Vol. XVrn, Sec-ond Series. 



ROCKESTER, N, Y., JULY, 1857. 



No. 7. 



AGRICULTCFAL QUACKERY. 



Thougk sgricqiture and horticulture hasze attracted 

 the attention of some ef the wii^iest and best of mer 

 in all ages yot it is only during the past twenty years 

 that much •progress has •beeB made in <ieveloping the 

 principles on whick a ^■ndicious system of cultivation 

 is based. Modem chemistry has thrown much light 

 fln the hidWen Iaws of vegetable e.>sd animal growth; 



and practical experience. The result was, as might 

 have been forseen, an entire failure. 



The prejudice created in the minds of farmers by 

 these unfounded speculations, is aow gradually melt- 

 ing away before the rising Ifght of true, experimental 

 scienca Many earnest seekers after truth have been 

 quietly investigating the laws of vegetable and ani- 

 mal nutrition, and tne number is annually increasing; 

 ,,,,,. ... ,. . ., . 1 numerous pvtblic and private experimental farms 

 «ud the hundreds of patient mvestigators that are k^^^ i^ Europe, and before many vears 



now busijy engaged in studying agricultural and hor- ^^ 5,^^,1 j^^^^ gg^g^al in efiicvfint operation in this 



tecultnral .phe^Jtoniena, are anniially bringing out new 

 facts, which serve as stcnd-ipoints for further research 

 into the unknown. The immense practical value of 

 tiiese invc^stigations at-e readily perceived by every 

 reflecting Hiind. The single truth that phosphate of 

 lime, as found in bones, apatite, coprolites, and other 

 minerals, can be rendered soluble by proper treat- 

 ment with sn'phuric acid, has already added millions 

 of pounds to the agricultural wealth of <jrreat Britr 

 ain; and if tlie experiments of LaWes and Gilbert, 

 which have already cobt over';^K;o hundred thousand 

 dollars, had taught us nothing more than the value 

 and practical application of this single fact, the farm- 

 ers of a single parish have already received enough 

 benefit from the nse oi' superphosphate on their tur- 

 nip crops to pay the whole sum, and are annually 

 reaping profits tfeat w«ald support the most richly 

 •endowed Agricultural College on the glo'be. If tbts 

 one fact has proved of sijch great value, have we not 

 good reasen to hope that the extensive investigations 

 which are being made in many parts of the world 

 will develop facts of equal and still greater impor- 

 tance ? Many intelligeat farmers, however, look with 

 distrust on aU recommendations issuing from any 

 source other than that of practical experience. That 

 this distrust is a great hinderance to agricultural im- 

 provement cannot be doubted, but scientific men have 

 themselves to blame, in a great measure, for this want 

 of confidence on the part of farmers. They have 

 propounded theories which would not stand the test 



country and in Canada Scientific men feel the pow- 

 erful in'iluence of sn awakening .popular sympathy, 

 and a brighter day is a'bout to dawn on our agi | 

 culture. ' *■ 



There is, however, a dark side to the pictare. The 

 couBtry is flooded with agricultural periodicalg, and 

 every county paper has its " Farmer^s Column;" 

 ambitious politicians traverse the country delivering 

 agric-alturai addresses, aad it appears to be the great 

 aim of too many of tirese lecturers to tickle the popu- 

 lar ear with some new and plausible theory. Any 

 one at all acquainted with the agricultural literature 

 of the day, must be aware that^ while it is not en- 

 tirely -destitute of wheat, the chaff vastly preponder- 

 ates. It is in this mixture of error with truth, of 

 crude speculation with inductive fact, that constitutes • 

 our greatest danger, and which, if not checked, will 

 again bring agricultural science into disrepute. 



We have been led to these remarks, by reading a 

 paper on " Manure, Drainage and Irrigation," written 

 by R. L. Peli>, Esq., President of the American In- 

 stitute, and which has been copied with high com- 

 mendation by several agricultural papers. We can- 

 not believe that the editors took the trouble to read 

 over the article before copying and commending it. 

 We would, therefore, call their attention to the fol- 

 lowing extracts: 



" If the soil has but a small proportion of the phos- 

 phates ill it, and a great qnantity of the silicaces, 

 [silicates,] wheat will ruin it more rapidly than bar- 

 ley, fir the reason that a single crop of wheat viiU removt 

 a larger portion of the phosphates than three crops of 



of practice, excited hopes which have proved illusive, 



and recommended practices which entailed much loss 



on those who were enterprising enough to adopt j barky 



them. The principal cause of these failures, is at- ^t .1 p . • ,1 ., ,., . , . 



t^ibutable to the fact that some of the more popular I ^''^' ^}^ '^^l^^ *^^^^ ^^^ p^™^ quantity of barley 



and leading scientific men left the slow but certain j '^/"^''^^ '^'^"II*^^ soil more phosphates than a crop 



of wheat 



of forty-two analyses by reliable chemists. 



paths of exporimental investigation, and startled the j ""l T"*^'"" ^^® ™^^^. this statement on the streGgtk 



agricultural v-'orld by a series of the most brilliant I 



md seductive speculations, that were confidently ex- 1 ''If we grow plants that are not intenied to go to 



peeled to revolutionize thosp systems of cultivation se*d, they will require no phosphate." 



which had been the slow growth of close obeeryation j This is a great mistake. No agricnltnral pla»t 



