Cheyenne transporter. [volume] (Darlington, Indian Terr.) 1879-1886, 1882-05-25

good beginning for life work is sub
stantial education. The great mass o
children of this country must secur
what of theoretical education or train
ing they have in the common or pub
lie schools, and it is the part of wis
dom to have those branches taugh
that will be of most practical advan
tage to them in their future life. II
no department of activity has the1'
been as much advance as in the agri
cultural world, and it is not Drawn anC
muscle that wins nowadays, but brair
and skill. The time has passed wher
any one, even a dull untutored igno
ramus, can hope to succeed in farming
Competition is as great in this depart
ment as any other, and the ignorant
and thriftless are pushed aside, whil,
the active, educated farmer wins the
prize and is the successful man.
Books and papers multiply on every
hand, teeming with advice and sug
gestions as to the best methods OF
cultivation and procedure with all The
crops, and the treatment of stock ant
the various affairs pertaining to the
farm, so that he who runs may read.
This is all good in it's way, but il
does not reach the foundation. The
learned professions, so called, have
special courses of study that each one
who aspires to be enrolled as member
must pursue, and when entered upor
must be Continued to the end before
the student is permitted to practice il
that department. The most successful
man in any branch of industry, other
things being equal, is the one who has
had the most thorough preliminary
training for that special branch. 81
that his energies have been developed
in reference to their future employ
ment.
1t is a lamentable fact that the large
amounts appropriated by the genera
government for agricultural education
in the various states has not been pro
ductive Of the results so fondly an
ticipated. The reason is very plair
when we look carefully into the matter
1t has not until within a very few
years been fashionable to be a farmer
and the agricultural department of ;
college or university has been sort o.
asylum or hospital for poor but homes
young men who are looked upon by
the members Of the other department!
as a lower grade and treated accord
ingly.
There has been a very decided chang,
for the better during the past decade
but much remains to be done to pu
agricultural education in the position
it should occupy in relation to the bes
interests it represents. The elements
of agriculture should be a part of the
curriculum of every public school il
the land, and knowledge of the ele
mentary branches would do much to
ward making the children of the cOun
try, practical and successful cultivator!
of the soil. 1t is a fact that at tn,
teachers institute of one Of the larges
counties of the state large proportion
Of the teachers could not distinguish
the various kinds of grain, and did no
know the difference between corn an(
wheat, or rye and oats.
An educated man or woman is one
who knows most about the things tina
occupy their everyday attention, an(
when it is considered that nearly four
fifths of all the people of these United
States are directly engaged in the var
ious operations of cultivating the soil
it is time to put them in the way O
doing this in the very best manner pos
sible.
In no way can this be better done
than 10y introducing into the regula