IQ2 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the sap, and the art of manag-ing- them so to surround himself with 



fruits more delicious and profitable than sunnier climes ever yield. 



The flowers, now sealed books, will ^show their distinctive 



characters, and unfold new volumes of wisdom to his mind. 



... * 



But the great essential is chemistry — to a course of hig-h, 



enlightened, and successful farming, some acquaintance with this 

 science is indispensable. As well may the clergyman succeed 

 deprived of the volume of inspiration, the physician of his phar- 

 macopoeia, or the lawyer his brief. Chemical influences and effects 

 enter into every department of his operations, and without some 

 knowledge of the substances he employs as fertilizers, he is con- 

 stantly liable to imposition, vexation and loss. His ashes and 

 lime may be applied where alkalies already abound ; his plaster 

 where clover grows in rank profusion, and fresh muck where his 

 fields are covered with " nature'n grave-clothes" — the incorrigible 

 sorrel. There is chemical aetion orory where about him ; in his 

 mows of hay, his chests of grain, his compost heaps, his ripening 

 crops. The importance of this science to the farmer has rarely 

 been overstated by theoristfs or by the books ; its relations are so 

 intimate with all he does, that its employment cannot be dispensed 

 with. 



These are some of the laws of nature which he must understand, 

 and there are others after which he must seek with diligent 

 curiosity. Some knowledge of meteorology would often enable 

 him to secure his crops when the indifferent would see theirs 

 wasting by storms. lie would so skilfully prepare his soils as to 

 draw stores of fertilizers from the atmosphere, and thus feed his 

 crops from that great reservoir of wealth, through the action of 

 natural laws. lie ought to acquaint himself with the principles of 

 draining, of irrigation, sub-soiling and entomology. 



These are eomo of the acquisitions he should strive to make. 

 The gates of knowledge stand open, inviting him to enter and 

 supply them. The earth lifts up her hands and cries for better 

 treatment. It expands with generous benevolence to all who 

 woi'k it with an enlightened wisdom. It will not forever yield, 

 and receive nothing in return. It has not been so constituted by 

 Ilim from whose plastic hands it came. Like the laws of trade, 

 it must be compensated for its bounties. To ignorance and 

 indifference, it will refuse a reward. But to systematic applica- 

 tion, to those who act in unison with natural laws, to the observer 

 and inquirer, it will yield its richest fruits. 



