AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. geology and astronomy which have any association with the act of plowing, may have a manly, if not an "Industrial University Education" is the title of "angelic" tendency? We do not wonder that the labor a pamphlet from the pen of Prof. J. B. TURNER of Illi- of detail is left to the reader's imagination; the Prof. nois, published by Emery & Co., of Chicago. It is an would find it difficult enough to specify the legitimate essay "written at the special request of the Commis-deductions from all his principles in the form of a university programme. sioner of Agriculture for the forthcoming report of his A word or two in the last extract we have taken the Department," as we are informed by a prefatory note liberty to italicize for the reason that the Professor ocfrom the publishers; but the Commissioner, after ex-cupies a subsequent page to join in the popular outcry amination, declined to insert it. We have seldom had of careless thinkers, against the technical terms which occasion to agree with Mr. NEWTON in his official are the only system human learning or practice has yet devised for the description and every day use of course, but in the present instance his decision is cer- any of the arts and sciences. How can he teach any tainly worthy of approval. thing "truly and scientifically" except through this Prof. Turner has fallen into the common error of medium? The mechanic's apprentice must learn the dealing wholly in generalities; after a careful perusal of before; the farmer boy grows up in the use of terms technical names of a hundred things he never heard of his twenty pages, with the most sincere desire of peculiar to his business which are quite incomprehenprofiting by the experience of "a pioneer in the agri-sible to the youth who has never been off the city cultural educational movement," and with every dis- pavements; and yet there are those who apparently position to give him an impartial hearing-we are obliged to confess that our ideas on the subject are if anything much less clear, and our faith in these institutions less firm than when we began. As a tirade against all schools and means of education yet known to the world, his essay is tremendous in assertion and invective, but it seems to us singularly devoid of argument; the strongest point which we can perceive in support of the views laid down, being that the author himself, after nearly 30 years "as pupil and professor," should display so little of the logical consistency and mathematical exactness which academical studies are supposed to promote. But details, we are informed at the conclusion, have been purposely avoided, "from the conviction that all such efforts before the public at large will be perfectly useless." We cannot conceive how we are to get at the Professor's "general principles," without more detail; we certainly fear that unless he gives it, his principles will be open to very great misconception. For example we have the following in the early part of the essay: "Our troubles have come, in part at least, from a stupid at tempt to transfer the social and educational systems of the old rotten oligarchies and despotisms of England and of Europe, either in part or in whole to our own free land. * * All this pretense, and subterfuge, and hypocrisy, and cant, and the scholastic and pedantic drill that sustains and upholds it, may work well still in England or Italy or Prussia, but with us in America it is quite played out. * **For heaven's sake let our boys and girls have time to breathe, at least for one-half the year, the pure air of the world that God made, if we must sentence them to the solitary confinement of our so-called culture for the other half, and amid all the 'languages and ologies' of heaven, earth, and hell, give them a little time, at least in their growing years, to breathe the free air, and inhale the pure oxygen that God has made," etc., etc. expect that sciences like Botany or Anatomy, with all the minute detail and absolute necessity for accuracy characteristic of such studies, are to be conducted with no other vocabulary than that of ordinary conversation. This question is too old a one, and has been too well settled in practice, to require serious argument; the difficulties attendant upon "needless and unmeaning Greek and Latin technical terms," as the Professor styles them, are but of short duration to the student, and a "university" in which they should not be taught would not be likely to send forth pupils able to profit much either by their own studies or by the researches of men of science anywhere. "We propose to begin in the reformation of the world scripturally and orthodoxly," writes the Professor. He is undertaking a pretty big job-for an Agricultural University. We said at beginning that the reading of this essay had failed to give us clearer views or stronger faith in Agricultural Colleges. And this is so, because even those who claim to have devoted the most thought to the subject, so generally fail in