming except that which
comes from practical knowledge Of agricultural
matters. man must sow, reap, plough hoe.
and learn by his own experience how labor can be
eeonomized and the products of the earth obtained
To The best advantage, before he can become sue
cesstul farmer. So that book learning after ALL
amounts to but little unless man has had pr:ic
teal life on the farm.
A man may invest large capital in his agricul-
tura operations, but the returns that he will get
will be small in proportion to the OUTLAY which he
makes, unless he has practical knowledge. The
farming which is carried on by the nobemen of
Great Britain could not be tolerated in this country
They have splendid cattle, beautiful lawns, finely
cultivated furms, but it costs an immense amount of
money to carry on those farms, and no man in this
country could work in that way unless he were Il
millionaire. The farming of the nobility of Great
Britain is fancy farming, and although the world
gets great deal OF knowledge from that Kind of
farming, yet it is matter of very grave doubt
whether the injury done by such men through the
example that they SET is not very much greater
than all the good which can be derived from their
labor
| believe that farmers should be educated, as l
believe mechanics should he educated. but yoll can
not educate man to handle tools except you nut
the tools in his hands. You may give n man les
sons for years upon handling the plane. the saw or
the auger, but he cannot handle these tools to adj
vantage, he cannot do good work, simply because
theory can do very little for him. 1t can do some-
thing for him. but it is suggestive rather than vaua-
bic in any other way. A farmer can no more eN-
pect TO succeed az farmer without practical know
ledge OF the best way TO use the tools of his trade.
Labor Conguers."
Men must be made by their own labor their own
industry. Every man, sir, makes himself; and if
man Is good farmer, it is not because he has any
iine-spun theory that he has got out of book it is
not because he has studied agricultural chemistry, it
server, even, OF other mems labor, but because by
his own industry, the application of his own powers
OF body and mind, he has wrought out his own
success.
Agricultural Colleges as Helpers.
believe our Agricultural Colleges are going to
he great helps to the farmer, because they Will train
the minds OF the young i'll the direction of agrcul-
tural industry and labor. If the young man aban-
dons agriculture when he graduates, his knowledge
of agriculture will stop there. We all know that
men grow only in proportion they exert them.
selves; The hlacksmith's arm grows strong be-
cause he it; but let the blacksmith stop Tsine
his arm. the muscles relax, it grows feeble, and by-
and-by becomes like the arms of other men. So it
is in all the other departments of industry and life
so long as man Keeps his brain active, just SO
long will he develop and grow; and when he stops,
he will stop growing, though he read all the books
III the world, because he cannot add to his own
mind by committing to memory that which has
been developed by The minds of others. so that
all growth is selt:created and sef-creatng, and
whoever grows in this world in any direction.
grows by his own efforts, his own labor, his own
application.
individuaiize Labor.
| would say TO you, farmers, accept no man.
theory as your own, but have theory which shall
be individual. AS you have you own countenance
which differs from every other mans countenance
so have your own system OF labor. In YOUR depart
ihent, let your system OF labor he As individual
a' your own person. Let no man lean upon another
or fe another mans initator, because the moment
e does that he stops growing, and occupies a posi-
lion which IL unworthy OF a man.
These Agricultural Fairs have been the means OF
bringing me-. together from all the New England
STATES. amt they have been able to compare their
experiences and i'll that respect our agricultural
meetings have been exceedingly valuable. One
man has had one experience, another man has had
another. In the man these experiences may
d. ). Needham.
ignorance Of Farmers.
In the Massachusetts Legislature last year, |
heard an educated man remark. that it WAS per-
1ectly supertluOus to have agricultural college,
because the more you educated farmers, the worse
workers they become. If that is the sentiment of
the farming community, that they. do not need
education, then | say woe will bel,ll the country
aud instead OF advancing in civilization, we shall
retrograde But that is not true. Neither is it
true that the country has not advanced upon the
basis OF education. Our farmers have read agri-
cultural books and papers, have formed asricul-
tural societies, and held agricultural fairs and the
result has been that the farming community
hroughon the United States has heen growing i'i
tehgent and prosperous, and capable of enoyipg
the advantages of civilization.
Plea for the Boys and Girls.
on do not ind the young men or the girls in our
districts indifferent to the privileges OF their class
| Ihey 40 not want TO be shut out from amusements
or from The pleasures Of society One great reason
why The Young men abandon the farms, and The
young girls leave their homes for the workshop and
the factory, is because their parents grind Them
tages they should have. The farmer who is too
niggardv to open his purse and give to his children
| all the privileges Of their class in society," will of
course see them desert him.
The only way to keep our bows and girls at home
is to give them the same privileges that the boys
and girls of other families have. Give the boys a
chance to earn money to educate themselves and
become intelligent. 1t is not because our Young
men hate work, it is because they hate to be gnor-
ant and it s this very hate of ignorance which IS
now filling up our agricultural colleges. Although
the State of Connecticut has abolished her Board
OF Agriculture, apprehend that ther year it
viii rise like the pheniX from its ashes more bri-
ant than before, because no New England State can
go back IN this matter; they are bound to go for
ward. [R. Goodman.
The Good Time Coming"
| have no doubt that the day will come when
farming will receive as its groundwork the same
intelligence which every other business requires
and then we shall find that, so far from being an
Improbable pursuit. far from being an ungener-
ons ayocation, so far from denying pleasure TO
those who follow it, it will yield these advantages
There is not man here who will not bear me
witness that, matter in what department of busi-
ness man is engaged, it is intelligence, not any
particular method, that brings out profitable re-
suits. 1t was not the neede-gun of Prussia that con-
quered France, but the intelligence behind the gun
and The man who handles the hoe, the scythe or
the moving machine with the intelligence that
who will conquer the fields of this country.
Education for the Farmer.
Upon the subject of education for the farmer I
apprehend there is one point that might be alluded
to with advantage. BY education, for "a long time
we meant course of study that educated him in
those branches of study which fitted him for his
| calling. BY an educated man, we meant 4 man
learning, which training fitted to make men of
thought and and of language, not men of works
and deeds. We have now nn education provided
for our farmers and our mechanics which is design
ed to make them eminently practical men, and
While 1t lays foundation in correct knowledge of
the sciences, it is not designed to educate them out
of their cangs, but in them, and trust that we
shall many of us live to see the effects of this eu-
| cation, adapted to the wants of the farming com.
Inunity. r. S. Cold.