M. P. WILDER'S ADDRESS. 403 



cover and usefully to apply. To the first belong the constitu- 

 tion of the atmosphere and of water, the two elements which 

 are essential conditions of vegetable life, and which chemistry 

 teaches us, are nearly the same in all latitudes and places on 

 the globe ; but to the second, belong the constitution of the 

 different kinds of soil and manure, and of various vegetable 

 productions, and the adaptation of the two former to the 

 growth of the latter. 



To unfold these processes of the vegetable kingdom, to 

 show by what agents they are conducted, by what laws regu- 

 lated, and how the whole may be turned to the greatest ac- 

 count to the farmer, with the least labor and expense, are prob- 

 lems, for the solution of which, Agriculture must depend on 

 the natural sciences. The high province of this art, Cowper 

 affirms, with as much philosophy as poetry, is 



" To study culture, and with artful toil, 

 To meliorate and tame the stubborn soil ; 

 To give dissimilar, yet fruitful lands, 

 The grain, the herb, the plant — that each demands." 



By the application of chemistry to Agriculture, the crops in 

 some parts of Europe have been more than doubled. Of this, 

 therefore, as well as geology, botany and mechanics, he should 

 not be altogether ignorant ; and if he will add to his literary 

 acquisitions some knowledge of meteorolgy, it will abate his 

 veneration for weather-wise maxims, and embolden him to 

 sow his grain in the old as well as the new of the moon, and 

 to kill his beef and pork without regard to the tide. 



We live and move in a world of wonders. Every blade of 

 grass, every leaf, and every germ is an organized and living 

 body. Every plant and vegetable is as capable as the human 

 system of imbibing and digesting its appropriate food. For in- 

 stance, by an analysis of wheat, we ascertain its ingredients 

 and the food it requires for growth and productiveness. We 

 know that it needs phosphate of lime, and that it is useless to 

 attempt its cultivation, where the soil is wholly deficient in 

 this element. Hence, we are as competent to feed a crop of 

 wheat, as a flock of sheep, or a brood of chickens, but without 