bringing to its discussion anything that is real and tangible and explicit toward lessening the difficulties by which it is surrounded. Many of these difficulties are doubtless in a large degree imaginary; others will disappear with time and experience. We remember now but one suggestion in Prof. Turner's pamphlet which_bears upon a practical point, and that is this that "the pupils of these new universities should be admitted only after they have become perfectly masters of all the studies taught in the common schools of their several States." And this idea has been broached before, ín our own columns and elsewhere. But it scarcely seems to harmonize with all that the Professor has said in detraction of "our present scheme of public education." And after his sneers at the "ologies of heaven, earth and hell," at "cultivated men," and at the "infamous pretexts of pedantry "that characterize the sciences, we are surprised to see it asserted as one of the probable causes of failure in such an institution, that the "men placed at their head" should lack proper learning and culture," and that "a man who has no knowledge of philosophy, no general culture, and no breadth and grasp of mind, necessarily sinks in the presence of the learned world, and drags the institution down with him." This is true enough; but why should the Professor care for "the learned world," which he has been abusing even to the extent of affirming that "it is mainly our educated men that have divided, paralyzed, wasted and destroyed both the Church and the State, and have perpetrated more appalling crimes, in a few years, than all the other Now which of these "generalities" are we to carry classes have done in a century." We italicise this last into detail for ourselves, the one that "no man can be a charge, which is of too grave a nature to be lightly perfect fool" until he has been through the "tom-made, and are much inclined to ask the Professor for foolery of the schools," or this latter assertion that a single fact in support of such an unqualified and even to know something of the history, geography, 'startling accusation. The whole bearing of the first half of the essay, (and we are compelled to add of most of the second half) if we are at all competent to understand the use of the English language, of which the Professor is so fond, -is to decry all study and to prove that men like our present much respected President, who set out in life at splitting rails, are in fact "the best educated" for its duties-"I mean what I say," repeats the Profes sor, "the BEST EDUCATED, not simply the most school ed." And yet when he touches upon what an "industrial university education" should be, he seems to look at all the "ologies of heaven, earth and hell" in a somewhat different light: "When I have taught a boy merely to hold a plow," he says, "I have only taught him to be a two-legged jackass, twin brother to the four-legged team in front of him. But when I have taught him truly and scientifically, all the mighty mysteries of seas, stars, oceans, lands and ages that are concerned in that act of plowing, I have made a man of him: had we not better say an angel?" 66 BOARDMAN & GRAY'S PATENT IMPROVED LARK & LYDIUS-STREETS, ALBANY, N. Y. INSULATED IRON RIM AND FRAME WM. M. BENDER, Proprietor. GEORGE JACKSON Superintendent. SOLE TILE The subscriber is prepared to furnish Round, Sole and Horse-Shoe Tile, over 13 inches in length, by the cargo, or in the smallest quanti. ty on demand, at prices that he will defy any other parties to undersell him. He will warrant his tile hard burnt, and to fit close at the joints, and altogether superior to any made in the United States. All tile delivered on board of cars and boats in this city free of charge. Price list sent on application. Also DRAINING TILE MACHINES for sale of the latest improved Patterns. For further particulars address as above. Ap. 7-w&m "RURAL AFFAIRS.” THREE VOLUMES. Over Thirteen Hundred Engravings. One Thousand Pages of Reading Matter. Some of the subjects treated in the three Volumes entitled "RURAL AFFAIRS," (price $1.25 each, by mail, postpaid, or $3.75 for the set) are comprised in the following partial abstract of their contents: 1. Country Dwellings.-FIFTEEN DESIGNS in Vol. One; TWENTYSEVEN DESIGNS, and a full outline of "a Complete Country Residence" in Vol. Two; SIX DESIGNS of Working Men's Cottages in Vol. Three, also complete directions for building One, Two and Three Story Buildings on the Balloon" system, and an IIlustrated Glossary of Architectural Terms. *. In this Department, RURAL AFFAIRS is one of the most valuable works published, including nearly 250 illustrations, with estimates of cost, Rules for Planning and Building, etc., etc. 2. Laying Out Grounds.-Articles on Laying Out Farms, on FERGUSON ALBANY Pleasure Grounds and Gardens, and on Modes of Planting, in ALL KINDS OF GARDEN SEED, Also Peas, Corn, &c., And will also cultivate between the rows, keeping the soil light and free from weeds. Price, $10. Manufactured and sold by Vol. One; on Ornamental Planting, with Nine more Plans, in Vol. Two; on Garden and Green-House Arrangements in Vol. Three. Largely illustrated, with much practical information. 