396 SELECTIONS FROM ADDRESSES. 



ing effects of sun and wind. The preparation of the food of 

 plants is far from being conducted on economical, or true scien- 

 tific principles. Leached ashes are better mixed with decaying 

 manure in a compost heap than applied to the land without this 

 combination. Ashes are mostly insoluble silicates of potash, 

 lime, soda, and magnesia. They also contain sulphuric and 

 phosphoric acids. In rotting manure, or decaying mould in 

 the soil, these minerals are decomposed, and slowly rendered 

 soluble in rain water, preparatory to entering the roots of 

 plants. The way to deodorize nightsoil, dry it, and place the 

 fertilizer in a condition to be transported in bags, as guano is 

 carried hundreds of miles inland, is a subject of no inconsider- 

 able importance ; but as it is not an inviting theme for a popu- 

 lar address, I will omit to discuss it. I will only say that there 

 is a surplus of the earthy elements of human food in the rich 

 soils of the United States sufficient to bring all the poor soils 

 in the republic up to a high state of productiveness, if this sur- 

 plus be properly husbanded and used. A farmer who husbands 

 not the elements of fertility, has no just claim to the honorable 

 name of husba?id-man. 



In conclusion, permit me to urge the importance of studying 

 both the temperature and humidity of different soils at various 

 depths, in connection with the daily and hourly growth of 

 corn and other crops. I find when the heat and moisture are 

 most favorable, that corn will grow as much from 8, P. M. to 

 4, A. M., as it will from 4, A. M., to M., or from noon till 8, 

 P. M. It is as instructive to study the growth of plants as that 

 of pigs and calves, from known quantities of food. In the 

 small matter of poultry, much is yet to be learned in the eco- 

 nomical manufacture of eggs. And, especially, should you 

 understand the living machinery that transforms grass into milk, 

 butter, cheese, beef, wool and mutton. Scotch farmers are 

 distinguished for their professional knowledge, and I assure you 

 on the best English authority, that the whole rural industry 

 north of the Tweed produces three times more of the fruits of 

 the earth, per laborer, than is produced in Ireland. The inves- 

 tigation of climate, with a view to learn what it can, and what 

 it cannot do for the agriculturist, ought by no means to be 



