FARMERS' RL]GISTER— AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES, &c. 



531 



niquirei] tor the animal creation. Nitrogen gas 

 supports vegetable life; plants arc observed to be 

 vigorous in proportion to the quantity of this gas 

 present. Carbonic acid gas is an agent that sup- 

 ports vegetation; jilauts are healthy in eariii mixed 

 with finely levigated charcoal. As plants acquire 

 growth, their principles are matiu-ially changed. 

 We first observe nothing more than a thin fluid 

 resembling mucilage. As they acquire age, this 

 nuicilage is cliangsd to a sidistance resembling 

 oil, kno'vvn by the name of sap, trom which all the 

 fluids are tbrmed by secretion. There is a wori- 

 derful similarity between the vegetable and ani- 

 mal world; they are both governed by the same 

 laws, the various agents that act upon them are 

 similar, their organization in many respects the 

 fc>ame, and they both possess motion, sensation and 

 lile, 



GALEX. 



REMARKS ON AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES, AXD 

 THE farmers' REGISTER AS AN AUXIL- 

 IARY. 



To tlie Editor of llie Fanners' Register. 



I had been long anxious to see an organ, for the 

 conveyance of agricultural information, like that 

 presented in the Farmers' Register: and as I had 

 abandoned the culture of tobacco, for the sole pur- 

 pose of improving my farm, it comes in a time of 

 need, and I shall want all the materials it can 

 furnish. We do indeed, sir, want something for 

 the improvement of the practice of agriculture. 

 We want liicts founded on certain, accurate, and 

 well conducted experiments. I think with you, 

 we have inefficient talking and speechifying so- 

 cieties enough: where to use an old saying, we 

 have "all talk and no cider." These societies are 

 easily formed, and as easily exploded. I v/ould 

 by no means, liowever, decry agricultural societies; 

 they are very useful, in fact all-important, to keep 

 up a spirit of improvement, if they efl'ect nothing 

 else. Nor am I opposed to the principle of car- 

 r\Mng important jioints by societies in general: 

 without them nothing valuable can be accom- 

 plished. JNIan, like some of the inferior ranks of 

 animals, may be considered gregarious — compel- 

 led from necessity to associate, tor mutual support 

 and defence. What is man unassisted, unassoci- 

 ated, and alone? Look at him as he appears at 

 his first entrance into the world; he is of all ani- 

 mals the weakest and most defenceless. But view 

 him in society, hedging himself around with the 

 accumulated knowledge and experience of ages, 

 yet, in a state of progressive improvement, (which 

 appears to be the most distinguishing feature by 

 which his intellect is marked from inferior ranks,) 

 and he bids defiance to the whole round of ani- 

 mated nature, and wields the whole vegetable 

 kingdom for his convenience and support. Take 

 a savage, tor instance, in the midst of his wild 

 native woods, and how long would it take fiim to 

 arrive at the present state of improvement in the 

 arts and sciences? "If men did not assist eacli 

 other, no operation of any magnitude, or which 

 could show any great superiority of talents above 

 those of the brute creation, could possibly be ef- 

 fected. A single family, or even a few families 

 united, like the carnivorous animals, might hunt 

 their prey and procure a sufficient quantity. They 



might, like the bear, lodge in the cavities of trees; 

 they might occupy natural caves in the rocks; 

 they might even build huts with branches of trees 

 and wi;h turf, and cement those materials with 

 clay. This lowest and most abject view of human 

 nature is not exaggerated. It were to be wished 

 that this groveliing condition of mankind were 

 fictitious, and that, in many regions of the globe, 

 it did not at this moment exist. These operations 

 of men, when only acquainted with the rudiments 

 of society, indicate parts little superior to those of 

 brutes. "Man even in his most uninibrmed state, 

 possesses the cai)acity for every s()ecies of know- 

 ledn-e and every exertion ol' genius. But it may 

 be cherished, expanded, and brought gradually to 

 perfection. It is by numerous and regularly es- 

 tablished societies alone, that such glorious exhi- 

 bitions of human intellect can be produced. What 

 is the hut of a savage, when compared to the 

 palace of a prince? "Or what is a canoe, when 

 compared to a first rate ship of war? " 



But, sir, the liiilure of these societies, when 

 they have tiiiled, may be attributed generally, to 

 some of the following causes. First, they com- 

 mence reformation, as almost all reformations of 

 mankind do begin, not by improving on existing 

 plans and systems, but an entire abolition of pre- 

 sent practices, as if all the world who had gone 

 before us lived tor nought, and labored in vain. 

 The following couplet is a good rule here — 



"Be not the first tfiat nev/ things fry, 

 Nor last to lay the old ones by." 



They spend all their zeal and energy, in talking 

 about what they are going to do, without actually 

 doing. They expect too great a reformation at 

 once^hey lack perseverance — are generally too 

 speculative and theoretical in their character, and 

 finally, the Avant of some agricultural paper, has 

 been'no small obstacle, to act as a kind of nuclus 

 to keep these associations together, and to confine 

 public attention to the subject; and which will, at 

 the same time, convey their proceedings, im- 

 provements, discoveries, and inventions to each 

 other, and the community. With these and other 

 errors corrected, by close and minute attention to 

 the operations of our farms, great things may be 

 accomplished. 



I am delighted, however, with the practical 

 character of the Register, and particularly with 

 the following traits. Its extreme condescension 

 to little matters, which are generally the most 

 useful, though overlooked in house-keeping and 

 farming. It has been too much the defi^ct of 

 books and periodicals in general, as well as of 

 great men, that they disdain the common and 

 useful concerns of lite, and ffo to speculating upon 

 matters that are of no service to mankind: and are 

 more admired tor the strangeness and uncommon- 

 ness of the things they treat ot] than their utility. 

 In a word, their concern with every thing which 

 mankind have no use for, and nothing, which they 

 have. They are, likewise, too general in their 

 character; not minute enough, as Goldsmith re- 

 marked of the natural historians who preceded 

 him. "They contented themselves Avilh seizing 

 upon the great outlines of history, and passing 

 over what was common, as not worth the detail; 

 they only dwelt upon Avhat was new, great, and 

 surprising, and sometimes even warmed the im- 

 agination at the expense o( truth." I should be 



