PROGRESSIVE AGRICULTURE. IQl 



him. He may avail himself of these, but a most intimate knowl- 

 edge of the mechanical powers alone, will only partially qualify 

 him for his profession. It was Cicero, I think, who said the 

 orator must not only possess a good education, and be familiar 

 with the laws which h^ is to apply and explain, — but he must have 

 a general knowledge of the whole range of the sciences. If this 

 be requisite for the- orator or lawyer, how much more so for the 

 practical farmer.. The lawyer may argue a case of " flowage," 

 or "trespass," and scarcely need a term of chemistry or physi- 

 ology, or an hundred other cases where hydraulics or geology 

 could shed no light on legal lore. Hut the farmer has no such 

 case. He cannot build, or stir the soil, or plant, or harvest his 

 crops with enlightened wisdom, without the immediate application 

 of some one of the sciences. There is no profession demanding 

 so wide a range of scientific knowledge, as that of the farmer. It 

 were as wise to enter upon the cultivation of hia soil without some 

 chemical and geological knowledge of its constituent parts, as for 

 the manufacturer to set his wheel in motion, not knowing whether 

 his looms were to be impelled backward or forward ! 



The artist, watches wv:;h eagle eye the blending of colors on his 

 pallet, and reasons and reflects upon their effects on the canvass. 

 So should the farmer on the lock of hay he feeds to his cow. If 

 in his investigations he has studied the structure and functions of 

 his animals, and the offices their organs perform, he will be better 

 able to estimate what a given amount of food will produce in flesh 

 or milk. A knowledge of their structure will also enable him to 

 preventer control the diseases- to which they are liable. And 

 this acquaintance with some of the principles of physiology, is as 

 essential to the farmer, as a rotary motion to the mechanic, or 

 Blackstone or Coke upon Littleton to the lawyer. 



Without some acquaintance with botany, the farmer gropes as 

 in a labyrinth among his plants. The names of a few are familiar, 

 but their derivation is hidden in deep mystery, and thus a pleasing 

 feature of his occupation is lost. He does not reflect that language 

 gives expression to things — for instance — that the stem and kernel 

 of the wheat he cultivates, mean "hope," and "bearing," and 

 that to a hungry world this meaning is full of encouragement as 

 well as beauty ! This science will enable him to learn the names 

 and to select the grasses on his farm, some of which will be 

 nutritious and wprthy of cultivation, while others are worthless. 

 He will also learn the habits and wants of trees, the circulation of 

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