have a more perfect state of civil and religious liberty than Europeans. Even tho most free 

 of those nations have a State religion to support, and therefore liave no religious liberty ; 

 we have no great distinctions of caste which prevail abroad; wo are comparatively frrc 

 from taxes, and can thorefure be more liberal to schools ; tho cultivators of the soil here 

 are lisually the owners of it, while the laborers in Kurojio have little concern in the matter, 

 and take but little interest in getting up schools ; nay, they are ignorant enough to oppose 

 them, lost they should so improve agriculture as to diminish their wages!. But there is 

 no need to pursue the arguments so well enforced by this volume. 



The advantages of railroads to an interior, are forcibly argued by several of the contri- 

 butors, one of whom, alluding to the old wagon mode, which obliged the fanner to take his 

 produce liimself to market, adds : " lie thus risked the temi)tation to appropriate a part of 

 the proceeds for liquid returns which freijuently floated off a goodly portion of the proceeds 

 of the harvest, as, possibly, some of you hare had occasion to know." In other words, the 

 iron transporter don't drink wliiskey! an advantage we had never thought of before. It 

 was soon found, too, in regard to live stock, that a steer worth SUO or S70 at the Bull's Head 

 in New York, cost no more for carriage from the oak openings of Michigan, or the prairies 

 of Illinois or Indiana, than one worth but S35 or S40, and shrewd dealers discovered that 

 they could afford to pay a better price for good animals of improved breeds than they could 

 for inferior. So it is that farmers opposed to progress have been obliged to move off, and 

 leave the field to the improvers, and a race of thoughtful, active men is usurj)ing the old 

 fogies. To be a successful farmer now, one must learn things that were never taught or 

 even dreamed of by the plain, straight-forward, strong-handed men, who had hewn their 

 way to a home, axe in hand, and who were still contented with the work of the old- 

 fashioned wooden plough, and the equally antique triangular harrow. Progress has become 

 a necessity, which these western Transactions chronicle and promote. 



In 1835, there was but one periodical in the Union devoted solely to the interests of 

 agriculture ; now they are almost as numerous as the States themselves. The example of 

 the New York State Agricultural Society has aroused the minds of the farmers to their true 

 interests; State after State came into the ranks ; communities and counties marshalled their 

 companies of independent 3"eomanry and wheeled into line ; now, all are actively engaged 

 in battling the common enemy — the allied legions of ignorance and error. Twenty years 

 ago there was no opportunity of learning what is now learned each year from the pub- 

 lished reports of societies, in relation to the imjirovements being made in the methods of 

 tilling the soil ; or of examining new implements^ or of comparing the merits of the various 

 breeds of foreign and domestic animals, or inspecting the grains, fruits, and vegetables of 

 the best known descriptions. Whoever has attended a State Fair, with his mind awake, 

 and his eyes open, will never despair of the Republic ; whoever reads these Transactions 

 attentively will rise, from their perusal, a wiser and a better man. 



Gossip. — The name of Larlcspur has been given, in consequence of the horn-shaped nectaiy 

 of the flower, being in form like the spur of a lark's foot. There are many beautiful varie- 

 ties now cultivated. — Some idea may be formed of the prodigiously increased drain ui)on 

 the functions of a plant, arising from an increase of dryness in the air, from the following 

 consideration : If we suppose the amount of its persinration, in a given time, to be 57 grains, 

 the temperature of the air being 75°, and the dew-point 70°, or the saturation of the air being 

 849°, the amount would be increased to 120 grains in the same time, if the dew-point were 

 to remain stationary, and the temperature were to rise to 80° ; or, in other words, if the 

 saturation of the air were to fall to 726°. Besides this power of transpiration, the leaves of 

 vegetables exercise also an absorbent function, which must be no less disarranged by any 

 deficiency of moisture. Some plants derive the greatest portion of their nutriment from the 

 vaporous atmosphere, and all are more or less dependent upon the same source. The Ne- 

 penthes distillatoria lays up a store of water in the cup formed at the end of its leaves, which 

 is probably secreted from the air, and applied to the exigencies of the plant when exposed 

 to drought ; and the quantity which is known to vary in the hothouse is, no doubt, connected 

 with the state of moisture of the atmosphere. — Double glass sashes are recommended by some 

 writers. The lights of many frames not in use, in winter, might be fitted to slide over the 

 hothouse during the severe season ; and, in the spring, their places might be supplied by 

 night mats, or canvas. — The Tamarisk, a very beautiful plant, not much known in America, 

 should be planted in the shrubbery, to mix with broad and fixed foliage, as the laurel or 

 holly. It is also calculated to cover the sides of hills, where it is desirable not to take off" the 

 view by taller trees ; in marine gardens, it soon acquires sufficient height to protect rose- 

 and other low flowering shrubs. The Tamarisk is deciduous, although, when in 



