1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



197 



putting them into a cask, which he diligently rota- 

 ted daily, till the particles should happen to come 

 into their proper relations to each other t< roduce 

 the lovely object of his desire, never succeeded, tnat 

 I have heard of, in finding the lady, by that process. 

 A farmer, who supposes that he will chance to 

 hit on the laws that govern the principles of vege- 

 table production and growth, by acting on some 

 one scientific idea that he has fallen upon, in total 

 ignorance of every other law of nature, has scarcely 

 less absurdity to answer for than the philosopher 

 in search of a wife. It is much to learn the 

 bounds of knowledge, so as not to waste our efforts 

 on things beyond human reach. The essential 

 Life Principle is beyond the grasp of human knowl- 

 edge. How the dead differ from the living, He 

 alone knows who gave life. Philosopher and chem- 

 ist are both at fault here. They may analyze the 

 dead but not the living. The vast, the Heaven^ 

 wide difference between the living and the dead no 

 man can define. And this is equally true of vege^ 

 table, as of animal nature. The grain of corn, or 

 the blade of grass, which we carefully examine in 

 the laboratory, is not that which receives our care 

 in the field — which drew up its nourishment from 



to the air, and what soil is most tenacious of these 

 properties. Then we need men of education to 

 note down and compare results when obtained. 



Probably three-quarters of the experiments com- 

 menced each spring fail entirely from want of sys- 

 tem, or knowledge, in some person on the farm. 

 You plant some select dozen of potatoes, procured 

 with great care and cost, and in your absence, your 

 boy who does the chores digs them all for dinner, 

 some day. You have a few hills of some new and 

 valuable variety of corn, and tell your Irishman, re- 

 cently imported, to cut the stalks ; and before you 

 know it, he cuts it all up at the roots, and the cows 

 have had it for supper. 



And, finally, when some experiment has been 

 carefully watched through the whole season by 

 yourself, personally, the crop is gathered by some 

 enterprising "hired man" who wanted to do some 

 surprising act of energy in your absence, and when 

 you eagerly inquire of the results, he has them so 

 thoroughly mixed up in his head, that he gives you 

 the same valuable information that the woman did 

 about the indigo ; said she, "If you want to know 

 whether it is good or not, just put a little piece in 

 water, and if it is good, it will — either sink or 



the soil, selecting thence the honey from the poison swim, I declare I can't tell which !" 



— which absorbed from the dew and the rain and 

 from the sunlight even, the elements of its being, 

 which gave it form and color and distinctive quali- 

 ties. This is a dead plant. That was a living 

 creature, with a soul-like instinct, which directed 

 the germ in the sod to strive upward for light, 

 which governed it, in its growth, in choosing from 

 the infinity around it, those elements suitable for 

 this and no other living thing, which made it in the 

 midst of various others, growing so diversely side by 

 side with it, so unlike them all and yet so unerring- 

 ly true to its own type, so exactly in form and es- 

 sence, to its own species, scattered far and wide 

 over the earth. 



In this view, we are tempted to say, that agri- 

 cultural science must rest only on experiment. 

 Doubtless the carefully conducted experiments, with 

 their well-observed results, by persons competent 

 to observe and appreciate the means used, the con^ 

 ditions of soil, and climate and treatment, are the 

 most reliable and satisfactory of our guides for the 

 future. The difficulty, however, is in having exper 

 iments thus conducted, and the results noted and 

 compared. The chemist may, and does, accurately 

 analyze the soiL That is dead matter. It is the 

 same in the laboratory and in the field. He can 

 tell you whether one soil is like another, or how 

 they differ. He can analyze the fertilizing agents, 

 and give you their comparative richness, in certain 

 elements admitted to be valuable. He could have 

 told our friend in the General Court, which of the 

 valuable properties of manures are likely to sink in- 

 to the earth, and which to escape by evaporation in- 



To illustrate the necessity of knowing enough to 

 see both sides of a proposition, and to show how "cir- 

 cumstances alter cases," in farming as in everything 

 else, I have noted several topics. Among them is 

 the subject of the application of manures, and 

 therein, of composting, the subject of deep plowing, 

 and that of digging about fruit trees. On all these 

 topics, thei'e are different notions ; arising mainly 

 from the differences in soil and locality, which may 

 be profitably examined with a view to reconciling 

 or refuting ihem. 



In a future number, having faith — though the 

 snow lies deep around, and the glass is at zero — 

 that seed time and harvest will not fail, I hope to 

 discuss these matters with more minuteness. 



For the New England Farmer. 



MEASURE OF MILK. 



Mr. Editor: — In the Farmer for February 16, 

 "*" gives a problem nearly as follows : — "My milk- 

 man has lately altered his measure from beer meas- 

 ure to wine measure, and his price from seven to 

 six cents per quart. I wish you or some of your 

 correspondents would inform me which gains by 

 this change ?" 



As you did not answer it, I send you the result of 

 my ciphering, to dispose of as you think best. In 

 Greenleaf 's Arithmetic I find that a gallon beer 

 measure contains 282 cubic inches, and a gallon 

 wine measure 23 1 cubic inches. 



If I have reckoned right your correspondent has 

 to pay nearly five per cent, more for his milk now, 

 than he did before the milkman changed measures* 



Broohfield, Feb. 19. Yeoman. 