3. Farm Buildings.-Plans and Descriptions of Barns, Carriage Houses, Piggeries, Poultry Houses, Smoke Houses, &c., in Vol. One; EIGHT DESIGNS of Barns in Vol. Two; FOUR in Vol. Three S. E. HARRINGTON, Greenfield, Mass. -about 130 engravings in this department, which every Farmer might consult to advantage. 4. Practical Agriculture.-Among many valuable articles in all the Volumes. Mr. THOMAS' Illustrated Prize Essay on FARM MANAGEMENT; the chapter on UNDERDRAINING; the Essays on GRASSES, and the WEEDS, &c., are complete treatises, in small compass, on the subjects to which they are devoted. 5. Fruits and Fruit Culture.-Few works on Horticulture contain a similar amount and variety; nearly 250 varieties concisely described in Vol. One, with twenty-two shorter articles; a large number of articles, some of considerable length, in the other Volumes, with innumerable shorter notes derived from the Author's long and successful experience. This department includes over 250 Engravings. 6. Domestic Animals.-The Principal Breeds; Doctoring Sick Animals; General Management at all Seasons. Also the POULTRY YARD, including a full treatise by C. N. BEMENT, and the APIARY, including the care of Bees. Largely Illustrated. 7. Flower and Vegetable Gardens.-Laying Out and Manage PLEASE SEND FOR A CIRCULAR. practical Seedsmen in the United States, says: "It is the most per Wm. G. Comstock, Esq., extensively known as one of the most fect implement for sowing seed and hand cultivation that I have ever seen." Hon. Simon Brown, Editor of the New-England Farmer says: "I find it the easiest, most convenient, surest, and most beautiful Seed Sower I have ever used. As a weeder it stands as much in advance of everything else I have seen as it does as a sower." ture says: "It distributes the seed with great evenness and economy, Hon. Geo. B. Loring, Member of Massachusetts Board of Agricul and in simplicity and ease of working, it cannot be surpassed." N. B.-A cut of this machine may be seen in No. of Co. GENT. for March 10, p. 168. March 10-weowth. ENDLESS CHAIN AND LEVER HORSE POWERS, ment; Green-House and other structures; Rustic Work of all THRESHERS AND CLEANERS, kinds; New and Desirable Plants, &c., &c.-also HEDGING and HEDGES. 8. Farm Implements, etc.-Twenty-three articles in Vol. One and many others in Vols. Two and Three-also a complete chapter on FARM FENCES and GATES-on CISTERN BUILDING, Construction of LIGHTNING RODS, etc. 9. Butter and Cheese Making.-Several articles, with Designs Threshers and Separators, CLOVER HULLERS, CIRCULAR AND CROSS CUT WOOD-SAW. ING MACHINES, CIDER MILLS, BROOM CORN SCRAPERS, &c., manufactured by of Dairy Houses, and practical directions in detail, including G. WESTINGHOUSE & CO., Schenectady, N. Y. the experience of many of our best Dairy Farmers. 10. Rural and Domestic Economy.-Under this general head may be classed a variety of subjects of out-door or in-door indoor interest to every resident in the country, far too numerous to specify at length. The foregoing reference to some of the most important subjects treated in these Volumes, does not include a large number of very important and admirable chapters-such as that on INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE FARMER, by Dr. FITCH, with 34 Engravings, and that on the GROWTH OF PLANTS and Vegetable Physiology, with 61 Engravings. The volumes are sold either separately or together at the price above named. As Premiums by Agricultural and Horticultural Societies they are excelled by no books now before the public; and Agents will find them command a ready sale. A liberal discount will be given where any quantity is purchased. Address the publishers, LUTHER TUCKER & SON. COUNTRY GENTLEMAN OFFICE, Albany, N. Y. Send for Circular, containing full description and prices of above named machines. Address G. WESTINGHOUSE & CO., April 28-weowtf. Schenectady. N. Y. THIS Patented April 7 and May 5, 1863. AND FIRST PREMIUM AWARDED AT STATE AND COUNTY FAIRS. HIS is the BEST and MOST SUBSTANTIAL tity of hay to secure from rain, as a man and two boys will, by the Fork yet invented. It is admitted by all practical farmers and use of this Fork, unload a ton of hay in five minutes. mechanics who have seen it operate, to possess superior advantages Over all other Forks-being simpler, more substantial, working with greater facility in all places, can be elevated higher and through a smaller space, It weighs but twenty pounds-can be worked easily by a boy of 10 years, is very strong, and is not liable to get out of repair. That a Horse Hay Fork will pay is no longer questioned by the intelligent farmer, as it saves a vast amount of manual labor and time: which is an important consideration while labor is scarce and dear; besides it will frequently save its price when the farmer has a quan ENGLISH PHEASANTS, &c. By a late arrival of the steamship Bremen we are put in possesBion of the following FANCY STOCK FOR SALE. 3 Pair of ENGLISH PHEASANTS,........... $25.00 per pair. 8 Pair of BANNACLE GEESE,. 