No. 85.J 37 



many and deteriorated, and as to the comforts of my household, they 

 are few and with difficulty obtained. The resolution to improve, call- 

 ed upon his industry to accomplish what his mind had conceived, and 

 we see him slowly rise above all the evils of his situation, and place 

 himself where he now stands, upon an equality with his species, and 

 the pride and ornament of his country. Look now at the farm of 

 the man who takes pleasure in his profession, and whose habits are 

 regular, quiet, orderly, and industrious — and what do you see 1 Does 

 he confine himself to the scanty supply of manure, he formerly made, 

 for fertilizing his soil, with the only incidental aids of clover and 

 plaster 1 No. His inquisitive mind takes in the whole range of 

 what reading and reflection have imparted. He vastly increases the 

 offals of his yard — he makes the compost heap — he finds the ashes of 

 wood or coal to be eminently serviceable — he uses swamp mud, and 

 weeds, and bone, poudrette and guano, and talk^ of acids and alka- 

 lies, and salts, and theorizes and reasons upon their qualities and ef- 

 fects, with the staidness of the philosopher, and the intelligehce of 

 the man of science. He looks even farther than this. He calls 

 chemistry to his aid, to analyze his soil, and to classify its varieties, 

 that he may have a full knowledge of its component parts, and so 

 use it as may be most conducive to his interest, his tastes or his de- 

 sires. He does not even stop here ; but having analyzed the soil, 

 he examines, minutely examines the plants it produces, and talks of 

 the lime, silex, potash and soda, substances that enter into the 

 composition of wheat, and rationally says, if these are the compo- 

 nent parts of plants, they must derive them in their growth either 

 from the earth or air ; and if from the earth, it is as well my duty 

 as my profit to supply these materials abundantly : for the air being 

 the gift of the Almighty, is as pure and abundant as his goodness 

 and wisdom are exhaustless and infinite. Is it not worth while there- 

 fore, for me to make the inquiry whether I cannot supply the food 

 of plants in a condensed form, and thus save the labor of making 

 and carting many thousand loads of manure, which is both tedious 

 and expensive 1 Cannot I by a short process apply these materials 

 in a more compact and equally acceptable state to my growing wheat, 

 corn, &c. 1 And let me tell you, gentlemen, this subject is now un- 

 dergoing investigation, and may lead to the most important practical 

 results. We are yet in the infancy of farming. The inquisitive 

 mind, seeking knowledge, never returns empty j and full as we are of 



