Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1876-06-09


gument, which will bring out distinctly the
reasons upon which the opinions Of all par.
ties are based.
II the opinions of the president of our
agricultural college upon the subject Of agri.
cultural education and development are cor
rect, who can more easily and conclusvely
demonstrate the fact than he 1 trust he will
be willing to continue the discussion Of the
subject, and give the farmers Of Vermont,
through your columns, the reasons for the
faith there is in him, and aid us in arriving
at just conclusions with regard to the matter.
There are obvious fundamental principles
which must determine the decision Of the
question, and will he tell us upon what prin-
ciples he POUNDS his conclusions, that tho edu-
cation which he advocates is calculated to fit
young men for the pursuit Of agriculture ?
II understand him correctly, he argues that
the great want of this departm ent Of bust.
ness is a more general diffusion Of that kind
of knowledge and development which our
existing colleges afford.
As practical farmer cannot endorse
those opinions, and ask Pres. Buckham to
give US the reasons for his belief. l cannot
consistently withhold my own. claim that
an ordinary collegiate course, though grant
that it develops manhood, aud that it is near
ly indispensable to the members Of the So
called learned professions, does not qualify
the student for the successful pursuit Of agri-
culture in Vermont: that the kind Of kuowl-
edge it affords, is not that required by the
practical farmer that the almost total
neglect of physical development, in such
course, the long withdrawal Of the student
from practical, mental and physical applica.
ton, disquaify him for practical worker in
such a field that the Nhuences and assO.
Citations by which he is surrounded will surely
eugender dislike for the quiet Of the farm,
and for that diligent, persistent application
to its labors, which success in any calling
demands. hold that however strong may
have been the previous predictions of the
student for an agricultural life that however
much Of "the vigor, the enterprise, the fresh
ness, the simplicity, which are bern of the
SOIL" he may have possessed in the outset
he will be Invested Of these by the natural
operation of the conditions to which he is
subjected
knowledge, or mental discipline, does not
necessarily fit one for the pursuit Of agricul-
ture, or for any industrial calling. To be
available, these must be practical aud adapted
to the wants and occupation Of their possess.
or. This is principle which is universally
accepted. No sane man ever prepares his
son for the practice of law by educating him
at a medical college, or for the practice Of
medicine at divinity school. Those insti-
buttons, though they develop manhood, do
not develop practical workers in those fields
where the knowledge which they impart can
not be applied to the accomplishment of the
object sought
Both reason and observation teach the
practical farmers Of Vermont. that young
man may be highly educated, may speak all
languages, both ancient and modern, may
be prodigy as mathematician, may sur.
pass Herschel as an astronomer may excel
a Blackstone in his legal attainments, an
Edwards, a Scott or a Barnes as a student
in divinity, and yet be utterly unqualified to
gain even a respectable subsistence by the
pursuit of agriculture. The fair presumption
is that the student, who far excels in any of
these departments of learning, is untitled for
successful competition in those callogs which
require different development.
The most complete agricultural education
would not fit our Sous for professors OF the
classics, or Of the higher mathematics, yet it
would be just as reasonable to expect this,
as that the kind of knowledge required for
those professorships would fit them for agri.
culturists. An ordinary collegiate course is
not adapted to the wants Of the farmer, not
only because of the kind of knowledge im-
parted, but because it is not sufficiently lib.
erai in its scope. Man is a complex being.
lie has mental, moral asd physical nature
to- be developed. Any system Of education
which practically ignores the development of
the physical powers, is defective, and though
it may fit men for the so-called learned pro.
LESSONS, or English nobemen to conduct
their patrimonlNl estates, by the aid of the
practical farmers who obey their call, it is
not sufficiently liberal and comprehensive in
its scope to develop superior, practical agrl.
culturists.
hold that the wants Of agriculture do
not demand an increased number of men with
ordinary collegiate education, but rather an
increase Of those who possess a practical
agricultural education, aud that of higher
standard than any among us now possess.
The nature and degree of an individuals
qualifications determine his chance for sue
cess in given calling, and what is true of
an individual is true Of class, Educated,
practical workers are indispensable to agri-
cultural development, and how can we in-
crease the number of these unless we provide
additional facilities for the diffusion Of that
kind Of education which develops them 2
We ask that the same common sense
principles be applied to this department OF
education, that We apply To all others. Do