The education of the farmer

by Thomas Dyke Acland

THE

EDUCATION OF THE FARMER,

VIEWED IN CONNECTION WITH THAT OF THE

MIDDLE CLASSES IN GENERAL:

ITS OBJECTS, PRINCIPLES, AND COST.

By T. D. ACLAND, Esq.,

LATE FELLOW OF ALL SOULS COLLEGE, OXFORD.

LONDON:
PUBLISHED BY J. RIDGWAY, 169, PICCADILLY.

OXFORD: PARKER & SON. CAMBRIDGE: MACMILLAN.
EXETER: W. H. ROBERTS.

1857.

REPRINTED FROM
THE JOURNAL OF THE BATH AND WEST OF ENGLAND SOCIETY
FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF AGRICULTURE, ARTS,
MANUFACTURES, AND COMMERCE.

LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET,
AND CHARING CROSS.

TO

Sir THOMAS DYKE ACLAND, Bart.

I inscribe your name on these few pages, not that I wish to make you in any sense responsible for their contents, nor that in writing of the education of others I can venture to speak publicly of the parental training your own children have received.

But at this time, when the public response to plans in which I have taken part far exceeds my expectation, I cannot but give some utterance to a feeling common to all your sons (especially cherished by him who, since these lines were first penned, has been called from the midst of his unceasing work for others to the rest he longed for), that, if we are ever permitted to help on what is useful and good, we owe it to you. For we inherit friendships and sympathies won by your hearty love of worth and excellence in whatever rank they are to be found, and by your instinctive sense of what is due from man to man.

In acting with others earnestly engaged in promoting the good of their fellow countrymen, whether physical, intellectual, or moral, your sons can but follow the path marked out by their father nearly half a century ago.

T. D. A., Jun.

CONTENTS.
 
 

	Page
Introduction	1
The Education of the Farmer not to be separated from Middle-Class Education generally	6
Middle-Class Education must prepare—
1, for business, not for college	7
2, for dealing with things rather than with men	8
Education of the Child:—
Mother's training	10
Servants	13
Education of the Boy:—
School and schoolfellows	14
Useful education illustrated	15
i. What is really useful for business:—
Language	20
Calculation	20
Natural philosophy	21
Chemistry and physical science	22
ii. What is useful to educate a Man : —
Literature, late Professor Hussey	24
Awakens mental power	25
⁠Coleridge's schoolmaster	27
⁠Cyril Jackson	28
Trains moral feeling	28
The study of language	32
Should farmers learn Latin?	34
Opinions of Mr. Penrose	36
⁠„⁠ Dr. Boole	36
⁠„⁠ Mr. Thring	37
⁠„⁠ Dr. Kennedy	38
Geography and history	38
Drawing and music	40
The expense of education	41
For small farmers	44
For the higher yeomanry	45
Middle-class colleges	45
APPENDIX.
Extracts from Dr. Arnold on Middle-Class Schools	50
Letter from Dr. Voelcker on Teaching Chemistry at School	52
Eton Questions on Chemistry. By Mr. Pepper	53
Rev. Stephen Hawtrey on Music as a means of General Education	55
List of Books	57