Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1879-12-03
Practical knowledge.

IL Is lIutt however,. III lhSAO -
more or less hard manual labor that cannot
ne dispensed with. Many things pertain
ing to the minutin of farm work, and that
must be known in order to win success in
the business, can be learned only by OBJ
servation and experience. Reading and
study are important, indeed Indispensable.
to the highest success, but neither of these
will take the place of actual contact with
the active duties of farm life.
Apprenticeship is what is needed to
qualify young men for this work. In the
mechanic arts no one thinks OF entering
upon a successful career without having
first served protraeted apprenticeship
under a competent and skilliul workman.
Now. there is as much to be learned about
any of the mechanical trades. The better
plan is for the young man who would
excel us a farmer to place himself Tor
few years under the instruction OF first
class. practical farmer. In this way he
will be able to learn just how every opera
ion on the farm is, or should be, perform
I'd. At the same time he will acquire skill
u perform these operations himself.
Our agricultural colleges are, or should
,e. the best places in the country for
blaming both n practical and theoretical
lnowledge ofagricuture. Whether these
Institutions are doing all that the people
nave Il rishl to expect of them is question
hat do not intend to discuss at this time
mt there is no doubt that any one of them
Will he IL great assistance to anyone who
: seeking to qualify himself for the bust
,rss of farming Where young man can
,,.il h;r,c,lT E b., ,,,,,Aptnpitv tn nftppD
me of these institutions, he should do so
" all means. But if this cannot be done.
he next hes, thing is, rs | have stated, to
crve under some tirs class, practical
'rmer till the practical farm work is
thoroughly understood Il. G. Temple, IN
ar0i Ne1O Yorker.
We print the above to express our entire
concurrence in his first and second para.
grnphs. It is true that there is hard
manual labor on the farm which cannot
b. dispensed with, and there always will
b., and that is II more powerful influence
to send young men away from the farm
than all the social inferiority' and "scorn
of the upper classes" which many discover
10 be such powerful forces in that dlrec-
ton. Some philosopher has changed a
little one reading Of the good book-"Tht
heart Of man is decetfu above ali things
md desperately lazy and when the farm
boy goes into the store and sees the clerk il
nice clothes measuring off calico OF weigh
ing pound of tea, he contrasts his farm
garb and farm labor, of which he knows thu
full reality, with the ideal he has formed il
his mind of what the clerks condition
and work is, for he does not know the life
he sees an easier life, and II more lucrative
one, and ease and money are the two
things the majority of people are looking
| for.
We hardly understand how Mr.. Temple
compares the value of his instructors II,
says the better plan is to learn the bus
mess on the farm Of u " fr5t-clnss, practi
cal farmer where he will be able to lcarl
just how every operation is, or shonld be
performed" and acquire skill to so per
form them.
In his last paragraph he says agricultur
al colleges are, Or should be The best place
for obtaining Il practical and Theoretical
knowledge of agriculture. Now if Il bo
can learn on the farm of first class farm
er just how every operation on the farm i
carried on, how he can better that yer
much we don't see. Further we do no
believe that any agricultural colleg
! founded or supported by public money, al
institution of the state, is or can be tn
best place to teach Il man practical farm
ing, where u young man shall gain tina
knowledge necessary for him to buy an
work IL farm for Il living and future com
petence. For the acquiring Of a highe
English education and the sciences the
may be or may be made useful, though W
question whether those benefits could b
more easily or cheaply gained by the cs
tablishnent of other and separate college
rather than in courses in colleges alread
in successful operation, where the studer
conld avail hmsclG Of those advantage
which should, and largely do, exist
colleges in proportion to their age an
, wealth. We can see no reason why Oar
mouth or Harvard or the University
Vermont and Agricultural College cam
teach chemistry and botany and zooloS
and mineralogy and military tactics, etc
ETC., in their buildings and with their pr
ftSSors and their libraries and scienti
apparatus just rs well as to 90 to Il
expense of putting up new buildings al
+ getting other presidents and professo
, and libraries and apparatus. rhe scenc
m ~ be taught in colleges. agricultural
classical, but agriculture IS not scienc
and we do not believe it can be learn
, except as any other trade or art is learn
, by its study where it is to be practiced,
n the farm where the work if carried on
a II business and for Il living and profit