C. T. JACKSON'S ADDRESS. 443 



as possible, may be systematically acquired, and snch farms, it 

 is obvious, can well be established by no authority other than 

 that of the State. 



Having now gone through the principal suggestions of a 

 practical character which occur to me, let me for the sake of 

 clearness briefly recapitulate them. Beginning upon the sup- 

 position that the attention of farmers in Norfolk county should 

 be concentrated upon the pursuits of the dairy, I recommend 

 that a more thorough system of rotation, including root crops 

 as an essential part of it, be practised, for the sake of the farm ; 

 that more land be ploughed and less left in grass ; and that the 

 high feeding and careful housing as well as the selection of the 

 best quality of cattle be made an essential part of every farm- 

 er's practice. Incidental points, such as the attention to quan- 

 tity and quality of manures, thorough draining, and improve- 

 ment of pasture land, are so well understood to advance the 

 main objects here defined, that I content myself simply to al- 

 lude to them. 



The Application of Chemistry to Agriculture. 



[Extract from an Address, by Charles T. Jackson, M. D., at the last Fair of 

 the Plymouth County Agricultural Society.] 



Agriculture presents a field where advantageous improvements 

 may be made, by the aid of the modern sciences, and we may 

 look to chemistry for most valuable assistance in unfolding the 

 mysteries of the vegetable economy, and in explaining the re- 

 lations of the soil and atmosphere to plants, and in learning the 

 influence of various substances upon the growth of our usual 

 crops. 



How far we may be able to prepare the soil for particular 

 crops by special manures or fertilizers ; how far this may be 

 done economically, is one of the questions now before the 

 world. Whether it is better to make our fertilizing matters 

 highly soluble, and to add them to the soil more frequently, or 

 to render them comparatively insoluble, and allow plants slow- 



