DANIEL LEE'S ADDRESS. 381 



is as a talent, committed to him by the Lord of the wh.ole 

 earth, to occupy and improve. If he neglects it, it will bear 

 witness against him, as the field of the sluggard did against 

 him. 



The Necessity of Science to Advance Agriculture. 



[.4?i Address delivered before the HampsMre, Franklin and Hampden Jlgricidlural 

 Society, at its Annual Fair, 1850, by Dr. Daniel Lee, of .Yew York, noiv 

 at the head of the Agricultural Department, Patent Office, Washington.^ 



I am happy to be present at this your thirty-second anniver- 

 sary, and witness the varied, numerous and interesting speci- 

 mens of your skill and industry. Those that teach by good 

 examples are ever effective and valuable instructors ; and it 

 would be difficult to find in this country a better system of 

 farm economy than is practised in this far-famed and beautiful 

 valley. Your domestic animals, your fruits, your meadows 

 and your corn-fields bear honorable testimony in favor of this 

 old, and most efficient association. Few are aware how much 

 of strength there is in the united efforts of many intelligent 

 citizens, having a common and a laudable purpose to attain. 

 There is nothing in the way of improving tillage, or advancing 

 husbandry, which is not within the reach of the farmers in 

 every county in the republic. 



Am I wrong in saying, that human reason ought to work at 

 farming as well as human muscles ? That the advancement 

 of mental culture and science, precedes all substantial improve- 

 ment in rural arts? If not, then it is both our duty and our 

 privilege to labor, not only with our hands but with those 

 nobler, and more productive powers of intellect, given to us by 

 our Maker. Society has reached that point in its progress 

 where the youth intended for the high profession of agriculture, 

 should acquire a clear understanding of those natural laws, by 

 which rocks are crumbled into dust through the combined 

 agency of frost, atmospheric air, the washings of snow and 

 rain water ; the growth of acid-generating plants, solar heat, 



