FUTURE OF AGRICULTURE. 363 



THE FUTURE OF AGRICULTURE, 



From an Address before the Hampshire Society. 



BY C. L. FLINT. 



We have seen what progress has been made in practical agri- 

 culture, and the eifect which this progress has had on the aspect 

 of the State. It would not be fair to ascribe all this improve- 

 ment to mere physical strength and energy. Within the last 

 few years, agricultural knowledge has been systematized, so as 

 to be made available in its application ; and herein consists, in 

 part, our superiority in agriculture over the ancients. 



Science has unlocked the subsoil, discovered its absorbing 

 power and exposed it to the air ; it has made known the value 

 of concentrated manures, and enabled us to tell the true from 

 the false ; it has laid open to us the nature and structure of 

 plants, disclosed in them a system for the assimilation of food, 

 analogous to the organization of the animal, and equally won- 

 derful. At the same time, it has told us just what food the 

 plant requires, and what part of this food is taken from the air 

 and what from the soil. Our implements of husbandry, also, 

 and our breeds of cattle, have not been neglected by it. Thus 

 science, aided by the practical knowledge derived from experi- 

 ence, has vastly accelerated the progress of agriculture. I do 

 not refer to mere theory and its deductions. I speak only of 

 the application of mind to practice, and the investigations of 

 men, who, to early practical knowledge of the details of farm- 

 ing, unite a sound knowledge of the true science of agriculture ; 

 who, not pretending to revolutionize farming or to make it a 

 pastime, are modestly investigating the composition of soils and 

 plants, of animals and manures, and who study to make their 

 investigations of practical value. 



