seems to me, already established
An important part of a system of agricultural education has been, as it
seems to me, already established. I speak of our national, state,
county, and town associations for the promotion of agriculture. The
first three may educate the people through their annual fairs, by their
publications, and by the collection and distribution of rare seeds,
plants, and animals, that are not usually within reach of individual
farmers. By such means, and others less noticeable, these agencies can
exert a powerful influence upon the farmers of the country; but their
thorough, systematic education must be carried on at home. And for local
and domestic education I think we must rely upon our public schools,
upon town clubs or associations of farmers, and upon scientific men who
may be appointed by the government to visit the towns, confer with the
people, and receive and communicate information upon the agricultural
resources and defects of the various localities. It will be observed
that in this outline of a plan of education I omit the agricultural
college. This omission is intentional, and I will state my reasons for
it. I speak, however, of the present; the time may come when such an
institution will be needed. In Massachusetts, Mr. Benjamin Bussey has
made provision for a college at Roxbury, and Mr. Oliver Smith has made
similar provision for a college at Northampton; but these bequests will
not be available for many years. In England, Ireland, Scotland, France,
Belgium, Prussia, Russia, Austria, and the smaller states of Europe,
agricultural schools and colleges have been established; and they appear
to be the most numerous where the ignorance of the people is the
greatest. England has five colleges and schools, Ireland sixty-three,
while Scotland has only a professorship in each of her colleges at
Aberdeen and Edinburgh. In France, there are seventy-five agricultural
schools; but in seventy of them--called inferior schools--the
instruction is a compound of that given in our public schools and the
discipline of a good farmer upon his land, with some special attention
to agricultural reading and farm accounts. Such schools are not desired
and would not be patronized among us. When an agricultural school is
established, it must be of a higher grade,--it must take rank with the
colleges of the country. President Hitchcock, in his report, published
in 1851, states that six professors would be required; that the first
outlay would be sixty-seven thousand dollars, and that the annual
expense would be six thousand and two hundred dollars. By these
arrangements and expenditures he contemplates the education of one
hundred students, who are to pay annually each for tuition the sum of
forty dollars. It was also proposed to connect an agricultural
department with several of the existing academies, at an annual expense
of three thousand dollars more. These estimates of cost seem low, nor do
I find in this particular any special objection to the recommendation
made by the commissioners of the government; any other scheme is likely
to be quite as expensive in the end.
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