8 



^{)t JTarmcr's iHontl)lijbisitor. 



wl)icli will ciidiio it witli new eiHMf:ies,aiKl cnrry 

 it forwi\i-(l, with acc-elorute(\ veloi-ily, in llie |i;uli 

 of ils iiscliilncss. It seems impossible to qiies- 

 lion the liiiili utility of siicli iissociations, wlien 

 coiuUicted'with a riglit spirit. They stimulate 

 the progress of improvement liy the potent in- 

 fluence of mutual example, anil tlie generous 

 ardour of an awakened emulation. The mind, 

 as well as the heart of man, is sociable, and seeUs 

 companionship and communion with other minds. 

 We are told in a hook of revered authority that 

 "iron sharpeneth iron— so a man sharpeneih the 

 countenance of his friend." This social jirinci- 

 ple is the modern lever of Archimedes in all 

 enterprises of public good, from making a rail- 

 road or canal, to christianising a world. There 

 is no country in which it has been so extensive- 

 ly and efliciently emiiloyed, for general pui'pose.s 

 as in oin- own." The characteristic feature of 

 American society was remarked upon, with his 

 accustomed discrinfuiation and judgement, by 

 a learned and distinguished foreigner w ho visit- 

 ed us a i'ew years ago, and who, tracing its exis- 

 tence to the popular character of our institutions, 

 affirmed as a general [iliilosophical truth, "that 

 in Democralk countries, the science of associa- 

 tion is the mother of science ; the progress of all 

 the rest de|)ends on the i)rogress it has inade."t 

 Jf this be true as to the general objects of hu- 

 man science and improvement, how emphatically 

 true is it in regard to that great interest with 

 which we are specially connected. As cidliva- 

 tors of the soil, we live in a slate of insolation 

 and dispersion on om- respective farms. While 

 the ineirdiersof other professions and callings are 

 congregated in towns and cities, or are lrer|uently 

 brought together in the exercise of their profes- 

 sional duties, the farmer treads the daily paths of 

 industry in the majestic solitude of nature, re- 

 lying, each one by himself, upon his own unaid- 

 ed judgment in the conduct of his daily toil. J$y 

 the happy expedient of associations like the pres- 

 ent, we are brought up periodically from the sol- 

 itude of oiu- daily pursuits, each one biinging 

 with him as a contribution to the general fund 

 of skill and kno\vle<lge, the results of his ow n 

 separate ex|)erience and observation to be thrown 

 into a common stock for the benefit of all; for 

 if) regard to everv species of useful knovvlp<lge, 

 communUy of goods, is now, thanks to the si)irit 

 of the age, the established law of the social, and 

 more especially of the agricultural world. The 

 more experienced and snccesslbl of our breth- 

 ren, too, briuff with them, to the annual compe- 

 titions of skill and improvement instituted by 

 these associations, specimens of the choicest iiro- 

 ductions of their industry and care, animal, vege- 

 table, and mechaincal, while the help- meets 

 whom Heaven in its bouiUy has bestowed upon 

 us, ever ready to assist in every good and useful 

 work, grace the department of the exhibition 

 which belongs to them, with the fmer, but not 

 less essential fabrics of tbeir cunning household 

 arts. Who can doubt the efficacy of institutions 

 such as these to incite, stiinidate and aid us in 

 running the noble race of in<lustry and im|irove- 

 ment which Providence has set before us. 



If any such there be, let him cast his recollec- 

 tion back to the appearance aiid condition of our 

 farms some twenty-five years ago, when this so- 

 ciety was established, and compare them as they 

 were then with what they are now. Though we 

 itU feel there is abmidant room .still for ijnprove- 

 ment, yet so great is the jirogress which has been 

 already effected, that the iilenlitij of certain farms 

 which I coidd nanje, has been almost literally 

 lost in the change. Take, for example, irj this 

 immediate vicinity, Peniiark, the iiirm of our 

 worthy brother Mi'. Craven, one of the earliest, 

 as well as most sucessful pioneers in this benefi- 

 cent march of improvement, or Moors-brook, the 

 residence of anotiier of om- worthy colleagues, 

 Mr. Charles Meriwether, a more youthful hut not 

 less zealous votary of the cause of rural im- 

 provement, and who that knew as I recollect 

 them, in their ruined, exhausted, and dilapidated 

 condition, twenty-five years ago, would recognize 

 them as the same places now, except by their 

 unchanged geographical position ? The wand 

 of the magician, set in motion by this society, 

 has passed over them, and in the place of the 

 desolate nakedness of red galls and gidlies, or 

 that still more dreary typo of poverty and neg- 



t Da Tocqueville. 



