HINDRANCES AND HELPS 



I think it may be safely conceded that a rash 

 man, or a mischievous man may cover false- 

 hood under such formulae, as easily — as if 

 he edited a morning paper. And I really do not 

 know how I could put the matter more strongly. 

 With respect to gypsum, — and in close of 

 this special topic,— I may say that I have found 

 it sometimes of service upon young clover, and 

 sometimes of no service at all. Upon old pas- 

 ture land, it has, with me, uniformly counted 

 for nothing; and again, I have never failed to 

 find an appreciable increase of the crop of 

 potatoes, where I have sown gypsum in the 

 trenches at planting. It is certain that we have 

 no right to condemn the salt, simply because 

 we cannot detect the precise mode of its opera- 

 tion. That mode I am inclined to believe very 

 complex, and that no uniform law will ever 

 meet the requirements of the case; nor have 

 I a doubt but that in process of time, and under 

 the tests of a future and finer chemistry, and 

 of a fuller experience, every one of the dilute 

 theories named, will throw down its little floc- 

 culent precipitate of truth. 



SCIENCE AND PRACTICE 



I REMEMBER once, in company with a crowd 

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