farm, of which the largest and most valuable 

 portion is usually lost in this country. 



The implements of Agriculture are as needful 

 to the farmer as tlic tools of the mechanic are to 

 his trade ; and inferior instruments embairass 

 and hinder the one no less than tlic other. The 

 enlightened agriculturist is satisfied with no- 

 thing short of perfection in die implements and 

 machines used on his farm. Where should he 

 look for aid in perfecting his plow, his scythe, 

 and his machines of all kiud.s more appropri- 

 ately than to the Agricultural Department of the 

 Smithsonian lustitution ? 



Such is the Department of Agriculture I 

 should rejoice to see e.«tablished in connection 

 with an Institution designed to increase and dif- 

 fuse " knowledge among men." In the arrange- 

 ment I have imperfectly .scanned, the interests 

 of Science would be amply guarded, and tlie 

 most important of all arts — the art of Culture — 

 would be enriched with the gifts of Science. 



The tillage of the soil is the honorable destiny 

 of the largest part of our race. Hitlierto it has 

 been recommended by the independence, the 

 healthfulness, the purity, the quiet, of rural life, 

 and the loveliness of rural scenery. The coun- 

 try has inspired the poet's pen, and furnished 

 the themes of his meiTiest songs. The pea.sant'8 

 cottage, the stately mansion, the undulating 

 fields, the grazing herds, the waving grain, the 

 laborers rustic note, the murmuring brook, the 

 woodland songster, the forest foliage, and the 

 flowers — the beautiful flowers — are sacred to 

 the strains of rural poetrj-. But the dignitj- and 

 attractions of Science should now be added to 

 the farmer's tranquil and happy home. Within 

 the present century, an agricultural literature 

 has been fonned ; and the tiller of the soil is ex- 

 pected to read and to think, as well as to plow. 

 Agriculture is progressive. It is now thought 

 possible that a fanner may be vrise, and yet de- 

 cline to walk in the footsteps of his fathers. — 

 And why should Aijriculture be station arj- ? — 

 The spinning jenny has supplanted the distaff"; 

 the rail-car outruns the stagecoach, and steam 

 has chanired the commercial relations of the 

 world. While the friendly hand of Science is 

 pushing forward ih.e other industrial pursuits of 

 man, shall this alone, which employs and sus- 

 tains nine-tenths of onr race, receive no onward 

 and elevating impul.se ? 



It is moving onward with long and rapid 

 steps. Europe is watching with favor the vast 

 interests involved in the cultivation of the soil, 

 and all ranks are uniting to hasten its improve- 

 ment. They are actively employed in renovat- 

 ing their systems of Agriculture, both in theory 

 and practice. Courts and nobility are honored 

 to appear at the exhibitions and fflca of Agri- 

 cultural .Societies and A.ssocialion3 ; <even the 

 favorite Minister of absolute Austria protects 



with greater care than usual the cause of the 

 plow. Science seeks to contribute its offerings. 

 The Universities of Giesen and Durham, and 

 the princely estates of Bechelbroun ami Moglin, 

 are among the distinguished scenes of its Euro- 

 pean triumphs. Associations for the protection 

 and encouragement of Agriculture have been 

 formed in everj- part of Great Britain, of France, 

 and the States of Gennany ; and crowds of the 

 laboring peasantry, the suffering many, aroused 

 from the sleep of centuries— and kings, agents 

 of the privileged few — unite to celebrate the 

 victories of thriving husbandry, and to devise 

 means for increasing the fcrtihty of the soil 

 which even the classic bard of Andes never 

 conceived. 



The people of the United States are detply 

 uiterested in this subject, and are beginning to 

 feel its importance. The Agricultural Clubs, 

 Societies and A.ssociations recently formed and 

 thickly scattered over the countrj-, from Maine 

 to Louisiana, attest the increased attention be- 

 stowed on Agriculture. Though American Sci- 

 ence has failed to pursue this subject with its 

 usual zeal and success, the efforts of Peters, 

 Webster, Taylor, Wadsworth, Skinner, Sea- 

 brook, Ruffin, and others, have been attended 

 with beneficial results to American husbandrj'. 



With the aid of Science, the improvement of 

 Agriculture among us will be uniform and sure. 

 Xot left to chance or luck, it will be directed 

 by knowledge and skill. Science has shed her 

 light on the rugged path of the laborer in almost 

 everj' other form of industry, and Government 

 has found it profitable to purchase her aid even 

 in deteiTuining the nature and relative value of 

 American coals.* Agriculture prays only for 

 equality of benefits, for even-handed justice. — 

 Assistance and guidance are needed. Let Sci- 

 ence open the path and set up the way-posts, 

 and tlie course of American Agriculture, like 

 that of Europe, will be marked by certain and 

 increasing speed. The language of Petzholdt, 

 in his " Lectures to Farmers." is considered just 

 and appropriate: — "When the scientific princi- 

 ples upon which the art of Agriculture depends 

 shall be fully known, and the practice founded 

 on it generally followed, the amount of our pres- 

 ent crops will be as much a .subject of tradition 

 as the pace of tlie old stage-coach, which daw- 

 dled away twenty-four hours in accomplishing 

 a journey of seventy miles, is to the present 

 generation." 



The present Congress, if it shall justly esti- 

 mate the agricultural interests of the nation, and 

 the value of those .sciences with which they are 

 identified — and shall see fit, in its wisdom, to es- 



* Reference is here made to Prof. Johnson's Re- 

 port on American Coals — a work creditable to its au- 

 thor and to .American Science. 



