SCIENCES APPLICABLE TO FARMING. 53 



grass. Finding myself in Truro, and, as I fancied, almost 

 beyond the regions of agriculture, I was surprised, on being 

 invited by a respectable farmer there, to visit a piece of ground 

 on which he was in the habit of raising annually fifty bushels 

 of Indian corn to thexicre. I found that the soil did not diifer 

 from the white sand around it, except in containing an abun- 

 dance of fragments of quahaug shells, and enough of organic 

 matter to give it a dark color. Having extracted these shells, 

 that is, all the carbonate of lime, (about 20 per cent.,) and a 

 little phosphate, and then burnt off the organic matter, nothing 

 remained but the pure white sand of the Cape. 



Now this is an extreme case ; and if such a soil can be made 

 fertile, I know of none in New England that cannot be made 

 so. True, it requires industry, ingenuity and perseverance. 

 But this is just what men need for the development of a good 

 character, and for happiness. Providence never conferred a 

 greater blessing upon this nation, than by directing our Pilgrim 

 Fathers to the comparatively barren shores of New England. 

 Had they found an easy and naturally fertile soil here. New 

 England character, in which we so much glory, would never 

 have been developed. It needed a soil capable, by cultivation, 

 of yielding a good return, but not affording even subsistence 

 without untiring industry and skill. We ought, therefore, to 

 be thankful for the comparative barrenness of our soil, and 

 instead of envying others their naturally richer fields, we ought 

 to be stimulated to make ours as rich as possible by cultivation ; 

 and then we shall have, what is very seldom acquired in regions 

 that yield almost a spontaneous growth, and what is worth in- 

 finitely more than natural fertility ; I mean industrious and 

 sober habits, well-informed minds, energy of character and a 

 good conscience. And this, with me, is one of the strongest 

 arguments for doing all we can, to sustain agricultural societies, 

 since they are accomplishing this work in a most energetic and 

 efficient manner. 



Perhaps science has not thrown more light upon any part of 

 agriculture, than upon that of the nature and operation of 

 manures. It is but a few years since there was a darkness that 

 might be felt, upon this su1>ject. But now, we know the com- 

 position and specific action of most substances called manures. 

 They may be divided into two classes ; the first embracing the 