lect, the broom-slrnw ivUderncss, have succeeded 

 the golden abundance of the rich and waving 

 wheat-field, or the bright verdure of hills clad in 

 luxtniant clover and green-sward. Sinfdar and 

 c(pial, if not greater changes have taken (ilace 

 upon many other farnies within the sphere of this 

 society, which could be named ; anil while their 

 exterior aspect has been thus magically trans- 

 formed, it would not be risking too much to say 

 that within the same period, their actual market- 

 able productions have been, at least, tripled. If 

 any should be inclined to set down these results 

 10 the credit of tlie general spirit of improve- 

 ment, which has more or less pervaded the coun- 

 try at large, within son;e years jiast, rather than to 

 any influence exerted by this society, 1 shall be 

 pardoned for leferring them, in no invidious 

 sense.to the marked and acknowledged difference 

 in the progress of agricultural improvement be- 

 tween this and adjoining counties, possessing 

 similar natural advantages, but not hitherto ))ro- 

 fitling, in an equal degree, of the stimulants and 

 aids derived fiom association like ours. 



While the success of the past supplies us with 

 abundant motives for perseverance, the jirospects 

 of the futuie aftbrd a yet stronger incentive to 

 incieased exertion and zeal. Agriculture,as a sci- 

 ence, may be said to be as yet in its infancy. The 

 researches of learned and inquisitive men, with- 

 in the last ten or fifleen years, have thrown a 

 new light upon some of the most im|.orlant pro- 

 cesses of nature, concerned in the rearing and 

 bringing lo matinity, the productions of the 

 earth. Organic chemistry, which has done so 

 nnich lately towards revealing and explaining 

 those processes, has almost w holly had its origin, 

 as a distinct branch of science, within that pe- 

 riod. Everv rational system of agriculture nnist 

 be bottomed on a knowledge and application of 

 these ])rinciples. In what manner plants carry 

 on their nutrition and growth — what substances 

 contiibule to their nourishment and support, and 



iTi wliat Ibini outer into llit-ii coiislilulion, — by 



what organization they appropiiate and assimi- 

 late their food — the structure and functions of 

 their different organs, — the sources from which 

 their supplies of food are mainly derived, 

 whether li-oin the earth or fiom the air — the com- 

 position, ingredients, and influence of the soils 

 in which tliey grow, — the chemical action of the 

 various manures employed to jiromote their 

 irrowth — all tliese are matters of which the agri- 

 culturist should possess a sound and correct 

 knowledge, if he would practice his profession 

 with intelligence and siu'cess. The elementary 

 principles of these enquiries, he derives from 

 the chemist,the vegetable physiologist, the miner- 

 alogist, the geologist ; but mmdi remains to he 

 done by his own enlightened and discriminating 

 observation. The i;u-mor indeed, is the fellow 

 laborer of the man of science in prosecuting his 

 researches into all the arcana of the vegetable 

 economv. His true character is that of an f.r;je- 

 n'7»f»(n/ philosopher, whose operations in the vast 

 laboratory of nature, are the indispensable com- 

 plement of those performed in the laboratory of 

 the chemist. 



Here, then, is a new ami important field forthe 

 usefulness of agricultural societic*. It is under 

 their encouragement and siqiervision that a well- 

 disested series of accurate and skilfid experi- 

 ments can be most a<lvantageously instituted anil 

 conducted, to aid in the advaniement of agricul- 

 tinal science, and to test the theories on which 

 some of the most essential problems of |)raciical 

 agriculture depend. The importance of^ this 

 desideratmii has been long felt by men of science. 

 Sir Hunqihrey Davy, in his well known lectures 

 on agricultural chemistry, remarks "that nothing 

 is more wanting in agricidture than crperimcnts, 

 in whieh all the circumstances are mimilebi and 

 scitniijically detailed, and that this art will advance 

 in proportion as it becomes exact in its methods." 

 In this most useful branch of hmnan knowledge, 

 \\B may freely and without reproach indulge the 

 passion of the day for mesmerising. We may 

 commune with natiu'e in her sleep, interrogate 

 heron her mysterious law,s, elicit the secrets of 

 her most hidden processes, and turn the revela- 

 tions thus obtained to the highest practical bene- 

 fit of om- species. I will take the liberty, on an- 

 other occasion, of inviting the attention of the 

 society to some suggestions in detail for extend- 

 ing our usefulness, in this respect. 



