THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 59 



care is worthy of the most profound thought and the most 

 careful investigation ! I can conceive of the intellectual and 

 moral and social elevation which would follow, and the material 

 prosperity which would attend upon such elevation. For to us 

 of all people, free-holders, endowed with all the sacredness of 

 domestic and civil rights, possessed of our own lands, depen- 

 dent each for himself on our own intelligence, is the oppor- 

 tunity given for this development and general diffusion of 

 knowledge. 



Without this combination, deprived of the accumulation of 

 facts of which I have spoken, science in agriculture becomes 

 powerless ; with it, it becomes a most important ally to the 

 farmer ; in fact it is reduced to one mode of practice itself, and 

 thus becomes of the highest \alue, and meets with its highest 

 success. For it is easy to see why practice is so powerful in 

 providing the best of agricultural knowledge, and why it has 

 thus far outstripped science in the advantages it has bestowed. 

 It is becj^use the real foundations of agriculture cannot be 

 explored by any human power. In whatever the farmer does he 

 is obliged to recognize an influence which the hand of man can- 

 not reach, which no investigation can fathom, no human power 

 guide. Agriculture obeys the laws of nature, and can do no 

 more than use the natural forces with ingenuity and skill. 

 Science endeavors to explain them ; and to ascertain if possible 

 the natural laws upon which the farmer depends. In doing 

 this it advances into that great region where lie the vital forces 

 which are shut against all human intrusion. And on this 

 account it is very apt to be overthrown by agricultural facts. 

 Liebig goes on from one theory of fertilization to another, and 

 the growing crops of the neighboring farmers pronounce them 

 all to be false. Science may attend upon agriculture as a stim- 

 ulus to the best exertion, as a guide in the use of fertilizers, as 

 an aid in the selection of soils. But it is the patient, and 

 prudent and experienced farmer after all who knows what land 

 he needs, has unbounded confidence in that great receptacle to 

 which he consigns his manure, and to the vivifying power of 

 that great mother into whose lap he casts his seed, and who 

 gathers his crop before his scientific neighbor has half finished 

 an analysis of his soils. It is the judicious observer of cattle, 

 and the wise and observant judge of their necessities and 



