our journal not being in any sense theological or metaphysical. In a matter of 

 science, we would advise our friend to have no "preferences" for any "theory." 

 Preferences, deductions, iuferences, and the like, are the ruin of true science. We 

 want experiment and observation of facts. We would rather publish a page, de- 

 tailing what our correspondent has witnessed, than fifty to inform us in what he 

 does or does not believe. 



Our friend seems to possess some chemical information, and a desire for scien- 

 tific knowledge. We will propose an experiment for his leisure hours. Let him 

 take a plant — one of the Cactus family will do very well — weigh off a pound of 

 soil, put it in a pot, and set the plant, weighing the latter also. lie will find that 

 the Cactus will grow in the soil for many years until the mineral parts of the plant 

 shall far outweigh the difference between the weight of the original pound of soil. 

 If he think the mineral particles are furnished by the water, he can use rain-water, 

 or try distilled water, or other liquids, for experiment. If he find "silex," " lime," 

 or any " other mineral," in the plant which he cannot even " imagine" a trace of 

 in the soil or water, he need not infer, therefore, that the plant has made "some- 

 thing of nothing." He has other alternatives if he desires very much to infer 

 something. He may, for instance, believe that silex, lime, and so on, are not, in 

 reality, the simple and elementary substances chemists, in the present state of their 

 knowledge, suppose them to be. He may, if he choose, fancy that silex is com- 

 posed of two or more " elements ;" that these " elements" are again formed of 

 other elements, and so on ad infinitum ; and he may after all believe that if the 

 plant did not actually "create silex," it had a peculiar power to unite the "ele- 

 ments." 



We speak of " silex," " lime," &c., as something which we well understand, but, 

 though we know how they act, and are acquainted with many of their properties 

 and relations, we know really nothing of what they are. Like the term "create," 

 and other theological expressions, they are but words invented to hide our igno- 

 rance. Should our correspondent feel disposed to investigate the matter, we shall 

 be pleased to publish his experiments. 



UNITED STATES AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Albany, May 30, 1857. 



In pursuance of previous appointment, the Executive Committee of the Na- 

 tional Society met in this city last evening. The use of the rooms of the New 

 York State Agricultural Society having been kindly tendered, the Board were 

 called to order at half-past 7 P. M. Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, of Massachusetts, 

 President of the Society, assumed the chair. On motion of His Excellency Gov. 

 King, Mr. Olcott, of the Implement Committee, was appointed Secretary of the 

 meeting. 



Hon. Frederick Smyth, of New Hampshire, moved that Col. B. P. Johnson, 

 Secretary of the New York Society, be requested to take a seat at the Board as 

 an Honorary Member of the same, and to take part in the deliberations, which 

 was unanimously carried. 



The Committee then proceeded to the appointment of the judges upon reapers, 

 mowers, and such other implements as are to be tested at the national trial at 

 Syracuse, in July. 



J. Stanton Gould, Esq., of Hudson, N. Y., was unanimously elected Chairman 

 of the jury. 



ssrs. Seth Scammon, of Maine ; Brooks Shattuck, New Hampshire ; Ed 