25.00 do. Two Pair GERMAN RED SQUIRRELS very playful and tameable -price $12 per pair. The above prices include caging and delivery at Express Office in New-York. Also now on hand one TRUMPETER SWAN, one pair SUMMER DUCKS, one CANADA GOOSE, a few PIGEONS, LOP-EARED RABBITS, and two pair JAVA PEACOCKS. One copy, new edition, AMERICAN POULTERER'S COMPANION sent by mail on receipt of $2, retail price. Address June 2-witmit. C. N. BEMENT, P. O. Box 505, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. MANUFACTURED BY GIFFORD BROS., Hudson, N. Y., May 26-1am3tm2t. THORO THOROUGH-BRED DEVONS FOR SALE. The Bull Hotspur, 4030 A. H. B., rich roan, calved May 15, 1860by Duke of Gloster (11382) dam imported Daphne by Harold (10299.) $75 A MONTH-Agents wanted to sell Sew- Also three Yearling Bulls and five Bull Calves, (all but one got by ing Machines. We will pay a liberal salary and expenses, or give large commissions. Address D. B. HERRINTON & CO., May 19--w8tm2t. Detroit, Mich. Hotspur,) and a few Heifers. Catalogues sent on application. CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER. The Farm. An Agricultural College, by JUDGE FRENCH,.. Crop Prospects in Northern Wisconsin, by J. W. CLARKE, Hilling Indian Corn,.. 201 206 Change in Terms of the Country Gentleman. The continued rise in the price of printing paper, the cost of composition, and every other outlay in connection with our 209 publications, obliges us at last to announce a moderate advance 209 in the subscription price of this Journal. It should be borne 209 in mind by our readers that we have not only had the burden Letter from Prussia-Remedy for the Wire Worm, by L.... 210 of carrying on the COUNTRY GENTLEMAN thus far, at the old Clover as a Fertilizer.... The Air as a Source of Plant Food, How to Get the Most Benefit from Clover, 212 215 216 217 Effect of the Turnip Crop on the Soil, by C. T. ALVORD,. Stacking Hay.... 216 How to Eurich Meadows,.. Proper Time for Cutting Grass,.. ........ ..... Expense of Making Hay,. Field Culture of the Bean, by Jas. A. MCCOLLUM, Comstock's Rotary Spader, Gorse as a Crop for Rough Land, by J. B.,.. FOREIGN NOTICES-Market Fairs-The French Crops- Statistics of Disease among Cattle,..... Notes for the Month,. 212 terms, but that we have also kept up its size, and increased the 213 expenses upon it in other ways. We resolved upon this course, hoping that the enhanced prices of the past two years were to be only of temporary continuance, and willing to incur loss while they lasted, rather than make any change not absolutely 217 necessary in either size or price. And now, when it has become 218 evident, not only that prices are to continue high for a pe 219 riod of altogether indefinite length, but also that they will in all probability still farther increase instead of receding,—we have no other recourse than to meet the altered condition of affairs 224 by the following modification in our rates, which is but a 227 slight addition, as will be seen, and one in which we think we may fairly hope to meet the unanimous approval and support of our readers, in preference to a reduction of size, which 206 was the only alternative in our power: 221 221 229 THE TERMS OF THE COUNTRY GENTLEMAN WILL HEREAFTER BE Two DOLLARS AND A HALF PER YEAR, strictly in advance, OR THREE DOLLARS PER YEAR, not in advance. CLUB TERMS. Selection of Mates for Breeding, by J. B., 220 Statistics of Disease among Cattle,.. 221 ONE COPY,. Horticultural Department. FOUR COPIES,. 9.00 FOUR Copies,. 4.50 Grafts Controlling the Stock,.. TWELVE COPIES, (and Raising Peaches in Pots, by J. one free to sender of Summer Treatment of Grapevines, by H. P. B., 205 the list, 24.00 the club,)... 12.00 The Stuyvesant Pear Tree, 208 Locality for Peach Orchards,. 20S And any additional number of copies, above eight or twelve, at The Snowy Owl and Butcher Bird, by J. P. NORRIS,....... 222 and as agricultural products continue to enhance in Peaches in Pots,... Illustrations. 204 | Hay Sweep,.. Stuyvesant Pear Tree,.. 208 Hay Sweep in Operation, Stacking Hay.. 216 Butcher Bird,.. Orchard Whifftrees,...... 217 The Rundell Horse-Fork,. THOROUGH-BRED STOCK For Sale Low. Two AYRSHIRE BULLS, 2 years old, Three AYRSHIRE HEIFERS, 1 and 2 years old. TWO DEVON HEIFERS, 1 and 2 years old. June 23-w3tmlt. HORT-HORNS ALFRED M. TREDWELL, value, and farmers consequently feel more at liberty to secure additional reading for themselves and their sons, we cannot but think that very slight effort would now avail to continue a proportionate increase throughout the remainder of the year. As an inducement to some effort in our behalf we will, until further notice, present a copy of "Ten Acres Enough" (by mail, postpaid, price $1.25) to any one sending us two new subscribers and $5, and a copy of "My Farm of Edgewood" (the price of which has now advanced to $2) to any one sending us four new subscribers