The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-07-01
Education for Farmers.

10 the average mind the word ed
ucation is limited in its definition to
Wnat one learns at school, but that
is altogether too narrow. Education
means growth, culture, development,
as we'll as the acquisition of knowl-
edge, and knowledge again is not
monopolized by the schools; indeed,
one who knows only what he learns
as school is much more Justly entitled
70 the epithet of ignoramus than he
VINO, having no opportunity TO at
Tend school, has been a diligeht stu
oent of nature and of men. There
eWefe wise men before letters were
invented, or schools established.
I schools, good schools, are excellent
au uliaries to education, but they are
e - Thing more. 1t is admitted by all
/ that 90 amount of book learning will
sufhce 70 fit a young man for the du-
ties OF a physician, a lawyer, or a
clergyman, and the idea that it would
tit him for the profession Of agricul-
ture IS absurd. Yet each profession
has ftsliterature, which can be reach
ed only through the portal of the
school or the aid of private instruc-
tors, and the literature of each pro.
fession il of prime Importance to
those who would pursue successfully
a profession.
The literature of profession, farm
ing, for example, conseryes the wis
dom of thepast and records the ex-
periments of the present. But the
wisdom of the past preserved in
books is like wheat before it is win
moved, mixed with the chaff of ig-
nOrance and the cheat of prejudice.
So, also. is much of the scientific
knowledge Of the present. They are
both misleading and injurious to him
who accepts them without question.
But they are great helps to him
whose mind has been trained to crit
icise all things, aid who accepts
only that which stands this crucial
test.
Colleges confer degrees, yet these
are often misleading; the young man
with A. M. or M. ID. after his name
is not necessarily master of arts or
of medicine. He is only prepared to
enter upon career of practical ex-
pertinent. which, if he possesses the
talent, the industry, and the persever-
I ance necessary to the completion of
his education, may ultimately make
him worthy of the title conferred
upon him prematurely by the school.
No amount of theoretical training
will fit a man for the successful pur-
suit of agriculture; yet, without
theoretical training, a man rarely
rises to the dignity Of an intelligent
farmer.
Farming is a profession in the same
sense that the practice of law or of
medicine is profession hence the
young who is destined to become a
farmer should be educated with ref
erence to that profession. The pub
lie schools of this country furnish the
facilities for all the literary training
absolutely needed. and, in the larger
cities. the scientific branches are
taught as well as they are in our COL
leges, and these are important.
While it were a waste of time to
study the dead languages, the pros
pective farmer should become famil.
lar with the elements of natural his
tory. botany, chemistry, geology,
and natural phiosophy. These
branches of science have direct re-
lationsfjp to his future business, and
the young farmer who enters the
profession vefsed in them will find
that he is not only prepared for a
larger measure of success, but that
his mind is fitted for communion
with nature, whose secrets, hid from
others are constantly revealed to him.
affording an inexhaustible source of
| pleasure as we'll as profit. To him
every expanding leaf or opening flow
er has beautiful significance, and
every phenomenon involved in the
growth of plants has for him a mean
ing unknown to the ignorant plod-
der. All nature is to him one grand
illustrated encyclopedia filled with
lessons of wisdom, from the pen and
pencil of the original author and ar
tist of the universe.
To the educated farmer the rocks
present their own history, written in
unmistakable characters by the finger
of God. The soil whispers to him of
its fertility or complains Of its power
ty in language perfectly Ineligible
and the treasures of Flora, Pamona