No. 11. Why and Because. — T/te True Policy of the Farmer. 



333 



furnaces, and flues, for the production and 

 diffusion of heat ; the tanner, the nature of 

 his inirredients ; the blacksmith, the hrazier 

 and silvorsntiith, the nature and combination 

 of metals ; the painter, tlie composition and 

 properties of his colours. There is not a 

 single process, in all the round of Aprricnl- 

 ture or Arts, where chnnjre of nature is pro- 

 duced, which does not depend upon the laws 

 of chemical action. 



2d. A knowledge of chemical principles 

 aids in the preservation of health. 



We do not refer to its utility in the hands 

 of the physician. To him it is as essential 

 as a knowledge of human anatomy. But 

 we speak of its advantage to the farmer and 

 mechanic. 



A little knowledge of the nature and com- 

 position of bodies will enable us to avoid a 

 thousand evils resulting from the peculiar 

 state of the elements. By this we are able 

 frequently to meet and disarm contagion in 

 its most terrific forms. It directs in the se- 

 lection of such articles of food and clothing, 

 and such arrangement of apartments as are 

 most conducive to health and comfort. 



3d. A third aTid last reason we have for 

 recommending the study of chemistry to 

 those in the ordinary avocations of life, is, 

 that while it brings wealth and physical 

 efforts, it opens a vast field for intellectual 

 enjoyment. Professor Accum says : — 



" Chemistry is not only valuable as an art 

 which supplies many of our wants, our com- 

 forts and luxuries ; its objects are sublime and 

 beautiful in another point of view. It re- 

 moves the veil from the fabric of nature, and 

 makes us acquainted with all the phenomena 

 which happen around us — it affords pleasure 

 to the senses, and calls into action a laudable 

 curiosity, which characterizes the minds of 

 those who are of a scientific turn; exciting 

 at the same time a spirit of rational inquiry, 

 which is capable of producing the most 

 beautiful and striking phenomena, well cal- 

 culated to serve as an instructive and rational 

 amusement." 



What farmer would not esteem it a greater 

 pleasure, as he walks through his fields, to 

 understand the nature of his soil — the mode 

 of remedying its defects, or increasing its 

 excellencies, — the nature of his manure, and 

 the manner it operates, than to plod on year 

 after year, following blind tradition or dear- 

 bought experience? 



The scientific farmer has his curiosity both 

 awakened and gratified. His researches, 

 though limited, have drawn back the curtain, 

 and he has caught now and then a glimpse 

 into Nature's workshop, and seen things 

 most marvellous. He has seen that the 

 charcoal upon his hearth differs, only in form, 

 from the diamond that sparkles upon the 



lady's finger, or dazzles in the crown of roy- 

 alty. He has seen too, that in the little salt- 

 dish upon his table there sleeps a lion, which, 

 if aroused by chemical action, would devour 

 a whole househnld at a single meal. 



He sees himself constantly walking amid 

 elements the most fierce and powerful, held 

 in subjection only by the laws ot" chemical 

 affinity. He sees too, that if this affinity 

 were but slightly interrupted, the elements 

 would break loose, and wage upon each other 

 the most terrific warfare. — Tennessee Farmer. 



The True Policy of the Farmer. 



Our esteemed Stoddard correspondent says 

 — " If I had a thousand acres of land and 

 but forty loads of manure for my potatoe 

 ground, I would plant but one acre, if the 

 land was not rich." And he at once shows 

 how the farmer gains by citing the cases of 

 his two neighbours, where one plants with 

 forty loads, and the other with eighteen to 

 twenty loads of manure to the acre. The 

 first will hardly fail to get full pay for his 

 additional manure in the first crop, having 

 double the quantity of potatoes; and his 

 grain is perhaps increased two, three and 

 four fold in as many succeeding years. At 

 least one-third the labour on a given quantity 

 of produce is also saved by the higher tillage 

 and manuring. 



The profits of farming would be immensely 

 increased by a change of practice. It is our 

 belief that the quantity of manure and dress- 

 ing applied to one half the quantity of land 

 annually planted with Indian-corn in the four 

 New England States, would turn out in the 

 same season a greater crop of corn than all 

 that is raised within our borders. Let this 

 be done with the same labour bestowed on 

 the larger territory, and most of the farmers 

 would be great gainers beyond this year's 

 calculation. The lightest soil, for at least 

 three successive years without any applica- 

 tion of manure, will produce a correspondent 

 increased crop each year ; and heavy soils, 

 from four to eight years. 



The farmers upon the Merrimack intervales 

 may see an example in the town of Concord. 

 That part of the intervale nearest our village 

 has an upper mould mixed with cold and 

 heavy clay. Through a portion of this flovvs 

 the water of two brooks crossing the main 

 street, a part of which in the wet season and 

 after each successive rain is left standing 

 on the ground, and turns the natural growth 

 of hay Into sour grass. Within the last six 

 or eight years a portion of this land owned 

 by Gen. Low and (^1. Grover, has been 

 improved by the application, say at the rate 

 of fx)rty loads stable manure to the acre, and 

 a proportion of sand and gravel carted to the 



