Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1885-12-03

Il LIE Hfstft6al ta6y =Aau SCnree Blu
i 1dents, the second year two, and4du
Inng the last eight years they did no
4 have q single student in the e;curJicu
linn Of agriculture. Is
And then, IN answer ia. q latte
lacking leave 70 publish his letter t
/ me, Gen. Lee saye:
4 my duties here are all executive
! do no teaching. You will find ths
college people Will fight you with al
their might, for they will not want tt
give up the farmers money, and vii
try to throw discredit on agricultural
education. But there is no sensibl,
reason why a farmer should not have
"a special training as we'll as the doc
tor, lawyer, engineer, preacher, &c,
and that, too, after having obtained
general culture. If unable to obtain
both, Of course the special should
come frat"
CONTRAST SOUTH CAROLINA AND MIS-
sIssIPPI.
Contrast this Mississippi Agricul-
tural College, which Gen. Lee has
created-for it is his creation, and 80
acknowledged by the papers of that
State contrast it, I say, and it's re.
suits with the pi;iful, contemplate,
30 called agricultural annex to the
South Carolina College at Columbia,
a classical and literary kite with Gag
ricultural" written on its tail. See
the results Of an agricultural college
in loyal hands I have examined the
catalogue and curriculum tf the
South Carolina College, but do not
care to go into details. by their
fruits shall ye know them," and l
venture to say that this institution,
which, LAST year had enly ten agricui'
tural students, will never cause our
farmers to take any pride in it or
send their sons there to be taught
agriculture" 1t may turn out
few agricultural dudes to become the
laughing.stock of practical men, but
a practical scientific farmer, to become
a beacon light in his county, never.
It ia an admirable place to lay the
foundation for a profession or to, edu
cate a rich mans aon as gentleman
Of leisure, but to make a successful
farmer the hand and head must be
trained together; he must know how
to work in order to do it or have it
done, and special scientific train.
ing is needed to enable him to make
farming success, and not rob the
land. But I am going over the same
ground that Gen. Lee has 80 we'll GOV.
cred. I am a farmer and feel the
need of that very training, and tens
of thousands in our State feel it and
mourn over the time wasted in get
ting smattering Of Latin and Greek.
What Mississippi has done South
Carolina can do. Our lands have
greater need OF scientific farming than
hers. They are older and more worn,
and our people are too poor to edu.
cate their sons as gentlemen Of leisure
any more. We need fewe, planters
and more farmers-farmers who are
superior to the elods beneath their
feet. 1t is not right, it is not just, it
is not wise to leave our agriculture
in the deadly grip of ignorance and
imbecility and take the farmers
money, }" ss Gen. Lee calls it, to edu.
cate professional men or those likely
to choose professional life. ghere
is ghastly heap Of skeletons at the
foot Of thst professional ladder, and
Every found must be-held { with a
giants grasp to keep from being push.
ed off. Is it craftsmanship oroSpa-
triotiam to use all the money The
State can spend in higher culture TO-
increase this army Of non.producers,
to FIJI these already overhowing pro.
fessions more full and tax the farm.
era to do it, while leaving agricul-
ture, our prominent interest, to Ian;
guisb, and give it no recognition worth
the name? The agricultural colleges
of Michigan, of Kansas and Of Mis-
sissippi all give. the lie to the aRser
ton that agricultural education, pure
and simple, is a myth. Mankind have
been taught for centuries that there
was but one royal road to learning,
the classics but the latter half of
this nineteeth century has come to
recognize the scier ces as arother road
that may be travelled, and bachelor
of science is now regarded as equal
to bachelor Of arts.
A PRACTICAL ACE.
Said President Willis, Of the
Michigan Agricultural College, in his
inaugural address, On August l9,
1885:
"This is an institution Of applied
science. The sciences are first with
the facts and then with the laws of
the material universe, and then they
garner harvest of comfort and ma,
terial wealth that is 30 obvious and
so charming and so delightful to the
senses that in this practical age we
ocknowledoe their untility. There
fore the practical man and the 80 call
ed practical scientist command
premium. Practical men are paid
the highest wages. The theoretical
man, who develops the principles OF
q science, is not to be ignored, but it
is the man who can apply the princi-
pies envolved by the theorist that
commands the situation. This, there.
fore, is the age Of applied science
applied to commerce, manufacturing