274 JVeu' Publications. [April, 



sentiment than this was never penned by man. And we may 

 add, that in no profession or employment is scientific knowledge 

 of more value, or susceptible of more ready practical application. 

 Indeed, it will be seen by the reflecting mind, that almost every 

 act of the agriculturist is but the performance of an interesting 

 chemical or scientific process. And hence the very prevalent 

 idea, that a knowledge of reading, writing and arithmetic, is suf- 

 ficient for a farmer, is as absurd as to suppose a knowledge of 

 algebra sufl^cient to make a man a skilful physician. The great 

 and varied benefits to be derived from higher scientific attainments 

 by those engaged in the noble occupation of cultivating the soil, 

 would afford a fruitful theme for a separate volume, and cannot 

 even be touched upon here. We must conclude, then, by simply 

 expressing the hope, that the time is at hand when it will be 

 deemed of more importance to teach the youth in our schools the 

 composition of our soils and vegetables, and the most scientific 

 mode of cultivating the bread which they eat, than simply enough 

 of arithmetic to cypher out how much a few loaves would amount 

 to at a shilling per loaf." 



" Concerning the first, we reply, that abundant experience has 

 proved it both cheaper and easier to winter stock in the stable, 

 than out of doors, exposed to all the storms and changes of our 

 inclement seasons. Indeed, so true is this, and so much better is 

 the condition of the stock in the spring, that the most intelligent far- 

 mers of the present day stable all their cattle and horses, and pro- 

 vide good shelter for their sheep. The stables should always be 

 kept well ventilated and cleanly. In regard to the expenditure 

 for lime, and the labor in drawing muck, &c., we would ask 

 which the farmer would prefer — to spend five or ten dollars per 

 annum for lime and plaster, and four or five days' work with a 

 team, to haul muck, clay or earth, to prepare the cellar, and 

 thereby obtain a bed of manure which will enable him to obtain, 

 by the same labor in cultivation, 30 or 35 bushels of wheat from 

 every acre which would produce but 15 before; 35 bushels of 

 corn instead of 20 per acre; and 300 bushels of potatoes instead 

 of 200; or to move on, wasting the most valuable part of his 

 manure, starving his soil, permitting enough of his stock to die 

 annually from exposure to the cold and storms of winter, to half 

 pay for building a good stable to keep them in; forever grumbling 

 about the hardness of his lot in getting but half a crop from his 

 fields; and finally, starving out himself, ^or emigrating to some 

 far off land of promise?" 



" Hence the earth, the water and the air, each contribute freely 

 the materials necessary for the livmg plant. The first, by the 

 disintegrating influence of air, water, heat and cold, gradually 

 unlocks its inexhaustless stores of mineral or inorganic elements; 



