4 MR. newell's address. 



that I should go into a learned analysis of soils, or the mode and 

 operations of Nature, in furnishing chemically or othenvisc, the means 

 of sustaining vegetable life ; or to show philosophically how certain 

 combinations of soil, aided by manure, are made capable of produc- 

 ing the greatest amount of food and other necessaries for man and 

 beast. I must beg of you for this time to put up with some plain 

 home-spun remarks upon a few subjects within my limited observa- 

 tion. 



I am aware that some general rules will apply to all farms and all 

 soils ; still a vast amount of labor Avill be lost, if a particular process 

 of cultivation well adapted to one soil, should be pursued upon anoth- 

 er and a different soil ; and in my apprehension, from this cause has 

 arisen many of the strong prejudices to book-farming. An individual 

 sees in some periodical or journal, a certain course recommended to 

 obtain a superior crop of some article. He follows out the prescrip- 

 tions, but without inquiring •whether his soil is of a similar texture 

 to the one which gave the large product. From some cause his ex- 

 periment proves a failure, and without sufficient investigation into the 

 cause of the failure, he undertakes to attribute his disappointment to 

 book or scientific fanning ■; when, in fact, it might be for the want of 

 the knowledge necessary to adapt the crop to the soil. Here, per- 

 haps, I ought to make an apology for intimating that the lord of the 

 soil can possibly be ignoi'ant of its compositions and capabilities. But 

 on this point, allow me to say^, I think I speak from personal experi- 

 ence. For aught I know, I have had the ordinary means, in com- 

 mon with other farmers, to inquire and ascertain by experiment and 

 otherwise, the properties which compose soils, the crops to which they 

 are best adapted, and the various kinds of manure best suited to the 

 several kinds of soil ; and I am free to say, that I yearly loose both 

 labor and manure, (two important items upon a farm) for the want 

 of means I do not possess, of becoiAing acquainted with the science 

 of agriculture, with chemical analysis. By these phrases, I mean 

 simply the power to determine the qualities of soils, and what ingre- 

 dients are necessary to be incorporated with the several varieties, to 

 render them highly productive. I say highly productive, because I 

 am confident that at the present price of labor, small crops will run 

 the farmer in debt. 



I know nothing of theoretical chemistry, and I should not venture 

 to explain a principle philosophically; still I would be the last to dcs- 



