No. 58.] 59 



sumers. Thus the property dug from the earth will contribute a 

 double toll to the State. 



Who cannot see that commerce, manufactures, and all other pur- 

 suits in civilized society will be largely benefited by increasing the 

 productiveness of rural labor 1 Hence, whatever we give to agricul- 

 ture is truly given to all classes. By unwise cultivation we have all 

 consumed much of the constituents of human food and clothing that a 

 bountiful Providence spread over the virgin earth in the Empire State. 

 Science now comes to our aid, and teaches us how to change a cold, 

 compact subsoil, into a loose, friable and most productive surface soil. 

 It reveals to us why it is that a good soil will produce 100 pounds of 

 ripe wheat plants, and yet lose only 15 pounds of its weight and sub- 

 stance by the operation, eighty-five pounds coming from the atmos- 

 phere. 



In combustion, respiration, and by fermenting and rotting, an im- 

 mense amount of organized matter is decomposed, and dissipated 

 through the air. These gases are all soluble in water. Hence, all 

 the carbonic acid expelled from the lungs of all animals, and the am- 

 monia formed by decomposing organized substances, are dissolved in 

 the rains, snows, and dews in the atmosphere, which fall to the earth, 

 and pass into the roots and circulation of cultivated plants. The 

 leaves also imbibe from the air a very considerable amount of vegeta- 

 ble food. 



There are a thousand reasons why the laws of nature should be 

 carefully studied, and as carefully obeyed by our whole rural popula- 

 tion. It is by this means alone that they can largely increase the pro- 

 ducts of their honest toil, and keep for the benefit of themselves, and 

 their helpless offspring, those surplus earnings which now go to form 

 the immense fortunes of capitalists. England and Wales have a mil- 

 lion and a half of public paupers. Do we desire an equal ratio, as 

 compared with our population ? If not, then some power must pro- 

 tect the inalienable rights of labor and of humanity. 



To make a beginning in this great enterprise of universal education 

 which aims to unite science with labor., your committee beg leave to 

 introduce a bill, appropriating five thousand dollars a year, for three 

 years, to the Fairfield Medical College, on condition that the institu- 

 tion shall be connected with a model and experimental farm, for the 

 purpose of teaching both the science and the practice of agriculture. 



