62 [Senate 



of different species, wheat and clover for example, delighted in the 

 same soil, and in their production could be serviceable to each other; 

 and chemical analysis was resorted to in order to determine the cause 

 of this affinity. There certainly appeared to be externally no good 

 reason why this difference in the character or productive qualities of 

 these soils should exist, and the separation or reducing them to their 

 original elements promised much in the solution of these difficulties. 

 Sir Humphrey Davy, whose discoveries in chemistry were so ex- 

 tensive and brilliant, was one of the first who entered the field of 

 agricultural chemistry, and in the importance and value of his labors 

 can scarcely be said to have been exceeded by any of the numerous 

 able men that have followed in the same course of investigation. 

 New paths have indeed been struck out, new processes adopted, many 

 errors corrected, many new and important results been obtained, and 

 the sphere of agricultural chemistry astonishingly simplified as well 

 as extended, yet the honor of being the pioneer in this direction of 

 science, as well as one of the ablest that have labored in this field, be- 

 longs to the English philosopher. Chaptal, in France ; Liebig and 

 Sprengel, in Germany ; Johnston, in England ; and Dana, in this 

 country, have all been successful investigators in this department of 



ranee in pursuit of knowledge. His acquirements as a man of science, evinced 

 by his writings for literary and scientific journals, as well as for the " Cultivator," 

 would reflect credit on many who enjoyed the advantages of a collegiate educa- 

 tion. And those acquirements were of the progressive character — every day of 

 his useful life being marked not merely by the exercise of his versatile talent on 

 the multifarious objects embraced by agriculture and the domestic arts, but by 

 advancing steadily in the acquisition of knowledge from the various departments 

 in the wide range of science. It would be sufficient, indeed, to say of him, that, 

 as senior editor of the " Cultivator," he had proved himself every way worthy 

 as a successor of the lamented Buel. 



Like Buel, also, Gaylord was cut down in the maturity of his intellect — in the 

 very field of his fame — cut off suddenly, too, as Buel was — precluding even inti- 

 mate friends from the privilege of soothing his dying hours — so suddenly was death 

 consequent on the commencement of the fatal disease. 



When the President concluded his remarks, of which the foregoing is a mere 

 outline, the following preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted : 



Whereas, This meeting of the friends of agricultural improvement have heard 

 with deep regret of the recent and sudden death of Willis Gaylord, of Onondaga, 

 senior editor of the " Cultivator," well known to the agricultural world for the 

 versatility of his talent, as a writer on subjects essential to the interests of Agri- 

 culture and the Domestic Arts : 



Be it therefore Resolved, That in testimony of respect for the memory of this 

 distinguished friend of agriculture, this meeting do now adjourn ; and that cop- 

 ies of these resolutions, signed by the officers ol this meeting, be enclosed to the 

 bereaved family of the lamented dead, in testimony of our sympathy in their af- 

 fliction. 



Resolved also, That these resolutions be published in the newspapers, as a mark 

 of respect for the memory of the departed. 



