The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1876-09-29

cultivation of any one of his particular
faculties, but beyond that is the cultivation
and development of the whole man.
The farmer, who, in addition to his daily
routine of practical life, has learned to feel
that he has relations other than those Incl
dent to farm life and farm work, though
they connect him with the past; that he is
indebted to men OF all ages for what he has
and what he is and that he is an heir to
all that is good, and pure, and true,
though he ascertains 1t by communing with
the classics, is by no means worse farm
or, and is assuredly a higher and better
man.
The average Vermont farmer, am sorry
to admit, is not studious man. He tolls
on from morn till night methodicslly, and
too often mechanically. lie takes per-
haps few newspapeLs for the sake of the
speech of people, aUsorbs what little he
can between maps, and particularly at a
time when his intellectual susceplibilties
are somewha! dulled by hard days work,
| gossips little aud rctires This is the
round of his existence, aimless, only as far
as dollars and cents are concerned, and
| purposeless only to make the most OF
what is too often pIecarious living, unless,
| Mr. President, he is fortunate enough to be-
long to a farmers and mechanics club
where, imagine, his wits may be sharp
ened by your intellectual tits. For asurc1-
ly nothing is so conducive to the produc-
ton of greater liberality OF thought ard
sentiment, and to the steady progressive
cultivation of social and intellectual quail
ties, than organizations of such practical
and literary character as this one Of yours.
II has been claimed, with some degree
of Justice, that Vermont is good as state
| only \ \ ppipratp from TINT hprQuga ghp
Is small in size and lies within narrow, re-
stricted limits she affords no chance what
ever for young men.
Life here, | know Is practically hard Ii
is a constant digging, delving process, but
still it has its advantages and its enjoy
ments.
1t enables one to become self-reliant,
sturdy and strong, besides developing an in
| dOmtable spirit of patriotism, such as led
Ethan Allen to capture fertilization in
''the name of the Great Jehovah and a
continental congress" If their life be so
hard and homely, and our inteectualities
narrow and contracted, to what sourse
must We look for relief and betterment
what means pursue for higher and more
harmonious development what ends ac-
complish that we may have greater free
| dom from narrowncss and prejudice, more
width of thought, feelings more catholic
| and humane Ga the one hand as man is
more than his trade or calling, he must
| look within himself on the other to a
| thorough comprehension and liberal course
| of study for sll those qualities which en-
noble and elevate the mind, and which it
| is the province of any extended course of
| inquiry to foster and promote. 1t is not
visionary nor delusive scheme then but
| an actual aim of all those who urge the
| farmer on to the higher ground of develop
ment, to the more elevated standard of
practical intellectual attainment. III these
| qualities appertan to men of learning and
| scholastic training, how much more essen
| tial to the farmer, who is in daily commun-
cation with the objects of nature, from
which eminate 80 many branches of
| science.
Assuredly no better nor grander field ex-
| lists, SO conducive TO the attachments of this
| higher, this exalted standard of intellectual
| development, whether theoretical or praeti-
cal, than in the pursuit of agriculture.
As time is an important factoi in the &C
| QUESTION Of knowledge, who, among all
| classes of men, has more at his command
than the agriculturitt Who, of all the
earnest workers of life avais himself SO
| sparingly of it as he? The only marvel is
tudl uC suCCCCub h5 we'll DO LC uOcb AL mhh-
| ing so good a misuse of it, and in endea-
voring to forestall its claims by an excuse
| of want of it.
When we reflect on the untold benificent
influences, scientific knowledge and train
! ing when practically applied, has, not only
on the individual himself, but also on the
soil which he is called upon to subdue, we
are lost in wonder and amazement that it is
so persisiently vilifed and repealed by the
majority of the husbandry of Vermont.
AS though science and practical scientific
knowledge and good common sense could
not go hand in hand The boosted cviliza-
ton of to-day is the result and effect OF
science on all human pursuits.
Look at our centenary of unparalleled
progress, and tell me if such would have
been the result, had the laws of gravitation,
electricity, magnetism, and the expansive
power of heat never been known to us2
Never before in the worlds history has
science been so eminently practical as now,
for she sees and knows what she is dong
while good common sense trudges along
carefully, considerably, doubtngly, and
too often IN a way that becomes the pride
of ignorance, for she has no counselor to
guide and direct her investigating footsteps
other than that gained by hard and harsh
experience.
The steady, continuous cultivation Of the
soil without improved method, must in the
future as in the past, lead to unsatisfactory
results. In proof of which we offer the
fact that the annual average production of
wheat in Vermont to-day is only from 10
to II bushels to the acre, while from Eng
fish soil, which for two thousand years has
been uniuterruptcdly titled, thore is re-
turned an annual average production of
from so to 60 bushels to the acre, and our
soil is far better and richer than that of
England. What, then, occasions this diff
terence?
answer simply, science, or more prop
erly speaking, because one resorts TO sci
entific methods of farming, while the other
does not.
Nov then if such be the unsatisfactory
and meagre results, in enc instance a,
least, of the present unproductive methods
of farming, what | ask, are the greatest
tatingly affirm: First; knowledge of the
physical sciences, for these relate to mat
ters with which he has so much TO do.
Second; faith in them, that is, confidence
that they have sure practical worth in
them.
q thorough, comprehensive and well
grounded knowledge Of the sciences would
be to the farmer like the telescope in as
tronomy. They would not contradict
anything before known; they would not an.
initiate anything before seen, but would
carry him forward into new worlds OF
thought" and experimental practice,
Who can doubt but that an acquaintance
with geology, chemistry, zoology and bot
any on the one hand; and with the more
abstruse science, particularly that one Of
applied mathematics, denomnated mechan
les, on the other, would happily enlarge his
sphere and strengthen his capabilities
These branches relate not only to the soil
he cultivates, to the animals and pests by
which he is surrounded, to the vegetables
he cares for, but also to the mechanical
labor saving contrivances he uses.
AS an illustration of this, the want of a
proper amount of meteorological knowl
edge Of the atmosphere and its relations tc
, | heat and moisture has for n long serles OF