The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1876-12-09
CONDUCTED sv ALBERT CHAPMAN.
Agricultural Education.
WHERE SHOULD IT BEGIN?

Wy 80 49, ~
class, then, must be Of the highest inn
portance to the general welfare. Their
occupation tends to regular habits and
orderly industry. But unlike the mer-
camille, mechanical and professional
classes, who are mostly located In towns
and are brought into the closest busl-
ness and social relations, farmers are
scattered over The whole country-are
go isolated as to have little daily inter
course with each other. Their minds
are not sharpened by the friction OF So
ciety, where new ideas are suggested
and developed Ivy association. they
thus become, necessarily, the most con.
s~ervative class, and are inclined to fol-
low traditional routine 80 closely that
innovations are seldom made or sug-
gestei by those horn upon the farm.
so widely Is this true, that nearly all
the machinery which so facilitates and
oheapens the labor of our present agri-
culture, was Invented and adapted to
its work by amateur farmers Or by
those outsiders who had observed the
need of such helps In farm operations.
The farmer therefore, needs some SLIM
ulant to cause him to use his brain as
we'll as his hands. He must be educa-
ted In the principles which underlle
, his practice. He must become an ac-
curate observer, a discoverer. He must
experiment, .aDalyze and compare his
experiments. 1t is for the want of
such observation and experiment that
everything is aflost in agriculture and
nothing settled. In architecture, sur.
veyfUg engineering or navigation, deh-
mite rules aud Instructions lead the
student on TO a safe knowledge of the
art. But the farmer has no idea of
fixed principles in agriculture, Indeed.
he regards the whole business as en-.
tirely independent Of rules, and not to
be brought Into subsection to order and
reasonable certainty. Yet au examlna-
ton of the subject will show that every
process la agriculture is as capable Of
being reduced to system and order, as
capable Of being taught, as other sppll-
cations Of the natural sciences.
Where, then. shall this scientific ed
ncation of the farmer begin? The
writer has advocated for ten years past
that the rudimsnts Of agricultural sci
ence should be taught In the common
schools.
Here the minds of the vast majority
of young Americans receive their ear
Hest and most impressive training.
This Is the common nursery of knowl.
edge for the people. Here should the
young mind imbibe. in the simplest
forms, the elements Of chemistry, geol-
ogy, m%ineralogy, meteorology, ento-
mology and botany. Some object to
this, because the young mind Is not ca
pabls of understanding such instruc.
tions but the elements of these natur-
al sciences are no more beyond the
comprehension of young minds han
geography, arithmetic or grammar.
They can mostly be taught with OBJ.
jects to aid the understanding. In this
way the child comprehends technical
terms as easily as the philosopher. His
mind should not be crammed with
technical terms without a presentation
of the objects to which they are up
piled. Children readily comprehend
the simple facts of nature when illus.
trated with objects-much more easily
than abstract ideas. All of these sci
enees may be thus taught to the young.
This theory Ia already In practical ope-'
ration In Germany. The German sys-
tenn is, common schools, middle schools
and academies and the last step Ia
from the academy TO the agricultural
course In the university. The common
school gives theoretical or practical les
sons In agriculture; veterinary lessons
and demonstrations, and surveying.
The middle schools, besides the ordi-
nary branches, give chemistry, physI-
ology, botany and zoology ; agriculture
al management in general, with lee
lures on veterinary treatment. draw.
Ing. building and agricultural laws.
These two schools are designed to give
the best practical education to those
who are not able to take the higher
schools, but are 90 become small farm
ers or overseers Of small farms. In the
latter class Of schools they are required
to practice all kinds of farm work, I'M
der the direction of qualified teachers,
that they may acquire practical judg-
ment and skill for the same themselves,
or for directing others.
According to late statistics, 1t ap.
pears that there are 100 Of these FIRST
two classes Of schools distributed
through the emf Ire, some Of them linn.
tied 10 teaching the local ~specialties,
such as vine and fruit culture, hortlcul.
ture, Bookkeeping, etc. think, In oui
country, we should unite these two
classes of schools In the common school.
Our common schools take the pupil al
the start and finish him for the active
duties Of life, In about forty.nins cases
out Of fifty. The period of education
extends from i've to twsnty-one years
"a period sufficiently long to give In
struction In the rudiments Of thoss sci
ences. The school to benefit the farm.
or must be In his W neighborhood
the knowledge must be brought to his
own door. The routine farmer Is wont
to impress upon his sons mind tina,
farming consists merely In the practi.
cal manipulations which he sees and
assists In on the farm. The son thence
infers that farming Is mere drudgery
and nothing else, and he longs fol
something to sharpen up his wits
something which shall call out hi
mental eneraies-and thus he escape,