Page:The education of the farmer.djvu/31

 of analysis is an excellent means of mental discipline; and one not unsuited to boys. It has this advantage; there is something to be done as well as something to be thought about. But where pupils cannot be placed under a professional and educated chemist, I doubt whether analysis can be practised with sufficient accuracy to serve as a means of mental discipline, or even so as to avoid great mistakes and even serious accidents.

I more than doubt the value of such chemistry as can be learned at school being of any value to the farmer as a practical guide in his business. The reason is, that the properties of the constituent parts of matter are so complicated that they cannot be presented in their practical application with the same simplicity as mechanical laws; they are not, therefore, so suitable a means of education. Some of the processes of manufacture, such as the making of soap, of sulphuric acid, perhaps also brewing and baking, may be used as illustrations; but chemistry, in reference to farming, is complicated by organic life; and the chemistry of vegetables and animals is very intricate. To form a sound opinion on questions of agricultural chemistry implies, moreover, an acquaintance with physiology, and, still more, a familiarity with the processes of the farm. I should therefore counsel that those young farmers who wish to be agricultural chemists should complete their general education first, strengthen their powers of judgment, gain an acquaintance with the language and common facts of popular science, and, after they have left school, repair to Professor Voelcker at Cirencester, or to some practical School of Chemistry, and devote at least a whole year to the subject. At any rate, they must not trust to a smattering of chemistry picked up at school as of any real use in farming, though it may be very amusing and very instructive in other ways. The same may be said of the other natural sciences. It is well that a taste for them should be cultivated, provided that they are not allowed to supersede the real work of the school. It is also a very good thing to give boys handy habits in the use of tools, and therefore a workshop may be a useful addition to a school, provided there is some one who has a real love of carpentry and mechanical ingenuity. Those who have lived with sailors know how they can turn their hand to anything. But much depends on whether mechanical habits come naturally as an amusement, otherwise a good game at cricket were far better.

Thus far I have spoken of subjects which while they train the mental powers have a direct bearing on the business of the