The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1873-01-25
The Better Education of Farmers.

We are apt to take too much of dol
lar-and-cent view of the question of agri-
cultural education. In so many years,
young man could earn SO much money;
will it pay him to give this up i'll order that
he may get an education which will enable
him in later life to make more money than
he could without it, Will any education
that can be gained at schools make bet
ter money getter of a boy than would the
same amount of time and attention given
to learning the practical operations of the
farm?
Without stopping to answer these propo-
sitions-which are foreign to our purpose
we desire to call attention to other con-
siderations that must have weight with all
thoughtful persons. The greatest prosper
ity of farmers, as class and individually,
must come from causes which will advance
farming as an occupation. No permanent
and satisfactory prosperity can attend any
calling which is not held in good repute,
and no calling i'll these modern days
can be held in good repute which is not
represented by at least fair proportion of
men of education and intelligence. In the
so-called professions in mechanics, and
in trades, the tendency is toward better
and better education and more and more
cultivated intelligence, and the degree Of
respects in which they are severally held is
in all cases proportionate to the intelligence
of it's representative men.
In the future allotment of honor and
influence, and consequently of prosperity,
that calling will take the lead whose repre-
sentative men are the most distinguished
for education and cultivation, and that will
least progress in these respects. The road
of the future is an ascending one, and pro
gress over it is to be secured much mere
by the aid Of mind than by the aid of mat
ter. Those who take and keep the lead in
the race will do SO because of their brains
rather than of their bodies, and the leader
ship will imply control over those who are
behind tand therefore beneath them
How far their rule will be merciful will de-
pend on conditions which we can not now
foresee, but that they will rule is as certain
as that mind has always ruled over brute
force If farmers can take the lead, farm.
n, will be favored and fortunate occupa-
ton. If they must foil to the rear, it will
be degraded and an unfortunate ONE
Whether it is one or the other, depends on
the extent to which farmers are educated
and enabled to stand tair chance in the
struggle for the lead aud our success
sors will be the LORDS Of the land Or down
trodden peasantry, according as they are
educated or not. We assume, of course
that prosperity and intelligence will go
hand in hand and tina. as we gain in edu-
cation we shall eaiu iii wealth. At the
same time, we believe that the best chance
for the future of our craft lies in the ability
of its representatives to take high stand
for education and intelligence. Believing
this, we long for the better general educa-
ton of farmers; not of those of the farm
ers' sons who are destined for other occu-
pations, but especially for those who are to
stay on the farm. Let us bring better
trained brains to the performance of our
work, and shed the light Of cultivation aud
refinement over our hearth stones. and we
may confidently look for a success which
mere wealth conld not secure.-AnericaB
Agricultural.