124 



Silas Wright's Address. 



Vol. XII. 



rimentp, brouofht what came to be denomi- 

 nated "book farmiii^v," into g-reat disrepute 

 with the industrious, fruoftl and successful 

 farmers of the country, and excited a jeal- 

 ousy of, and a prejudice ai^ainst this descrip- 

 tion of information upon agricultural subjects, 

 which it has cost years of patient and un- 

 ceasinof effort in any measure to allay, and 

 which are not yet removed. 



In the mean time g-eolojjical research, 

 heretofore principnliy confined to investiga- 

 tions into the mineral kingdom proper, has 

 been extended to its legitimate office, and 

 has brought within its examinations the 

 formation of the various soils, and their mi- 

 nute constituent parts. Chemistry has com- 

 menced where geology closed, and by a 

 careful analysis of these constituents of the 

 various soils, of the principal agricultural 

 products, and of the usual manures, is la- 

 bouring to establish upon philosophical prin- 

 ciples, the true relations between the soil 

 and the manure to be applied, and between 

 both and the crop to be planted and produced. 

 It is seeking out, with rapid succesF, the ap- 

 propriate food of the various vegetables cul- 

 tivated by the farmer, the soils and manures 

 in which the food for each is found, and the 

 way in which it may be most successfully 

 administered. So with the food of the do- 

 mestic animals, and the mo=t economical 

 manner of feeding it. 



These investigations are the reverse of 

 the former system of arbitrary experiments. 

 There a result was made to justify the arbi- 

 trary means adopted to produce it. Here 

 causes are ascertained, and being so ascer- 

 tained, are relied upon to produce their na- 

 tural effect, which effect is the result sought. 

 The importance of this great subject is 

 effectually arousing the attention of the lite- 

 rary and scientific men of the country, and 

 the success already experienced is drawing 

 to these researches minds qualified for the 

 labour, and energies equal to its rapid ad- 

 vancement. The progress made is bringing 

 together the unsettled mind of the country, 

 and producing the very general impression 

 that the time has arrived when the founda- 

 tions of a systematic, practical agricultural 

 education should be laid, and the super- 

 structure commenced. 



It is universally conceded that agriculture 

 has shared but lightly in the t()stering care 

 and government patronage which have been 

 liberally extended to commerce and manu- 

 factures, nor is it believed that additional 

 public expenditure is necessary to enable 

 the State to do all that can reasonably be 

 required of it, to accomplish this great ob- 

 jecL Our educational funds are rich, and 



the colleges, academies, and common schools 

 of the State share liberally in the distribu- 

 tions from them, while a Normal School, for 

 the education of teachers, instituted at the 

 seat of government, is also mainly supported 

 from these funds. These institutions pre- 

 sent the organization, through wiiicii, per- 

 haps better than through any independent 

 cliannel, this instruction can be universally 

 disseminated among the agricultural popula- 

 tion of the State. The annual additions to 

 the school district libraries may be made 

 with reference to this branch of education, 

 and thus place within the reach of all the 

 discoveries as they progress, and the rules 

 of husbandry deduced from them, as they 

 shall be settled and given to the public fronn 

 the pens of the competent professors en- 

 gaffed in pursuing the researches. 



This Society, and like associations, may, 

 through appropriate committees, their cor- 

 responding secretaries, public spirited com- 

 mercial men, and otherwise, collect and 

 embody in their transactions, facts and in- 

 formation respecting the markets, foreign 

 and domestic; the present and probable sup- 

 ply of agricultural products; the mode and 

 manner of presenting the principal produc- 

 tions in the various markets in the most ac- 

 ceptable form; the state and prospects of 

 trade at home and abroad, and the changes 

 present and prospective in the commercial 

 policy of our own and other countries, with 

 the probable influences upon the agricultu- 

 ral market. The commercial and agricul- 

 tural press will doubtless come powerfully 

 to the aid of the associations, in all efforts of 

 this character, and having these great ob- 

 jects in view. 



In this way the foundation may be gradu- 

 ally laid, and the materials collected for the 

 commencement of those agricultural studies, 

 which time and application, with the con- 

 stant evidence of their utility in practice, 

 would ripen into a system, to be engrafted 

 upon the course of regular studies pursued 

 in the colleges, academies, and common 

 schools, and made a branch of liic studies of 

 the male classes in the Normal School, placed 

 under the superintendence of an instructor 

 selected for the purpose, and qualified to pre- 

 pare his classes for teaching the studies in 

 the common schools of the State. 



Thus a generation of farmers would soon 

 come forward, well educated in the great 

 and essential principles of agricultural pro- 

 iluction; in the true relations existing be- 

 tween agriculture, commerce and manufac- 

 tures, and in the adaptation and preparation 

 of their products for the agricultural mar- 

 kets. Such farmers, with the continued aid 



