The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-07-07
FARlNERS' EDUCATION

We hear much nowadays OF educn-
ton for farmers Nand much goes for
agricultural education, which is diff
forent from all other education. So, In
considering education for farmers, II
Is inccessary to subject the notion to
the general annlysis OF educatlon.
AS to tho requirement OF knowledge.
there are comparatively few broad
general principles in the science OF
agriculture which can be learned In
u few weeks, as far as tho books are
concerned.
AS In any other trade, occupation
or business, habt-forming Is tho lead
ing form OF necessary education. The
routine of the business must be learned
ard put into practice MS habit.
1t Is farming practice more than
agricultural Knowledge or the mere
knowledge or practice that Is
needed. 1rhe difference between do
ing. and knowing how TO do, theoreti-
cally, ls as great on the farm as in
any other occupation. But trade habits
are formed: In other words, trades are
learned. not Mt school. but in the prac-
tice of the trade, In It's apprentice
ship. t4g
Perhaps the leading features con-
nectcd With agricultural education as
offered to the working farmer arc "a
experiments, and ca the exploitation
3.
SO much experimentation Implies that
there is q feeling that the science Of
agriculture Is very. imperfect, for OK
perimcnts are Rdnerally made to ex-
tend the bounds or knowledge. But
the experiments made In, and for, the
education of the farmers are mostly
connected with the practice Of the art
rather than the extension of the
science.
Teaching farmers farming by ex-
amplcs OF successful farmers Is exact
~ on n par with a course OF education
which should expect to make men sue
cessful In other lines by reading bio
grnphy. So far as tho whole operation
or any Of the single operations OF the
successful farmers. are to be regarded
as experiments. the great Intellectual
force of the eNpcrimenter,. vtiatcs the.
experiment for the use of the farmer
without his forcefulness.
The so-called education Of ordinary
farmers founded on innumerabie ex-
periments on all the thousands Of pos
sible points of farm procedure is ut
ter nonsense. They cannot be memoir
lied. The working farmers cannot take
time to consult disarranged papers,
pamphlets and books of experiments
which Will soon rival In number the
cases in the Libraries of case law that
every lawyer is supposed merely to
know how to consult. Moreover the
experiments are SO limited by varying
known and unknown conditions that
many OF the best OF them are per-
fectly useless for only one to follow
under any conditions.
The experimentation OF the expert
rnent stations and Of the Department
OF agriculture IS intended largely as n
nero guide and incentive to continual
experiments by the ordinary farmer.
Such course cannot, however, be re-
garded as an application Of knowledge
because the experiments are too un-
certain to be called knowedge! and
It is net such experience as Is useful
as guide and teacher. The small
farmer hasfneither the means nor the
ability to make experiments of value
rs experience Indisc.imInate expert
mentation frequently leads to a mere
unsettling of practical experience. Not
all the new ideas taken up by the
farmers prove beneficial under their
circumstances
Alit*this experimentation on points
of practice is OF no use to the re-
sourceful farmer. He applies the gen.
eral principles of the science to his
conditions as they exist or arise, with
the aid of his intellectual force. His
practice Is not experimentation be-
cause 1t Is dictated by good judg-
ment. The subjects Of many lines OF
experiments only require Judgment, anC
are no more uncertain than the prices
of commodities which the trader de.
termines for himself every day upor
his judgment.
The@greattneed OF the farmer is In.
tellectual force. In considering the
form and feasibility of agriculture
education the Office of the intellectual
force is the chief subject to be con.
sidered That this Ia felt to be ths
case is attested by the growing ten.
dency to teach farming by the ex
amples of successful farmers, who arr
always of undoubted brain power
Much OF the education proposed fol
the farmers is really an attempt Il
cultivate the forcefulness absolutel,
necessary to carry on the most arduous
complicated and risky business in tn,
world successfully.
About the most absurd idea grow
ing out of the educational fad is nov
Just formed by the Department O
Agriculture. Flattering itself with tn
idea that the department has caused
"a great advance in what may b.
called scientific farming" 1t yet ad
1nIts that farmers are not as rul
good business men. And it says: 81
literature must be created based o,
facts which are largely yet to b.
worked out and illustrated by man,
successful plans of reorganized farms
and the pedagogies Of farm manage
ment must be SO developed and simpli