Connecticut western news., 1873-01-31
The Better Education of Farmers.

We are apt to take too much of dol. lar-and-cent view of the question of az ricultural education. In so many years 8 young man couldearn so much money; will it pay him to give this up in order that he may get an education which will enable him in later life to make more money than he could without 1t Y? Will any education that can be gained al school make better 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 propositions-which are foreign to our purpose-we desire to call attention to other considerations that must have weight with all thoughtful persons. The greatest prosperity of farmers, as a class and individually, n.ust come from causes which will advance farming as an occupation. No permanent and sat. isfactory prosperity can attend any calling which is not held in good re- pute, and no calling in these modern days can be in good repute which is not represented by at least fair proportion of men of education and intelligence. In the so-ca1led "professions," in me- chanics, and in trade, the tendency is toward better and better education and more cultivated intelligence, and the degree of respect in which they are sev- erally 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 prosper ity, that calling will take the lead whose representative men are the most dis tinguished for education and cultiva- tion, and that will fall to the rear in which there has been the least progress in these respects. The road of the fu- ture is an ascending one, and progress over it is to be secured much more by the aid of mind than by the aid of mat ter. Those who take care and keep the lead in the race will do so because of their brains rather than of their bodies, and the leadership will imply control over those who are behind (and there fore beneath) them. How far their rule will be merciful will depend on condi. tions which we cannot 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, farming will be favored and fortunate occupa- tion. If they must fall to the rear, it will be a 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 a fair chance in the struggle for the lead, ' aud our successors, will be the lords of the land or 8 down-trodden peasantry, according asthey are educated or not. We assume, of course, that prosperity and intelligence will go hand in hand, and that as we gain in education we shall gain in wealth. At the same time, we believe that the best chance for the future of our craft lies in the ability o1 it's representatives to take high stand for education and intelligence. Believ- ing this, we long for the better general education of farmers: not of those of the farmers sons who are destined fo1 other occupations, 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 and refinement over our hearthstones, and we may conf. dently look for success which mere wealth could not secure. Aq. TicuZturiSt