THE FARMER'S REGISTER. 



507 



lican America, to the interests of practical agri- 

 culture ; anJ I need not, I am sure, go beyond 

 the limits of our own society lor a distinguished 

 example of a like public spirit in a learned proles- 

 eor, whose labors are so well known to us.* 



It is the province of associations like ours, gen- 

 tlemen, to invite and bring lorth the coniribuiions 

 ol men ol science to the cause olpractical improve- 

 ment. The (freat work of Leibig, to which I have 

 just referred, was prepared at the special instance 

 of the British Association for the advancement of 

 Science. The lectures ol St Humphrj' Davy on 

 Agricultural Chemistry, which gave the first mark- 

 ed impetus to the a|>plica(ions.of' science to agri- 

 culture, were delivered at the request, and in the 

 presence of the Board of Agriculture of England. 

 A mere county agricultural association in Eng- 

 land, resembling in every respect our own, has 

 recently had the good fortune of bringing forth by 

 its encouragement and intervention, a work ol 

 extraordinary meiit, which, for the popular and 

 intelligible lorm in which its instructions are con- 

 veyed, as well as for the body of sound science it 

 contains, is probably desiined to replace all its 

 predecessors. I reler to the lectures of Professor 

 Johnson " on Agricultural Chemistry and Geolo- 

 gy ; " the first part of which only has yet appear- 

 ed, but which affords the promise of a code of in- 

 struction, when completed, of the highest value (o 

 the practical agriculturist. These admirable lec- 

 tures were delivered before the Durham Cuuniy 

 jfgricultural Society, and the members of the 

 Durham Farmers' Club, in a style of explanation 

 60 lucid and comprehensible, as to call for no pre- 

 vious technical knowledge of the subjects ofvvhich 

 they treat. Here is an example worthy of imita- 

 tion. VVe have already shown our sense of the 

 intimate and important connexion between the 

 objects of our society and the investigations of 

 science, by making the le^irned prolessors of our 

 University, ex officio, honorary members of this 

 association. Shall we not invite them, from lime 

 to lime, to bring the lights oi" their several depart- 

 ments of science, through the medium of' popu- 

 lar lectures, to direct and illuminate the paths ol 

 our agricultural labors, and to sustain and embel- 

 lish, by the eflbrts of their genius, the chief pillar 

 it) the edifice of our national prosperity and gran- 

 deur 7 Shall we not lay public spirited men ol 

 science every where under contribution in the 

 same holy cause 7 I shall venture to propose this 

 to you, gentlemen, in the firm confidence that an 

 appeal to the patriotism of American science can 

 never be made in vain. 



By ihe means here suggested, the usefulness of 

 our society may be greatly enlarged, and much 

 may be done by its instrumentality for the interests 

 of agriculture. But yet, other measures of a 

 .wider scope are demanded by those interests, A 

 public endowment, under the patronage of the 

 slate, for instruction in the principles and practice 

 of agriculture, is imperatively due to that great 

 class of the community, which is immediately con- 

 nected with the cultivation of the earth. We 

 have, in great number, schools of law, -schools of 

 medicine, schools of general literature, but none of 

 agriculture. Why is this so ? The recent cen- 

 sus shows, that the number of persons engaged in 

 agriculture, is four times greater than th'e whole 



Professor Rog-ers. 



number of persons employed in commerce, manu- 

 liictures, the learned professions, and trades of 

 every description, all put together. Does not 

 every consideration of policy and justice, then, 

 require the provision of some means of profieesion- 

 al education, in an art, to which so predominant 

 and vital a pordon of the industry and worth of the 

 country is devoted. Is agriculture alone to be de- 

 irraded into a vultrar and empirical pursuit, which 

 requires no liberal insiruction '? On the contrary, 

 there is no other profession, i will venture to affim, 

 which demands, fur its inielligent exercise, so wide 

 a range of scientific knowledge. It embraces 

 within its scope, by a d'reci and necessary depen- 

 dence, the domain of chemistry, botany, vegetable 

 physiology, geology, mineralogy, meteorology, 

 zoology, mechanical philosophy, not to speak of 

 ihe*moral and political sciences which have so im- 

 portant a bearing, in many respects, upon some of 

 its highe-t interests. To which of the learned 

 professions, so called, I would ask, is so large a 

 group of kindred sciences associated in such close 

 and intimate relationship? 



These considerations are making themselves 

 daily more and more felt, and are arousing public 

 attention, in every enlightened community, to the 

 just claims of agricultural education, A professor- 

 ship of agriculture has been long since establish- 

 ed in the universities of Edinburgh and Dublin ; 

 and from the former has recently proceeded one 

 of the most valiiable works on the " Elements of 

 Practical Agriculture" ever published. If distinct 

 professorships of agriculture have not yet been 

 founded in the English universities, arrangements 

 are in progress for establishing them ; and in the 

 mean time lectures of distinguished ability have 

 been delivered on ihe subject by some of their 

 learned professors — among which it would be in- 

 excusable not to mention particularly the lectures 

 ol Professor Daubeny of the University of Oxford. 

 ft is tTme that Virginia should acquit herself of the 

 debt which every enlightened and especially every 

 republican commonwealth owes to this great pri- 

 mordial interest of society. We must have a 

 professorship ofasricullure in our University as a 

 part of the general course of liberal studies, to 

 furnish our young men, when they quit its walls, 

 with a competent knowledge of the principles of a 

 profession which so many of them embrace in after 

 life. In addition to this, there should be establish- 

 ed in connexion with the University a special agri- 

 cultural institute, designed for those who might 

 not wish or find it convenient to follow the general 

 course of University studies, but whose object 

 would be to acquire in shorter time or at less ex- 

 pense, the prolessional education of an instructed 

 agriculturist, as well as the general accomplish- 

 mei>is ofan intelligent and useful citizen. In this 

 department, theory and practice should go hand in 

 hand ; and for that purpose, a model and experi- 

 mental farm should be attached to the institute, 

 to be conducted under the most skilful supervision 

 and management, and to afford examples of the 

 most improved methods of culture and fertiliza- 

 tion. 



Of such an institution, a perfect exemplar, 

 tested by forty years of successful experience, is 

 presented to us, in the admirable and celebrated 

 ps'ablishment of Von Fellenberg, at Hofwyl, in 

 Switzerland. I am spared the necessity of details 

 in the development of this suggestion, by simply 



