Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1872-11-22

only in the light of science that labor such
as the farm requires, can be made attractive
and elevating. Men and boys, it is true,
can dig and plow, and SOW and reap in the
old ways, and make living at them; but the
farther behind the times farmers are in gen.
era knowledge, the more frequent will be the
desertions from their ranks Of the young and
strong, who bend toward the excitement of
change and Improvement as young plants in
cline toward the light of day.
One proof that more intellectual culture
is the one thing needful to make agriculture
interesting to the major portion Of farmers
sons, lies in the fact that many boys who
have left the farm to which they were indig-
enous even in disgust, have years after, when
they were possessed of considerable scientific
and miscellaneous knowledge, chosen agricul-
ture as a vocation for the residue Of their
lives, although in many instances positions of
wealth and Importance could be secured by
them in mercantile pursuits and the more
lis Nl professions. Many young men, also,
sons Of professional gentlemen, have eschew.
ed the polished or sedentary pursuits to which
they had been Bred and embraced farming
as a calling.
One reason why farmers or those who in-
tend to become farmers, should have liber-
al education in the sciences, if possible, lies
in the fact that they are thus enabled to
make improvements in farm machinery, in
the breeding of stock, in the cultivation of
plants, and in the tillng Of the soil which
they otherwise could not. Allow me to il
lustrate this point by fact or two. 1t is
well known that large number Of valuable
discoveries in relation to the growth of plants
and the proper soil and fertilizers adapted to
them, as well as important improvements in
agricultural implements, have been made,
not by farmers themselves, but by profession
al or scientific men. The train of ideas
which resulted in these discoveries and i'm.
provements was often started in their minds
while strolling about the fields and forests, or
while at work in their gardens for recreation
and relaxation from intellectual labor. If
professional men can make improvements of
so much value to farmers, how much more
likely are farmers themselves to do so when
possessed of the same scientific knowledge
Necessity is the mother of invention"
therefore how much more probable it is that
farmers who spend their lives upon the farm
will see these necessities and invent means to
remove them.
Now, if the proposition which has been
discussed be considered as proved, the ques-
tion arises what shall farmers sons study be-
sides the absolutely necessary branches of
knowledge usually taught in our district
schools, to enable them to receive the great
est amount of happiness and attain to the
highest degree Of usefulness in their maturer
years Shall they study the lauguages-
living or dead, or other classical studies, or
mathematics, or metaphysics A knowledge
of these studies is of course beneficial, for
nothing is useless that requires an effort of
the mind to obtain possession of and retain
but are these or similar branches of knowl-
edge the most suitable ones that farmers
sons can study to fit them to fulfill their des-
tiny, be it on the farm or in other situations ?
Some one has said that children should be
taught those things they will practice most
in after life. If this principle is true, what
can be mole useful to our future farmers
than the study of the natural sciences the
term being used in its broadest sense? Toshow
how naturally farmers sons would learn to
love these studies, and how easily they might
be benefited thereby, the writer will describe
them as they usually appear in the retired
portions of our country when about entering
their teens, and note in cursory manner
their gradual development into men.
Concluded nert iceek)