The Rutland weekly 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 adj lition to his daily
routine Of practical life, has learned TO feel
that he has relations other than those met
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 it by communing with
the classics, is by no means worse farm
er, and is dssuredly higher and better
man.
The average Vermont farmer, am sorry |
to admit, is not a studious man. He tolls |
ON from morn till night methodically, and |
too often mechanically. He takes per
haps few newspapers for the sake of the |
speech of people, absorbs what little he |
can between maps, and particularly at a |
time when his intellectual suscepjibilities |
are somewhat dulled by a hard days work, |
gossips n little aud retires. This Ia the
round OF bis existence, aimless, only as lar
as dollars and cents arc concerned, and
purposeless only to make the most OF
| what is too often plccalious living, unless,
| MIR. President, he is fortunate enough to be-
| long to farmers' and mechanics club
where, imagine, his wits may be sharp
ened by your intellectual tits. For asurel-
| lv nothing is so conducive to the produc-
ton of greater liberalty OF thought and
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 a state
-. Essa.W -
ls small in size and lies within narrow, re-
stricled limits, she affords no chance what
ever for young men.
Life here, know is practically hard. 1t
is a constant digging, delving process, but
still it has its advantages and It's enjoy
ments.
1t enables one to become self-reliant,
sturdy and strong, besides developing an in-
domitable spirit of patriotism, such as led
Ethan Allen to capture for.ihcatiOn III
'the name of the Great Jehovah aud q
continental congress" If their life be go
hard and homely, aud our iutelcctualiies
narrow and contracted, to what sourso
must we look for relief and hetterment /;
what means pursue for a higher and more
harmonious development what ends &C
compish that we maY have greater free
dom from narrowness 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 n
thorough comprehension aud liberal course
of study for all those qualities which en-
noble and elevate the mind, and which II
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. If these
, Qualities appertain to men of learning and
, scholastic training, how much more essen
tial to the farmer, who Yin daily communI
cation with the objects IS nature, frou
which emnale SO ms|y branches OF
science.
Assuredly no better norisfander field ex
lists, SO conducive TO the aitainments of thl'
r higher, this exalted standard of intellectual
/ development, whether theoretical or praeti
! cal, than in the pursuit of agriculture.
= AS time is an important factor in the &c
QUESTION of knowledge, who, among a.
classes of men, has more at his com man'
g than the agricuturist? Who, of all thu
IT.. earreat workers of life avails himself 81
sparipgy of it as he d? The only marvel i
that he succeeds as well as he does in max
5 ing so good misuse of it, and in endea
a voring to forestsll IFS claims by an excus
;. of a want of it.
=, When we reflect on the untold beniicen
u influences, scientific knowledge and train
C ing, when practically applied, has, not onl
y on the individual himself, but also on IN
h soil which ne is called upon to subdue, W
are lost in wonder and amazement that it
so persist emily vilfied aud repealed by tn
majority of the husbandry of Vermont
J. As though science and practical scientifi
~ knowledge and good common sense coul
. not 90 hand in hand The boasted civiliz
y ton of to-day is the result and effect {
/. science on all human pursuits.
v Look at our centtnny of unparallele
progress, and tell me if such would hay
been the result, had the laws of grGvitatioI
e. electricity, magnetism, and the eXpansiv
h power of heat never been known to ue
Is Never before in the worlds history hi
science been so eminently practical as nov
for she secs and knows what she is dong
y while good common sense trudges alon
l. carefully, considerably, doubtlngly, an
too often IN a way that becomes the prid
a of ignorance, for she has no counselor
guide and direct her investigating footster
- other than that gained by hard and hars
experience.
IF The steady, continuous cultivation of tn
soil without improved method, must in III
~ future as in the past, lead TO unsatisfactor
results. In proof of which we offer I'll
Ig fact that the annual average production {
: wheat in Vermont to-day is only from
to II bushels to the acre, while from Ems
l. fish soil, which for two thousand years hi
I'd been uninterruptedly titled, thore is r.
turned an annual average production
IN k,,rI nl, a.
- soil is far better and richer than that {
u England. What, then, occasions this di
terence?
IF answer simply, science, or more prof.
erly speaking, because one resorts to SC
entifc methods of farming, while the otht
D. does not
IF Now then if such be the unsatisfactor
a. and meagre results, in enc instance
least, of the present unproductive metho(
of farming, what, | ask, are the greatel
n needs of the farmer? They are, unhes
IF tatingly affirm: First; knowledge of I'll
physical sciences, for these relate to ma
tiers with which he has so much to d.
Second; faith in them, that is, confdenC
l. that they have sure practical worth
! them.
re A thorough, comprehensive and we
ID grounded knowledge of the sciences woul
a be to the farmer Ike the telescope in a
i tronomy. They would not contradit
ut anything Before known they would not al
II initiate anything before seen, but woul
carry him forward into new worlds {
thought and experimental practice.
Who can doubt but that an acquaintanC
ge with geology, chemistry, zoology aud DO
any on the one hand; and with the MOI
ab'truse science, particularly that one
applied mathematics, dtnominated mecbai
10 les, on the other, would happily enlarge h
At sphere and strengthen his capabilitie
In These branches relate not only to the go
i. he cultivatos, to the animals and pests b
IN which he is surrounded, to the vegetable
IA he cares for, but also to the mechanics