THE AMERICAN PARMER. 39 



sorts of manure are applicable ; of the necessity of using all 

 manures of animal origin, unless composted, while fresh, before 

 the sun, rain and air have robbed them of their most valuable 

 properties ; of the absurdity of the old method of rotting 

 manure till it is destitute of almost all its fertilizing properties ; 

 of the means of chemically analyzing soils to ascertain their 

 constituent parts, and thus learning what is needed to increase 

 their fertility. We have introduced the raising of roots, 

 whether turnips, mangel wurzel or carrots, for feeding the 

 cattle and fertilizing the soil. "We substitute fallow crops, such 

 as require the stirring of the soil while growing, in the place of 

 the less profitable naked fallows. We have invented beautiful 

 labor-saving machines, — conspicuous among which are the 

 reapers and mowers ; we have discovered the art of breeding 

 the best animals and the best vegetables by a judicious selection 

 of individuals from which to propagate ; we have also discov- 

 ered that peculiar In-eeds of cattle are peculiarly adapted for 

 certain purposes, — the noble Durhams and Herefords for beef^ 

 the Ayrshires and Jerseys for the dairy, and the handsome 

 Devons, while partially uniting the qualities of the other three, 

 for draft ; and that by adhering to the pure blood we can have 

 a reasonable certainty of these results. We now find that 

 swamp lands, which have heretofore been allowed to remain 

 worse than useless, filled with alders and poisonous vegetation, 

 can, at comparatively little expense, be rendered the most pro- 

 ductive portions of our farms, by a judicious system of drain- 

 ing, and that by thorough draining, nearly every acre of land 

 can be made to yield double and three-fold its former crops. 



These are some of the advantages which science and careful 

 observation have given to you, and which have produced within 

 late years, the most wonderful changes in the system of agri- 

 culture. Would that I could say that all farmers had availed 

 themselves of them ; but alas, too numerous are those, who, 

 either from prejudice, obstinacy or ignorance, having eyes see 

 not, having ears hear not, or seeing and hearing believe not. 

 Practical farmers, they style themselves, as opposed to book- 

 farmers. I should like to place in the hands of all these practi- 

 cal men a little volume which I have lately read ; it is called 

 " Talpa, or the Chronicles of a Clay Farm." The author of 

 Talpa was a hook-farmer, and will show more than one of you, 



