338 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



made to flow fi-oin these 1 wo great primary 

 sources of wealth, the mind of the State and 

 the soil of the Stfite? If they remain unculti- 

 vated, must not the wealth and power of the 

 State remain stationary ? It is appalling to re- 

 fleet upon the amount of capital, enterj)rise 

 and population that have left the State in the 

 last thirty years. Can it be believed that 

 these masses of citizens would have left the 

 places of their nativity, and all those lial- 

 lowed recollections, and foregone the advan- 

 tages of an Atlantic market, if they had been 

 taught to appreciate the v;ilue of marl and 

 lime in the renovation of exhausted lauds ? 

 Your Committee think that it cannot, ;md en- 

 tertain the belief that when the pi'operties 

 and effects of those agents are more generally 

 understood by tVie fanner, and their applica- 

 tion regulated by analysis, universal confi- 

 dence in theu- use will be estaldished and 

 uniform success attend their application. In 

 proportion as the means of rendering home 

 agreeable and business profitable woidd be 

 increased, emigi-ation would subside, and 

 capital and population become fixed. 



Your Committee propose, by the accompa- 

 nying bill, to take a small pittance from th<> 

 coffers of the State to further this great ob- 

 ject, assuring the Legislatiirc, and their I'el- 

 low-citizens tlu-oughout the State, thut it has 

 been prompted by a high sense of duty, and 

 under a conviction that it will be returned 

 many thousand fold", not only in the increa.sed 

 products of Agriculture and its influence upon 

 all other business, but ia awakening a thirst 

 for, and disseminating knowledge among our 

 people, that gi-eat palladium of our liberty 

 and security. 



All of which is respectfully submitted. 

 From the Committee. D. W. NAILL. 



Mr. Naill, from the Committee on Agii 

 cultui-e, repoi-ted a bill entitled " An Act to 



provide for the appointment of an Agricul- 

 tural Chemist for the State of Maryland.'" 

 An Acl to provide for the appointment of an 

 Agricultural Chemist for the State of 

 Maryland. 



Sectio.v 1. Be it cnaetrd hij the General 

 Asxcmhly of Maryland, That tile Governor, 

 by and with the advice and consent of the 

 Senate, shall ainiually, hereafter, appoint and 

 commission a person of talents, integrity and 

 suitable scientific attainments, as Agricultural 

 Chemist of the State of Maryland ; and the 

 said officer shall receive in consideration of 

 the faithful peiformance of his respective du 



ties, an annual salary of dollars, to be 



paid as the salaries of the other civil officers 

 of the State are or may be directed to be paid 



Sec. 2. And he it enacted, That the State 

 be, and the same is, hereby divided into three 

 Districts, viz. : The Fnst Gubernatorial Dis- 

 trict shall constitute the First Distiict ; the 

 Third Gubernatorial District shall constitute 

 the Second District ; and the remaining Gub- 

 ernatorial District the Third Distiict ; and 

 that it shall be the duty of the said officer to 

 visit the First District during the year 1841, 

 the Second during the year 1842, and the 

 Third during the year 1843. 



Sec. 3. And be it ejiacted. That it shall be 

 the duty of the Agi'icultural Chemist, to be 

 appouited as aforesaid, to deliver a course of 

 public Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry ia 

 each County embraced within each of the 

 said Gubernatorial Districts as aforesaid, and 

 analyze not less than three diflerent soils ia 

 each Couuty in each year, and shall also, as 

 Ikr as time will pennit, visit such places where 

 valuable marls or minerals are beheved to be, 

 and examine and rej)ort the same to the 

 Legislature, together with all his proceedings 

 daring each year. 



Without stopping to discuss the details of a proposition so honorable in its 

 general features to the judgment and forecast of its author, we feel called upon 

 to record it in this Journal, on the principle that the enterprising pioneer blazes 

 «ertain trees in his progress through the wilderness, for the benefit of those who 

 may come after him. Motwithstandiug the apathy that has so long pervaded 

 the cultivators of the soil as to their claim on the Government and the advan- 

 tages to be derived from having the lights of science reflected on the course of 

 the plow, the time may yet come Ayhen this movement of Mr. Naill may be 

 looked back to and regarded with something of that grateful reverence with 

 which we view the spots where our hardy ancestors first opened settlements and 

 kindled the fires of civilization in a land of savages. Even now may we n6t 

 ask, could stronger proof be adduced of the supineness of the agricultural com^ 

 munity — of their habit of overrating all other concerns and depreciating their 

 own — than is to be found in the coldness with which this enlightened proposi- 

 tion seems to have been received, and the quick oblivion into which it had been 

 allowed to fall? Yes, witliout meaning any flattery to the author, when wc con- 

 sider his previously retired mode of life ;tnd limited opportunities, and the almost 

 total absence of all sympathy and encouragement from the community or the 

 press, we may truly call it an enlightened proposition, much, it seetns, in advance 



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