DANIEL LEE'S ADDRESS. 393 



what good agricultural use has been made of all the alkali con- 

 sumed in potatoes in this State for the last thirty years? Has 

 this potash so constantly and universally extracted from your 

 soils, been duly husbanded or not? I fear that ninety-nine 

 pounds in one hundred have been thoughtlessly wasted. All must 

 know that the ash made from corn-cobs yields a good deal of 

 alkali ; and I will add that about one-third of the ash of 

 wheat is pure potash. Find a soil where forest trees yielded a 

 generous quantity of this mineral, like the sugar maple, hicko- 

 ry, elm, black walnut and oak, and in its virgin state, grain 

 grass and potatoes may be grown upon it in great perfection. 

 But after many years, its earthy elements of crops may be re- 

 moved in hay, in grass, or carried from pastures in the stom- 

 achs of cows, horses, and other stock, in roots or grain, or be 

 washed off in rain or snow water. Very little of the potash 

 taken into the system of man, or the systems of inferior ani- 

 mals, is retained. Why should one hundred pounds of this 

 valuable mineral be used six months to organize bread and po- 

 tatoes, and then cast into Boston harbor, or Connecticut river, 

 any more than six silver dollars of equal value should be thrown 

 away after six months of public service ? This discrimination 

 against all the soluble substances in the surface of the earth 

 that impart to it whatever of fertility it possesses, comes from 

 the lack of scientific knowledge. We fail to study those 

 precious atoms operated upon in forming our indispensable food 

 and raiment. To own the whole truth, we prefer ignorance 

 to knowledge, and choose darkness rather than light. Each 

 human being in this State consumes on an average, enough 

 of the elements of fertility every twelve months to produce 

 twenty bushels of corn. By adopting the Belgian system of 

 husbandry, nightsoil alone would add more than ten million 

 bushels of this grain, or its equivalent in other crops, to your 

 annual harvests. It is not manure of any kind that we in 

 America lack. We lack economy and science. Our science 

 and practice are quite too far apart. The hands that hold 

 the plough, and swing the scythe or axe, must be directed in all 

 their motions by a largely and wisely developed mind. If a 

 farmer gives as much hard work for two hundred bushels of 

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