May we not hope that the Professors of Sci- 



ence, in return lor such services as we may be 

 enabled to render to the cause of libend knowl- 

 edge by our experimenlal operations in testing 

 and ilfnstrating its principles, will cheerfidly 

 come forward, fiom lime lo time to aid and en- 

 ligten us by their theoretical and philosnpliical 

 views of the phenomena of nature, and of the 

 true methods of investigation and improvement. 

 It is, I am sure, only necessary to make the ap- 

 peal, to have it proni[)tly and zealously responded 

 to. Noihing has more strikingly distinguished the 

 nlilitarian age in which we live than the honor- 

 nble anxiety of men of science to apply the re- 

 sults of their researches and discovevies to the 

 practical purposes of life, and thus, in their day 

 and generalion, to add to the amount of actual, 

 positive good in the world. To all, who arc ani- 

 mated with this noble spirit, there can be no 

 higher encouragement and reward, than to find 

 the active chisscs of society aiqireciating, at their 

 just value, the aids which science is capable of 

 affVjrding to their industrious pursuits. The late 

 accounts from England bring us information of 

 Liebig, the great German Chemist, whose recent 

 work on organic Chemistry marks a new and 

 l)rourment a^ra in the history of Science, mingling 

 with the farmers of Yorkshire at their cattle sliowa 

 and Agricultural meeiings, and expounding his 

 theories in familiar popular addresses. The dis- 

 tinguished ffeologists of that country, Buckland, 

 Mi'nchison,'De la Beche, it is well known, have 

 zealouslv complied with the calls made upon 

 Ihem, by imdertaking gratintously, geological sm-- 

 veys of the soils and sub-soils of extensive agri- 

 cultural districts. In our own country, the labors 

 Professor Hitchcock, Dana, .fackson and others, of 

 attest the same sedulous and faithful attention, on 

 the part of men of science in Uepnblican Ameri- 

 ca, to the interests of practical agriculture ; and 

 I need not, I am sure, go beyond the limils of our 

 own society ibr a distinguished exanqile of a 

 like public'sjiirit in a learne<l Professor, whose 

 labors are so well known to us.* 



It is the province of associations like ours, 

 •.'cntlemen, to invile and bring forth the contri- 

 bniions of men of science to the cause of prac- 

 tical improvement. The great work of Liebig, 

 to which I have just referred, was prepared at 

 the special instance oi' the British Association 

 for the Advancement of science. The Iecture3 

 of Sir Hunjphrey Davy on agricidtural chemis- 

 try, whicli gave the first marked inqietns to the 

 application of science to agri<-ulture, were deliv- 

 ered at the request, and in the incsence. of the 

 Board of Acriculture of England. A merecoimty 

 Acricultural association in England,resembling in 

 e\-ery respect our own, has recently had the good 

 fortune of bringing forth by ils encouragement 

 and intervention, a work of extraordinary merit, 

 which for the popular and intelligible form m 

 which its instructions are conveyed, as well as 

 for the body of sound science it contains, is prob- 

 ably destined to replace all its predecessors. I 

 refi^r to the lectures of Professor Johnston "on 

 Agricultural Chemistry and Geology." the first 

 pa"rtof which only has yet aiqieared, but which 

 aftbrds the promise of a code of instruction, 

 when completed, of the highest value to the 

 practical ai'iicnltmist. These admirable Lec- 

 tures were delivered before the Durham County 

 .dgricultural Soeieti/, and the members of the Dur- 

 ham Farmers Cluh, in a style of explanation so 

 lucid and comprehensible, as lo call fbrno previ- 

 ous technical knowledge of the subjects of whicli 

 they treat. Here is an example worthy of imita- 

 tion. We have already shewn our sense of the 

 intimate and important connection between the^ 

 objects of our sociely and the investigations of 

 science, by makinc the learned Professors ot our 

 University, ex-oflicio, honorary members of this 

 Association. Shall we not imite tliem, fioin 

 time to time, to bring the lights of their several_ 

 departments of science, ihiongh the njedium of 

 jiopular lectures, to direct and illuminate the 

 paths of our agricultural labors, and to sustain 

 and embellish,'^ by the efforts of their genius, the 

 chief pillar in the edifice of our national Jiros- 

 perily and grandeur? Shall we not lay public- 

 spiriied men of s.-ience every where under con- 

 trihniion in the some holy cause ? I shall venture 

 to propose this to von, gentlemen, in the firm 

 confidence that an appeal to the patriotism ol 

 American science can never be made in vain. 



" Trofcssur Roscrs. 



