WEST OXFORD SOCIETY. J §3 



bis grass and rakes the hay, reaps the grain and threshes it. But 

 he could not do all this, unless science had stepped in and shewed 

 the mechanic how to arrange his wheels, and levers, and bands, to 

 meet the desired end. 



The next great step in human progress, will be the introduction 

 of the steam-engine upon the largest farms in our county. It is not 

 among the impossibilities, and if so, it is not among the improba- 

 bilities, and if not among the improbabilities, it certainly will be 

 accomplished. In England this has already taken place to a certain 

 extent, and I am sure that the restless disposition of the Yankees- 

 will not allow them to be behind their trans- Atlantic friends. 



I wish here, Mr. President, to illustrate what I conceive to- be- 

 the relative positions of the scientific man and the farmer. 



No scientific man on earth can take your land and raise better 

 corn than you, but he may be able to advance principles by devel- 

 oping the laws of nature that will serve to enlarge your own sphere 

 of thought, and consequently, of action. 



It is absolutely necessary for the captain of a ship to learn the 

 laws of navigation, but it is not necessary for him to be an astron- 

 omer, or an eminent mathematician, and make his own books on 

 navigation. Not at all. Just so with you, gentlemen. The scien- 

 tific man who studies the elements of bodies is a theoretical chemist; 

 you who carry out the application of the laws which he establishes, 

 are every one of you practical chemists, and it is not too much to 

 say, that the really intelligent farmer has the richest, most interest- 

 ing and instructive laboratory in existence. 



It was a prevalent idea in the older portions of this county, not 

 thirty years ago, that the soil was becoming w'orn out and must be 

 abandoned. The science of chemistry sprung into existence within 

 the present century, and has analyzed almost every vegetable, and 

 shown what are its elements. It has analyzed the soils, and shown 

 their composition. New ideas have been started. New modes of 

 cultivation have been practised, and now old worn out fields in 

 Maine, and much more so in M .ssachusetts, and still more so in 

 Virginia, are renovated. Land in this State which in your boy- 

 hood was considered as good for nothing but for juniper bushes, is 

 now among the most valuable and productive in New England. 



If we go back into the history of our world two thousand years, 



