GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 519 



etudy only a moflicum of time beyond that required by the demands of busi- 

 ness. One of the most successful farmers of Europe is also one of the most 

 profound of philosophers, and has written one of the most valuable -works on 

 the economy of agriculture extant * The time has passed when it was deemed 

 absurd to consider these callings incompatible, and he who now deems the ap- 

 plication of science to agriculture a theme for ridicule has himself become a fair 

 subject for the pity, if not for the contempt, of well-informed men. 



Every farmer knows that the quantity of produce which may be obtained 

 from a given space of ground varies much, other things being equal, according 

 to the skill of the cultivator ; but every one is not aware that skill is in reality 

 merely the application of the rules of vegetable physiology to each particular 

 case. This application is frequently made by those who are unconscious of 

 the derivation of the rules. We are apt to overlook the causes that liave in- 

 fluenced a course of practice, and to ascribe the improvement we witness to a 

 mere advance in art, not considering that the advance must have had a cause, 

 and that the cause can only be the work of some master-hand, which is after- 

 wards blindly followed by the community. 



The introduction of new or improved varieties of fruits has doubled and trebled 

 the produce in many districts of our country. But how many who profit by 

 the change, who are enriched by the increase, consider that they owe all this to 

 the patient skill of the vegetable physiologist and horticulturist? The new 

 varieties of the potato, many of which greatly surpass in productiveness the 

 older sorts, are greedily sought by the farmer, and the names of Garnet, Chili, 

 Cuzco, and Pink-eye Rusty-coat, et id omne genus, are in every mouth. But 

 who considers the skill and care, the knowledge of the laws of vegetable growth, 

 the research into the chemistiy of vegetation, or the patient, laborious applica- 

 tion of knowledge derived from a profound study of botanical principles, all of 

 which are involved in the production of a new sort, or even turns to ponder the 

 name of him who has proved a benefactor to his species ? t 



How many farmers know that to Thomas Andrew Knight, an English gen- 

 tleman of wealth and education, and the best practical gardener of his day, we 

 owe those experiments in vegetable physiology which have resulted in the pro- 

 duction of a vast number of new varieties of apples, pears, plums, cherries, &c., 

 of great value, both in England and in this country? How many are aware 

 that the jjrinciples this philosopher advanced have led to still greater improve- 

 ments among our OAvn horticulturists, and seem destined to produce others, of the 

 magnitude and importance of which he forms no conception ! Who that culti- 

 vates the turnip, a crop yet to be largely extended in this country, and which 

 is the most important in England, where it is the great foundation of all the 

 best systems of cropping, remembers that it is to an English statesman. Vis- 

 count Charles Townshend, able and honest in an intriguing government, chief 

 minister to George I, we owe the introduction of this invaluable root into Eng- 

 land 1 1 In this seeming simple act of urging upon the farmers of Britain the cul 

 tivation of this apparently contemptible root, he has done more for his fellow- 

 countrymen than whole galleries of famous politicians, who, instead of being 

 benefactors, rather mei'it the denunciation of the poet, as — 



"Destroyers riglitlier called, aud plagues of men." 



* Boussingault's Rural EconoTiiy. 



t Since the above was written we have with pleasure remarked the effort now making by 

 many farmers of the State of New York towards obtaining means for a testimonial fund, for 

 presentation to C. E. Goodrich, as an evidence of their appreciation of his long, laborious, 

 and unremunerated labors for the improvement and culture of the potato. Such actions merit 

 unqualified praise, aud are as creditable to the donors as to the worthy recipient. 



X This has been questioned ; but if he did not originally introduce, he aided greatly in 

 extending its cultivation aud usefulness. His sobriquet of "Turnip Tov.-nshend " strengthens 

 our position that he introduced the turnip into districts where it was unknown. 