and $9. Should other books of similar The Bubscribe RN'S FOR SALE: a few first class short price be preferred, instead of those named, we will, if Horns, principally cows and heifers, with a few bull calves. The stock possible, substitute them, but mention these as being are all of the Most Popular Strains of Blood, as will be seen by reference to my Catalogue, a copy of which will be Feb. 18-wtf. the two of the most general interest, combined with much practical value, which we can now select. Specimen numbers for distribution we shall be glad to supply gratuitously. PUBLISHED BY LUTHER TUCKER & SON, with one of each free to the Agent, Six Dollars. THE CULTIVATOR has been published thirty years. A for 1853, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 60, 61, 62 and 63, can be furnished, bound and postpaid, at $1.00 each-the set of 11 vols. sent per Express for $8.25. NEW SERIES was commenced in 1853, and the eleven volumes "THE COUNTRY GENTLEMAN," a weekly Agricultural Journal of 16 quarto pages, making two volumes yearly of 416 pages, at $2.50 per year, is issued by the same publishers. [SERIES. No. 9. the production of mutton in Massachusetts is largely on the increase from year to year, and, as we have reason to believe, with satisfactory results." As to' beef cattle, Mr. S. says of stall feeding: "If to the value of the beef, the market value of the manure be added, it is still doubtful whether the sum total would yield a full remuneration to the feeder. Yet with the exercise of good judgment in selection and purchase, and with skill and economy in feeding, together with due care in the preservation and application of manure, we arrive at the conclusion that this branch of meat: producing is profitable." The three points here al The Cultivator & Country Gentleman. luded to, furnish exactly the secret of success; those City consumption. 22,504 42,074 26,679 37,223 who fail may fairly conclude that in one of these they have gone somewhere amiss; for, as Mr. S. proceeds to say, a neglect to bring them into requisition, serves to reverse the whole operation, and render it unprofitable, if not disastrous." With this caution, however: he still asserts that I those farmers who have been, most persistent in this course of feeding, will at least compare favorably with others pecuniarily, while their farms at present are in a higher state of cultivation than those of their neighbors, who have pursued a different and opposite policy." As to grass-feeding, Mr. S. says that it is pursued to a considerable extent in all the five western counties of the State, and with a good profit: "we feel it safe to say that an average advance of thirty-three per cent upon the purchase may be relied upon in return for six months' pasturing, or from ten to fifteen dollars. per head. Where suitable stock can readily be procured, we believe that no better use can be made of a large proportion of our good pasturage." In 1861, however, 8,563 head were shipped east by the Joliet cut-off-going around instead of through the city-so that the total shipments for that year should be 132,709 head. In 1862, 41,592 head were shipped in the same way, and 40,230 head by the In the production of beef by either of the above: Great Western road from Central Illinois, connecting methods, it is taken for granted that the animal is with the Wabash Valley road at State Line, which purchased for the purpose-not bred by the feeder. would make the total for that year, 194,567 head. If As to breeding, as well as feeding, taking into account; these figures are correct, the shipments of Western all the drawbacks encountered and expenses incurred, cattle included in the above table were multiplied more than five-fold in the short period of four years! Mr. S. still leans to the opinion that the experiment may be satisfactorily tried. His estimates show but a In the last annual volume (1863) of the Agriculture very narrow margi for profit; and yet, " upon careof Massachusetts, we find a report from the careful pen ful consideration of the benefits of spending the pro of Mr. PHINEAS STEDMAN on the production of meat duce upon the farm, and the increased advantage in by the farmers of that State, as a source of profit. After this respect of the production of meat over that of alluding to the widely different opinions expressed by milk, butter, or cheese, to be at once conveyed to the different persons on the subject, Mr. S. goes on to market, it may be well questioned whether the former; show that "it is both profitable and expedient," if not is not really more remunerative and should not receive on a large scale and as a primary object, at least as a increased attention." But much emphasis is pro secondary one, and in connection with other branches. perly placed upon the breeding of such animals as will; In connection with dairying, the production of pork or be most likely to pay for beef, when they prove lackraising of veal calves, proves very remunerative; and ing in milking capacity for the dairy; upon liberal |