The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1890-11-13
The Education of Young Farmers.

Education IS properly Gne care anC
charge of the State. We owe it to our.
selves that every other citizen should be
prepared to fill his or her place in life
With advantage to the public. This is 8
fundamental principle of our system O.
government, in which every man has 9
share by his vote, and needs to be edu-
Gated to use this power with safety to the
public. And it may well be extended sc
far as to include that every person who
must support himself by his labor should
have every facility for fitting himself il
an effective manner for his work
Doubtless it is on this principle that the
Agricultural Colleges have been insti
tuted and that experiment stations have
been added to them for the technical in.
struction of farmers. But the farmer
who neglects or refuses to avail himself
of these public means of education fails
to perform the part of the duty which
devolves upon him as a citizen, which is
to make himself useful to the ,.ublic
which provides means for the training oi
his children, and when he declines
to send bis sons, or .one of them
at least, TO an Agricultural College when
he is able to do so, he neglects a plain
duty. No doubt many farmers suffer
disability in their occupation for want Of
sufficient education. Farming is not
to be carried on by a rule of thumb or by
servile imitation of obsolete practices.
Years ago all mechanical Vocations we're
carried on without knowledge of scien-
tiic principles upon which they we're
based. But this Ignorance no longer
prevails. Every worker in wood knows
the strength Of the timbers be uses, or at
least the master workmen do, or should,
and may if they will Every worker in
metals is guided by scientific knowledge.
The brewer and the tanner understand
the chemistry of their arts and so it is
with all technical trades. But the far
mer, as a rule, knows nothing of the
science of his art. He plows, but does not
know why his plowshare has particular
curve, nor does he know why certain
lines of draught cause the plow to run
easily and do good work !; he turns the
soil without knowledge of the reason for
it, be harrows in like ignorance, and
when he sows his seed it is regardless Of
the necessities of the soil for its proper
termination aud growth. He purchases
and uses fertilizers without intelligent
knowledge, and wastes his money in
ineffective use of the plant food he buys.
At least, this is the rule, and the excep.
tions only make the failures the more
conspicuous. Agriculture is thus exces-
sively hampered by this common iguo-
rance of the science upon which the art
is based, and the profits of the farmers
are less than fourth of what they might
be under better system. Labor and
material are wasted and the public
wealth is largely reduced in consequence.
This is a public calamity, and it justiGes
the acts of the government in providing
means for the education of young far.
mers by which the public interests may
be advanced. 1t is obviously the duty
of the farmer to avail himself of the op-
portunities afforded for relief, and, ss be
cannot do this in any other way, he
should see that his successor is better
provided in this respect than he has
been.
But the colleges should DO their part
fully. Those in charge should be actu-
ated by sense of public duty and re-
sponsibility. This is not always the case.
Generally the Professors are capable, en-.
ergetic and conscientious, but the officials
in control are too frequently otherwise.
TIL = f,nd, 1ro,i5oJ ora in coDoa ooaoo ri :.
yerted from the proper use. Competent
teachers are hampered aud interfered with
and leave<the college in disgust, Two
cases of this sort have recently happened
in the Southern States-one in Missouri
and the latest one in Texas-where the
Professors have been forced to leave
because of the interference of politicians,
who uBurp the management for base pur.
poses. Other similar cases are known in
which the funds are used for the support
of incompetents who have political
friends and the Offices are sinecures.
At the same time there are othe- insti.
tutions which for some reason cannot
entice students even with bribes. This
may be due to the apathy and neglect of
the farmers themselves, but, as this has
happened in some of the Northern States
where the farmers are unusually intelli-
gent, it may be otherwise. Perhaps it
might be advisable that in such cases the
Colleges which fail of their purpose
should be brought under the supervision
of the Agricultural Department. Such 8
provision has been ingrafted in the
recent Act increasing the endowment of
the Colleges, and requires an annual
statement of the way in which the new
grant above referred to is to be made and
the withdrawal of the grant upon even a
reasonable supposition of it's misuse or
failure to be effective.
Unquestionably the success of these
institutions rests with tha farmers. There
are farmers enough in all the States, who
are competent to supervise the manage.
ment of them instead of lawyers and
superannuated Doctors of Divinity, who,
however well.intentioned they may be-,
are scarcely fitted for such technical
business. a strictly professional educa>
tion generally units man for general
business, even for farming, while a sue
cessful farmer is usually good business
man and understands what is required to
make student good farmer. Farmers
would have more confidence in the man.
agement of one of their own vocation,
and ready to send their sons to an instI.
tuition under such management. 1t is
futile to look for the attendance of far
mers' sons at a College in which the
parents have no confidence. The far
mer's money is hardly earned, and the
man who earns it wants value for it, and
he hesitates to risk disappointment in
the failure of his son to go through an
expensive course of two or three years
unsuccessfnlly.
It would be interesting to know how
the first installment of the grant is to be
disposed of, and if it is to be paid over to
those Colleges who are without students
or whose original grant having been
squandered or diverted has left them
without adequate means for their sup.
port, and if any guarantees are to be ex-
acted from these for the better use of the
money in the future. A sum of about
S725, 900 will be required the first year
and nearly half million added each
year in progression thereafter increasing
by this sum until the tenth year, when
the whole cost will be 81: 600 annu'
ally. The sum is trihing compared with
the amount of GOOD that may be done