ADAPTATION OF SOILS. 481 



keep up tlie temperature, at the cost of a fifth more in quantity 

 of meal or hay ? Have you acted on the false presumption 

 that young cattle will eat up the third-rate stuff, like stalks and 

 straw, with a better appetite if they are not allowed any thing 

 else, — whereas the truth of their dietetics is, that they will 

 swallow this inferior food far more easily at noon, if you lubri- 

 cate their throats with a little more epicurean catering for 

 breakfast ? 



Are there no dilapidated buildings, filthy front yards, stag- 

 gering fences, broken tools scattered over haymows and corn- 

 bins and woodpiles, instead of hanging cleansed and polished 

 in a tool-room, — all vile witnesses how it is forgotten that pros- 

 perity never takes the arm of a sloven ? 



Now these neglects seem to show that, over and above the 

 attainments of a few scholarly persons, or rather between their 

 science and the practical work of the multitude, there is needed 

 a connecting link, — something to kindle in Messrs. Smith, Jones 

 and Brown, out on the lots, an appreciative concern for the 

 writings and deductions of Messrs. Liebig and Norton, Hitch- 

 cock, Jackson and Harris, in their studies and laboratories. 

 An exhibition is opened to some purpose, if an emulation is 

 provoked by it that sends every man home from cattle-show, 

 determined that he will be a master on his acres, and not a 

 plantation slave, driven by the whip and thong of those two 

 tyrannical overseers, necessity and routine, — an original creator 

 by his mind, and not the mere manual drudge of habit. 



ADAPTATION OF SOILS. 



From an Address before the Plymouth Society, October 7, 



1853. 



BY SANPORD HOWAKD. 



Can the soil of this section be made to aid, advantageously, 

 in the support of your population, and if so, in what manner ? 

 This question leads us to inquire what are the inducements 

 61* 



