No. 4. 



Petei' A. Browne's Address. 



107 



importance to the husbandman. Time is 

 money; and such men as Sir Humphrey 

 Davy, Liebig, Silliman, Vanuxem and Ro- 

 gers, can extract in a few days, more solid 

 information from a few well directed experi- 

 ments, than can be gleaned from the expe- 

 rience of a whole life, unaided by the lights 

 of science. Hence a partial acquaintance 

 with many of the sciences becomes neces- 

 sary to the planter or farmer who would not 

 be a mere drudge, doomed all his days to 

 follow a beaten and worn-out track, merely 

 because his father trod it before him. Would 

 our modern farmer wish to improve his soil, 

 he must know what was its original nature. 

 The natural parts of all soils are the com- 

 minuted particles of the prevailing rocks of 

 the vicinity. But how is the husbandman 

 to know what are the prevailing rocks'? Re- 

 course must be had to the science of geology. 

 Without, therefore, being at all profound, 

 every farmer ought to be so far acquainted 

 with the rocks, as to know their general ar- 

 rangement, courses and dips; their conform- 

 ations and respective relations to each other. 

 Should he wish to understand the nature of 

 the mineralogical constituents of the rocks, 

 he must call to his aid the science of mine- 

 ralogy. Here, again, he need not dive into 

 the depth of science, but he should be able 

 to recognize, without difficulty, all the com- 

 mon and ordinary minerals that enter into 

 the composition of the prevailing rocks. 

 This knowledge has been, not inaptly, 

 styled "the alphabet of Geology," and it 

 would be found, not only to be as necessary 

 to a right understanding of geology, as a 

 knowledge of the letters is to reading, but 

 that it could be acquired with, comparative- 

 ly, as little labour by an industrious farmer, 

 who would devote a portion of his long win- 

 ter evenings to the acquisition. 



Should the desires of our husbandman 

 carry him one step further, and prompt him 

 to understand the fertilizing qualities of 

 these mineralogical ingredients of the pre- 

 vailing rocks, he must, in ihat case, resort 

 to the sublime science of chemistry, so far, 

 at least, as it is connected with agriculture. 

 There he will be taught to resolve each 

 earth into its elements, to study their mu- 

 tual attractions, the laws of their respective 

 cohesions, their natural combinations, and 

 the manner in which they may be united by 

 art, the qualities of the best natural soil, and 

 the cheapest and best means of making the 

 best one artificially. In fine, he will enable 

 himself to resolve many nice questions 

 which determine the changes in the forms 

 and composition of inanimate matter; ques- 

 tions which, at first sight, appear too intri- 



cate for any but the initiated ; but with 

 which the mind of the rural student will be- 

 come gradually familiar. 



Would our farmer desire to rear the finest 

 breeds of cattle, he must partially dip into 

 the science of animal physiology, or, at ail 

 events, so much of zoology and comparative 

 anatomy, as will enable him to understand 

 the outward forms and appearances, and so 

 much of the internal structure of domestic 

 animals as will suflBce to mark the breeds. 



And lastly, should he pretend to cultivate 

 the earth to the best advantage, he must 

 read the best books which treat of the Phi- 

 losophy of Botany, and those parts of the 

 science generally, as is intimately connected 

 with agriculture, thus making himself fa- 

 miliar with the elementary organs of plants 

 and the processes of vegetation, nutrition 

 and reproduction. 



Let no one be appalled by the apparently 

 great amount of labour which I have pointed 

 out as necessary to make a "scientific farm- 

 er." For let him reflect, that in the first 

 place, as has been before hinted, there is no 

 need that he should be profound in all, or 

 even in any of these sciences ; but only that 

 he should not be ignorant upon those points 

 in each, which are intimately connected with 

 his art. In the second place, the student of 

 the present day has the advantage of read- 

 ing, in his own tongue, numerous ancient 

 and recent useful treatises upon these vari- 

 ous subjects, which were not in the power 

 of our predecessors ; and without the aid of 

 which, they were obliged to undergo many 

 privations. Thirdly, he enjoys the incalcu- 

 lable advantages of Agricultural Societies, 

 institutions of comparatively recent date, by 

 means of whose exhibition and labours in- 

 dustry has been stimulated, emulation has 

 been excited, and an immense amount of 

 valuable information has been disseminated. 

 He is furnished with agricultural periodicals, 

 the editors of which understand so well, not 

 only how to cater for his mental appetite, 

 but how to fiirnish the food in such quanti- 

 ties as is adapted to his daily digestion. 



The friends of the art do not yet despair 

 of witnessing the erection of " A National 

 Professorship of Agriculture," or a school 

 where so much of the above sciences as is 

 connected with husbandry, shall be liberally 

 taught. During my last visit to France, I 

 examined at Altford, a few leagues from 

 Paris, an institution partaking somewhat of 

 this character. Shortly after my return 

 home, I endeavoured to get up one here, 

 upon similar principles. A copy of an Essay, 

 then written, will be laid upon your table ; 

 those who will do me the honour to peruse 



