MANURES. 



DUTCHESS COUNTY— DR. BEEKMAN'S ADDRESS. 



Extract from the Address of Dr. John P. Beekman, President of 

 the State Agricultural Society, before the Dutchess County Agricul- 

 tural Society, Sept. 13, 1844 : 



" Dutchess has for many years stood high as a well cultivated 

 county. No doubt the praise is merited ; but tell me where is the 

 intelligent farmer whose land is not susceptible of being made better? 

 Where is the farm that will average forty bushels of wheat to the 

 acre, and so proportionably its other products 1 Now, can any one 

 doubt that this may be done ? That it has been done elsewhere, we 

 have the most abundant proof. Will you acknowledge that the land 

 elsewhere is much better naturally than yours, as you do not raise half 

 that amount ? No, I know that you will not make such an admission. 

 There can be only one cause, and that is imperfect cultivation. The 

 time has been when forty bushels of wheat to the acre has been re- 

 peatedly raised in Dutchess ; but that time has for the present gone 

 by ; whether it will return or not will depend on your own industry 

 and intelligence. That it will return I have no doubt ; for I have the 

 confidence to believe that your desire for agricultural distinction will 

 induce you to adopt a more systematic and intelligent course of hus- 

 bandry. When the forest was opened to the plow, you had the ac- 

 cumulated decomposed vegetable matter of centuries to enrich your 

 soil, which made it immensely productive ; but drawing too long and 

 too often upon that storehouse, you have in a great measure emptied 

 it of its treasures, and now you have no resource left but to draw up- 

 on your own management and skill. I have no hesitation in saying 

 that you will be equal to the occasion, and that the lost fertility of 

 this county will in process of time be more than restored. But it 

 cannot be by farming as our fathers have done : it will be by becom- 

 ing better acquainted with the nature of our soils — with the food most 

 congenial to the plants we wish to cultivate, and applying to that soil 

 whatever may be deficient to assist the full development of its pow- 

 ers. To learn this, must we all turn philosophers, and go back through 

 the whole train of causes until we come to the simple elements 1 Must 

 we all turn geologists, and ascertain the nature and age of the primi- 

 tive rocks, and the origin of clay, lime, iron, potash, soda, magnesia 

 and carbon 1 Let us leave this to the philosopher. It is most appro- 



