M. P. WILDER'S ADDRESS. 405 



the cuiculio, and our potatoes from infection. We have physi- 

 cians for our horses and cattle, why not for our potatoes and 

 wheat ? Are not diseases in both the result of unnatural ac- 

 tion, of agents which may be counteracted, of poisons which 

 have their proper antidotes ? Is there a disease for which 

 nature provides no remedy ? 



If, by the application of science to Agriculture, we can 

 fathom the depth of nature, and bring up to the light, for the 

 admiration and the benefit of mankind, her previously hidden 

 treasures, shall we hesitate to do it ? Or, if others, fired with 

 greater zeal, and endowed with more ample means venture into 

 the labyrinths of science, explore the springs of nature, learn 

 how her curious machinery acts, and then returning, unfold 

 and explain her various processes, and teach how to practice 

 art more successfully, shall we refuse to avail ourselves of the 

 benefits of their labor ? 



What vast quantities of vegetable and mineral manures now 

 lie buried in the earth, which might, by the application of 

 these sciences, be appropriated to the fertilization of the soil ! 



The importance of Manures to the success of the farmer, 

 entitles them to a distinct notice. 



By a natural law, every tree, plant and herb, from the cedar 

 of Lebanon, to the flag on the Nile ; from the loftiest oak of 

 the forest, to the humblest daisy of the meadow ; from the fan- 

 tastic parasite luxuriating in solstitial air, to the little flower 

 that peeps from Alpine snows ; every thing endowed with vege- 

 table life, requires its own peculiar aliment to sustain its vigor, 

 and promote its growth. However varied this sustenance may 

 be, and whether derived from earth, air, or water, if it be with- 

 held, or mixed with uncongenial elements, deterioration and 

 decay are inevitable. 



Here, as with animal life, one principle runs through the 

 whole, calling for the restoration of that strength and fertility 

 which were reduced by vegetation and production. Inexhaust- 

 ible fertility is a chimera of the imagination. Sooner or later 

 the prairie and the richest alluvial soil, will require a return of 

 the nutritive materials which have been abstracted by vegeta- 

 tion. However fertile om- fields at first, the inevitable conse- 

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