24 



Suggestions — Facts in the Science of Agriculture. Vol. II, 



manding a better price if offered for sale, the 

 extension of his improvements, and with some 

 care and management, every fanner may 

 find steady work for his laborers in putting 

 his farm m better order and clearing new 

 land, and adding to his buildings. 



I made these suggestions to a farmer, 

 whose reply was, " That is the very plan I 

 pursue." That farmer has every year a great 

 surplus produce for sale, while some of his 

 neighbors must buy, and he has become 

 wealthy by farming. 



Every good farmer admits that it is more 

 profitable to work a small piece of land well, 

 than a large piece carelessly. Then, I ask, 

 why not farm a large tract well, by employ- 

 ing a sufficient number of laborers? The 

 mechanic who works single-handed in a town 

 or city, may earn bread for himself and wife, 

 but cannot grow rich ; whilst the one who 

 employs many hands, and attends closely to 

 the superintendence of his business, is sure 

 to grow wealthy. 



The ironmaster or manufacturer who grows 

 wealthy, draws his gain from the employ- 

 ment of many hands and their industry, and 

 his well managed operations. So with the 

 farmer ; if he attempts to work a farm single- 

 handed, he may raise his bread, but can ad- 

 vance but little and slowly in the world. 

 But he who intends to work hard himself, 

 and employs a sufficient number of laborers 

 to assist him, may say ' come and work, and 

 not go and work.' It will take but a few 

 years to show him the vast diffljrence it will 

 make in his worldly prosperity. 



Had these suggestions been adopted gene- 

 rally, a few years ago, the community in these 

 counties, would have had the advantage of a 

 more general supply of provisions at this 

 time. But it is not too late now. Laborers 

 are to be had at moderate wages, and many 

 strangers from abroad and from our overgrown 

 factories of the east, will soon be coming 

 amongst us; if they find encouragement held 

 out to them by the farmers, they will remain 

 amongst us, and add to the general wealth 

 as well as to that of their employers. 



In conclusion, there can be no doubt that 

 every farmer would find a clear and certain 

 gain by greater exertions and more labor 

 in the cultivation and improvement of his 

 land. 



Kvery poor laborer would be essentially 

 benefitted by obtaining a more permanent 

 home and regular employment among the 

 cultivators of the soil, than on the canal or 

 about the town — and the community would 

 be benefitted by the increased productions of 

 our cultivated soil. The produce of the in- 

 dustry of the farmer and the mechanic, is the 

 real wealth of every country. Money and 

 bank notes, though property in the hands of 



the individuals who own them, yet to the 

 community, are but the mere measure of 

 value. 



A Fakmer. 



Pacts in the Science sfAgricnlture. 



BY PROFESSOR RENNIE. 



Lime. — If quick lime, either fresh, burned 

 or slacked, be mixed with moist vegeta- 

 ble substances, however hard and fibrous, it 

 soon destroys their texture, and forms a mix- 

 ture, the greater part of which can be dis- 

 solved in water, thus rendering what was 

 previously useless, fit for food or plants. 

 [Hence the utility of applying quick-lime 

 to reclaimed swamps, or other soils abounding 

 in Woody fibre.] 



On the other hand, it is injurious to mix 

 quick lime with vegetable substances already 

 soluble in water, or with any sort of dung, or 

 other animal manure, lest it should take up 

 too much humic acid. — [Humic acid may be 

 termed the essence of dung, combined with 

 oxygen.] ] 



Sugar and gluten. — There are few plants 

 that do not contain sugar, which chemists 

 have shown to be a compound of about three 

 parts carbon, four parts oxygen, and eight 

 parts of hydrogen. 



It would follow, therefore, that it is not 

 necessary to be introduced into the soil ia 

 the state of sugar, the constituents being 

 always more or less contained in water, and 

 most probably combined into sugar after en- 

 tering the system of a plant. This applies 

 also to starch, which is composed on the 

 same principles, and may indeed be converted 

 into sugar, as was lately discovered ; and 

 gluten differs only in containing nitrogen. 

 [Gluten is the substance which imparts 

 nutriment to wheat in a greater degree than 

 is possessed by other grain.] 



Flavor, color, tif-c. — All flavor, color, smell, 

 and nutritive qualities, depend for their pro- 

 duction chiefly on the action of light. The 

 red color of forced rhubarb, [and of the blood 

 beet,] which seems to be an exception, arises 

 from the red matter previously produced by 

 the agency of light being carried down to 

 the root. [Hence, celery is blanched to 

 divest it of its otherwise acrid taste — and 

 hence fruits growing in the deep shade, are 

 more vapid and colorless than those growing 

 in an open exposure.] 



Heat. — The soil of this country, below 

 where the frost usually penetrates, averages a 

 temperature of 48 degrees, or fifteen degrees, 

 above freezing, which is the reason why 

 springs do not freeze, and not any quality 

 in the spring water, which will freeze readily 

 enough when taken from the well. [And 

 this explains why spring water, retaining 

 always near the same temperature, appears 



