OUR IMPROVING AGRICULTURE. 



from the " hyssop on the wall" to the " Cedar of Lebanon;" that we shall so perfectly 

 comprehend its structure, that we shall, by-and-by, be able to collect the materials and 

 build a plant, as we do a plow or cart. 



It is true, science may do much for agriculture. She may lead to improvements, as she 

 is constantly doing, unattainable without her aid. She may analyze the crop growing up- 

 on our field, tell us accurately ever}'^ element of which the plant, at each stage of progress 

 from blade to flower, from flower to fruit, is constituted. She may analyze the soil, and 

 a.scertain with precision its elements, and so inform us how far it may supply the requi 

 site food for the desired product. She may catch the falling rains and dews of heaven, 

 and in her crucibles, resolving them to their primary principles, make them disclose how 

 far they may be expected to contribute to the growth of leaf and stem, and flower and seed. 

 She may even take captive the winds, and learning of what their balmy breath is made, 

 estimate with tolerable accuracy their influence upon vegetation. She may make analj^ses 

 of the various substances used by the farmer as manures, and see in which of them may 

 be detected those constituents of vegetable growth which are most abundantly supplied by 

 the earth, the water and the air, and so direct him to the most economical expenditure of 

 his treasures. 



Science may explain to us the effects, both chemical and mechanical, of draining and 

 deep plowing — how by these operations the elements of fertility are drawn from " the hea- 

 vens above and the earth beneath" — how the roots of the plant are thus enabled to tra- 

 verse far and wide, selecting such aliments as its peculiar structure may require. She tells 

 us how, by judicious amendment of the soil, as by adding sand to clay, we may render 

 it more open to the action of the sun, more permeable by the dews and rains — or how, as 

 by adding clay to sand, it may be made more compact, and more retentive of water and 

 manures. 



Science may teach us the history oj domestic animals, their varieties and qualities. She 

 may give us the results of careful observations for centuries, upon the effects of crossijig 

 upon the different breeds, and so inform us how far we may reasonably expect the trans- 

 mission of peculiar traits, moral or physical, from one generation to another. She may 

 teach us the history of 6ircJ!s — how industriously they co-operate with the husbandman in the 

 destruction of myriads of insects, which, but for their aid, would over run his fields, and 

 devour his harvests, thus teaching him to regard their song with pleasure, their presence 

 as a blessing, instead of waging against them, as he did in less enlightened days, a cruel 

 war of extermination. She tells us how the wood-pecker, formerly regarded as a deadly 

 enemy of the orchard, guided by an instinct alike unerring and wonderful, strikes her 

 sharp beak through the bark, and drags with her barbed tongue, from his concealment, 

 some worm which is slowly working his destructive way beneath. She tells us how the 

 beautiful Oriole, so often regarded and destroyed by the market gardener, as an enemy 

 of his peas, is only devouring the larvte of the pea-bug, which is already full grown in 

 the green pea fit for the table, and would otherwise make part of some favorite customer's 

 dinner, who, as likely as not, might fancy himself to be living on a strictly vegetable diet! 



Science collects and arranges the statistics of agriculture, collects and compares the va- 

 rious results of occasional or systematic experiments, so essential to right conclusions. 

 She warns us how the resources of the earth are exhausted by the constant conveyance 

 of its fruits to great cities, without adequate provision for the return of their fertilizing 

 products to the soil; how, in the language of a reliable writer, " there has been enough 

 of the elements of bread and meet, and wool and cotton, drawn from the surface 

 earth, sent to London, and buried in the ground or washed in the Thames, to feed 



