Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1871-11-17
Intellect in Agriculture.

Intellect in Agriculture.
Horace Greeley, in his "What l
Know About Farming" very per-
tincntly and truthfully says:
A poor man who undertakes to
live by his wits on farm that he
hes bought on credit, is not likely
to achieve brilliant success; but
the farmer whose hand and brain
work in concert will never find nor
fancy his intellect or his education
too good for his calling. He may
very often discover that he wasted
months of his school-days Oh what
was ill-adapted to his needs, and
of little use fighting the actual bat
tie of life; but he will at the same
time have ample reason to lament
the meagerness and deficiency of
his knowledge.
hold our average common scools
defective, in that they fail to teach
geology and chemistry, which in
nv view are the natural basis of
a sound practical knowledge of
things-knowledge which the far
mer, of all men, can least afford to
miss. However it may be with 9TH
ers, he vitality needs to understand
the character and constitution of
the soil he must cultivate, the ele-
ments of which it is composed, and
the laws which govern their rela-
tons to each other. Instruct him
in the higher mathematics if you
will, in logic, in meteorology, in
ever SO many languages; but not
till he shall have been thoroughly
grounded in the sciences which un-
lock for him the arcana Of nature
for these are intimately related to
all he must do, and devise, and d.
rect throughout the whole course of
his active career. Whatever he
may learn or dispense with,a knowl-
edge Of these sciences is among the
most urgent Of his lifelong needs.
Hence, l would suggest that a
simple, lucid, lively, accurate d.
gest Of the leading principles and
facts in geology and chemistry, and
their application to the practical
management of a farm, ought to
constitute the reader of the highest
class in every common school, es-
pecially in rural districts. Leave
out details and recipes, with direc-
tons when to plant, SOW, etc; for
these must vary with climates, cir
cumstanccs, and the progress of
knowledge-but let the body and
bones, so to speak, Of a primary ag-
ricultural education be taught in
every school, in such terms and
with such clearncss as commend
them to the understanding of every
pupil. never ye, visited a school
in which something was not taught
which might be omitted or postpon-
ed in favor Of this.
Out OF school and after school Jet
the young farmer delight in the
literature illustrative Of his calling
Il mean the very best of it. Let
him have few agricultural books;
but let these treat OF principles and
laws rather than of methods and APP
plications. Let him learn from these
how to ascertain by experiment
what are the actual and pressing
needs OF his soil, and he will readi-
ly determine by reflection and in
quiry how those needs may be most
readily and cheaply satisfied.
All the books in the world never
Of themselves made one good far,
mer; but Oh the other hand, no man
in this age can be a thoroughly
good farmer without the knowl-
edge which is more easily and rap
idly acquired from books than 9TH
erwise. Books are no substitute
for open-cyed observation and prac-
teal experience; but they enable
one familiar with their contents to
observe with an accuracy, and ex-
pertinent with an intelligence, that
are unattainable without them. The
very farmer who tells You that he
never opens book which treats on
agriculture, and never wants to see
one, will ask his neighbor how to
grow or cure tobacco, or hops, or
sorgo, or any crop with which he is
unacqnaintcd, when the chances are
a hundred to one that this particu-
lar neighbor cannot advise him SO
well as the volume which embodics
the experience of a thousand cult
vators Of this very plant instead Of
barely one. A good book treating
practically of agriculture, or OF
some department therein, is simply
a compendium of the experience OF
past ages combined with such
knowledge as the present genera
ton have been enabled to add
thereto. 1t may be faulty or defect
i've in some points; it is not to be
blindly contided in, or slavishly fol-
lowcd-it is to be mastered, dis
cussed, criticised and followed SO
tar as its teachings coincide with
the dictates of science, experience
and common sense. Its true office
is suggestion; the good farmer will
lean upon and trust it as an oracle
only where his own proper knowl-
edge proves entirely deficient.
By-and-by, it will be generally
realized that few live or have lived
who cannot find scope and protita-
bic employment for all their intel
lect on a two hundred acre farm
And then the farmer will select the
brightest OF his sons to follow him
in the management and cultivation
Of the paternal acres, leaving those
of an inferior ability to seek fortune
in pursuits for which limited and
special capacity Will serve if not
suffice. And then we shall have an
agriculture worthy Of our country
and the age.
Meantime, let us make the most
of what we have, by ditfilsing, dis
cussing and criticising, Liebig's
agricultural Chemistry" Dana'>
"Muck Manual" Warnings ''Ele
ments," and the books that each