TEACH AS TO FARMING. 25 



that is to say, the fertilizing properties which were contained 

 in a tun of muck or compost are now conveyed to the soil that 

 requires them at the cost of one penny. That loading, teaming, 

 unloading and spreading in the old way must have cost far nunv 

 than this, you cannot doubt : beside, the fertilizing liquid, being 

 entirely free from seeds or weedy germs of any kind, and in A 

 condition to be readily and totally absorbed by plants, must he 

 worth twice as much as if applied in the old way. Now consider 

 that this load of manure has been conveyed through and applied 

 with many tuns of water, just when the soil is most thirsty, and 

 the plants most needy, and you can readily judge that the tun of 

 manure dissolved in water and applied through irrigating pip --> 

 at the cost of a penny, must be worth at least thriee as nun-h as 

 the same tun applied in the crude, solid state, at a cost of not 

 less than thrice that sum. But I must not dwell on details. You 

 have the general idea, and can follow it out at your leisure into 

 all its necessary results. 



VII. What the Sister Arts teach as to Agriculture may be fair- 

 ly summed up in this proposition : 



THE WORKMAN SHOULD BE COMPLETELY MASTER OF HIS MATERIALS 

 AND ins IMPLEMENTS. He should first thoroughly understand, in 

 order that he may in the next plaee thoroughly control, the ele- 

 ments from which he is to evolve value and sustenance. He who 

 should undertake to build a ship, in ignorance of the relative 

 tenacity and resistance to pressure of the various woods and 

 metals, would rush into a pursuit for which he had no capacity; 

 so would he who should undertake the running of a steam-engine 

 in ignorance of the nature and power of steam. Yet the man 

 who attempts to farm with an imperfect knowledge of the nature 

 and properties of Soils in general, of the laws of Vegetation, the 

 qualities and peculiarities of the particular soils whereof his farm 

 is composed, and the cheapest means of renovating and increas- 

 ing their fertility and productiveness, stands on the same plat- 

 form with the ignorant shipwright or engineer, and braves like 

 disasters, whereof the largest share will naturally fall to himself 

 and his family. Agriculture is a pursuit so vast in its scope, so 

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