194 '"'E3T OXFORD SOCIETY. 



horses or be a doctor ; ready to make money any -where, or to get 

 married If an Englishman wants a steamboat, he draws bis plan, 

 and makes all the mathematical calculations necessary, vith scien- 

 tific exactness ; if a Yankee wants one, he takes his jackknife and 

 whittles it out, and if it will not go as fast as the Englishman's he 

 will make it go as fast as he can. It is this versatility of talent 

 that enables the New England farmer to do almost all kinds of work 

 on his farm and buildings without depending on his neighbor. 



In connection with the leading topic of this occasion, permit me 

 to suggest subjects for your consideration, so that you may be think- 

 ing as well as working men. 



There is an inquiry as to the kind of corn best adapted to our 

 latitude; to the best methods of avoiding the potato rot; the draining 

 of meadows and lowlands ; a subject that has yet to engage the 

 attention of farmers in some portions of our State to a great extent. 

 Then there is that noble animal, the hog. I question much whether 

 you have yet begun to realize the profits of this animal, not in rais- 

 ing pork for sale, but in the quantity and quality of manure he 

 makes. He is the only animal that can furnish you phosphate of 

 lime in large quantities. There is a rapid change going on in this 

 State in regard to the kinds of stock best adapted to the wants of 

 the farmer. Farmers do not want mere fancy stock any more than 

 they want fancy horses to do their work. As a general rule, great 

 size in stock will not be found the most profitable trait. Our 

 younger farmers would find it interesting to examine into the chem- 

 ical composition of different kinds of roots for stock, for chemistry 

 as well as the experience of the best farmers will tell you that some 

 kinds of food will put on flesh, while others will put on fat. Then 

 if we turn to our more staple crops, you should be led to inquire 

 what you are taking from your soil every crop you remove. Let 

 ^me illustrate. In every ton and a half of potatoes, you take twelve 

 pounds of phosphoric acid, seven pounds of sulphuric acid, six of 

 magnesia, and fifty-eight pounds of potash and soda, elements the 

 most important to the growth of vegetables. Let us take clover, 

 one and three-fourths tons of clover will take eighteen pounds of 

 phosphoric acid, seven of sulphuric acid, seventy of lime, and seventy- 

 seven of potash and soda. A good crop of beans may take twenty 

 pounds of phosphoric acid from one acre. I give you these figures 



