Huntsville gazette., 1882-07-08
Education for Farmers.


To the average mind the word educa-
ton is limited in its definition to what
one learns at school, but that is alto
gether too narrow. Education means
growth, culture, development, as well
as the acquisition of knowledge, and
knowledge again is not monopolized by
the schools; indeed, one who knows only
what he learns at school is much more
Justly entitled to the epithet of ignoram-
us than he who, having no opportunity
to attend school, has been a diligent
student of nature aud of men. There
were wise men before letters were in
vented, or schools established. Schools,
good schools, are excellent auxiliaries
to education, but they are nothing
more. 1t is admitted by all that no
amount Of book learning will suffice to
fit young man for the duties of ply
sician, a lawyer, or a clergyman, and
the idea that it would fit him for the
profession of agriculture is absurd. Yet
each profession has its literature, which
can be reached only through the portal
of the school or the aid of private in
structors, and the literature of each pro-
fession is of prime Importance to those
who would pursue successfully profess
sion.
The literature of profession, farm.
ing, for example, conserves the wisdom
of the past and records the experiments
of the present. But the wisdom of the
past preserved in books is like wheat
before it Is winnowed, mixed with the
chaff of ignorance and the cheat of pre-
judice. So, also, is much of the scien-
tific 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 criticise all
things, and who accepts only that which
stands this crucial test.
Colleges confer degrees, yet these are
often misleading; the young man with
M. or M. ID. after his name is not
necessarily master of arts or of medi-
cine. He is only prepared to enter up.
on career of practical experiment,
which, if he possesses the talent, the in
dustry, and the perseverance necessary
to the completion of his education, may
ultimately make him worthy of the title
conferred upon him turely by the
school.
No amount of theoretical training will
fit man for the successful pursuit of
agriculture; yet, without theoretical
training, a man rarely rises to the digni-
ty of an intelligent farmer.
Farming is a profession in the same
sense that the practice of law or of med
icine is a profession; hence the youth
who is destined to become farmer
should be educated with reference to
that profession. The public 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 colleges, and these are important
While it were a waste of time to study
the dead languages, the prospective
farmer should become familiar with the
elements of natural history, botany,
chemistry, geology, and natural philos-
ophy. These branches of science have
direct relationship to his future busi-
ness, and the young farmer who enters
the profession yersed in them will find
that he is not only prepared for 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 inexhaust-
ible source of pleasure as well as profit.
To him every expanding leaf or opening
flower has q beautiful significance, and
every phenomenon involved in the
growth of plants has for him meaning
unknown to the ignorant plodder. All
nature to him is one grand Illustrated
encyclopedia filed with lessons of wis
dom, from the pen and pencil of the
original author and artist of the uni
verse.
To the educated farmer the rocks
Present their own history, written in
unmlstahable characters by the finger of
1oa; Inc soh whispers to him of its
fertility or complains of its poverty in
language perfectly intelligible, and the
treasures OF Flora, Pamona and Ceres
are shown, in rich abundance, at the feet
of him who wields the magic wand ol