TARMERS' MISCELLANY. 119 



to reduce all facts to order and to express all rslations in their sim- 

 plest forms. All this is eminently observable in the higher intel- 

 lects, as Newton's, Des Cartes, Hippocrates, Boerhave, Cullen, 

 Linnaeus and Cuvier. But philosophy is not limited to a few great 

 and overshadowing intellects, it exists in' the human mind. We 

 observe it in that spirit which attempts to systematize all knowledge 

 and all facts. We observe this not only in the astronomer when he 

 attempts to express in general formulas the sum of present knowl- 

 edge, or to set down the general results of his observations, but 

 also in the mechanic and laborer, where he simplifies his processes 

 and brings under one operation what before required many. If then 

 we find this spirit in man, what high hopes may we not entertain 

 of his advancement, and where shall we liniit his attainments or 

 set bounds to his achievements. 



EXPERIMENT. 



FisHKiLL Landing, Nov. 25, 1844. 



My Dear Sir — I tried an experiment on my farm, which, so 

 far as results are concerned, proved highly satisfactory ; but the 

 philosophy of the experiment, the true cause of those results is 

 yet to me very questionable. Pray expound : for in agriculture as 

 well as other matters in life, there are more things in heaven and 

 earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy. 



The lot experimented upon contains thirteen acres of a gravelly 

 loam, which prior to my possession of it, had been exhausted by 

 ^^ taking every thing off' and jmtting nothing on^'' and was foul in 

 the extreme with weeds and stones. 



The first year I raised corn and potatoes, manuring in the hill, 

 and obtained of course but a small crop. In the fall I ploughed 

 it again and picked off the stones. The next year I sowed oats, 

 three bushels and three pecks timothy, and one peck clover per 

 acre, lightly top dressed, harrowed three times, and rolled the 

 whole in carefully. The oats yielded thirty-five bushels per acre. 

 In the month of September I thoroughly mixed one ton of plaster 

 and one ton of leached ashes, and sowed it in the thirteen acres as 

 evenly as possible. When winter came on there was a thick coat- 

 ing of vegetable matter on the ground of over three inches in 

 thickness, (the grass had not been pastured or cut) and towards the 



