96 



^ Hint for Correspondent a — Ploughing. 



Vol. hi. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



A Hint for Correspondents. 



Your correspondent T., Vol. 11., p. 356, 

 epeaking of destructive insects, says, " men 

 of science might render much service to the 

 country if they would turn their attention to 

 this branch of natural history and communi- 

 cate to the public the result of their investi- 

 gations in plain intelligible language, adapted 

 to the understandingsofthe people generally." 

 Now cannot our Radnor friend perceive 

 where the difficulty lies ? I may have studied 

 the subject of which he speaks — he says he 

 is ignorant of it — how then can I commu- 

 nicate my knowledge to him ? Every spe- 

 cies of knowledge — every branch of science 

 has — and in the nature of the case must have 

 — its own peculiar and appropriate language. 

 How then can I communicate my scientific 

 knowledge to him before he has learned the 

 only language in which it can be conveyed ? 

 Perhaps he does not yet appreciate the diffi- 

 culty. I will explain more fully. Was he 

 ever in a school where a large number of pu- 

 pils were just learning their first rudiments T 

 And why did not their teacher at once com- 

 municate to them the results of his more ab- 

 struse investigations, in arithmetic and the 

 mathematical .sciences, in language adapted to 

 their understandings, without dragging them 

 on for years through irksome and laborious pre- 

 paratory studies 1 Because itwould be impos- 

 sible for him to do so. He could no more cause 

 them to comprehend the algebraic equation 

 x-fy X 2y — x 



1 8=r 1-27 — or to understand 



5 3 4 



the calculations of an eclip.se — than he could 

 the very stones in the wall. And why] be- 

 cause he would have to use language which 

 was not adapted to their understandings. 



It is greatly to be regretted that the mass 

 of the people are disposed to exclaim against 

 scientific men tor rendering their knowledge 

 unintelligible to common minds. A little re- 

 flection ought to do away this disposition. A 

 few men devote their time and talents to the 

 advancement of science and its application to 

 the wants of mankind. And the people reap 

 the ad vantages of their labor unconscious from 

 whence they come. They too often even look 

 upon their benefactors with suspicion and 

 jealousy instead of feeling grateful for the 

 favors bestowed. I Ions' to see the time when 

 it will be otherwise. When the cultivators of 

 science will be considered among the greatest 

 benefactors of their race. When the rudi- 

 ments of general science will be taught in eve- 

 ry community — and even in all well regulated 

 schof)ls. When the public mind will be pre- 

 pared to appreciate and to understand scien- 

 tific instruction. And when such nion as your 



correspondent T., will no longer say that they 

 are "entirely ignorant" of things which have 

 been before their eyes all their lives. If 

 practical men who are constantly in the best 

 possible situation io observe and to investigate 

 the habits of insects content themselves with 

 entire ignorance, how can we expect scien- 

 tific men to burst from the closet or the se* 

 elusions of the city to engage in the arduous 

 work. I would say to T., " first put thine own 

 shoulder to the wheel, and then call upon 

 Hercules and he will assist thee." 



SCIENTIA. 



New Garden, 9th mo., Ist, 18W. 



Ploughing every other year. 



The proper rotation of crops has been a 

 subject of much investigation among judicious 

 farmers in all countries ; and in all probability 

 it is a subject concerning which definite and 

 strict rules can be laid down, such as the va- 

 rying influence of difference of soil, climate, 

 and seasons. We examined a piece of wheat 

 the other day, on the farm of E. Wood, Esq., 

 (Winthrop,) which seemed to indicate that 

 ploughing every third year was preferable to 

 letting the land lie a greater length of time 

 before it should be disturbed by breaking up 

 the sward. 



The piece was apparently of the same 

 quality of soil throughout, and had been treat- 

 ed in the same way, excepting, (if we mis- 

 take not,) one part had been broken two years 

 ago and laid down, w hile the other part had 

 been in grass a longer time. The difterence 

 as exhibited by the present appearance of the 

 wheat was in favor of the piece which had 

 been mowed but one year. The wheat on 

 that piece was taller and of better color, and 

 will undoubtedly yield a considerable more 

 grain at the harvest. It is true that one ex- 

 periment does not always establish a fact, but 

 the above is very good evidence in favor of 

 stirring the ground of\en. It has ever been a 

 tact with a majority of the farmers throughout 

 New England, (the north part of it, at least,) 

 that they do not stir the land enough — that they 

 are too sparing in the use of the plough, and 

 suffer their fields to get too much exhausted 

 of vegetiible matter, waiting until they become 

 covered with a thm crop of spire gniss. In 

 England, ploughing is a distinct branch of 

 farming, and a ploughman with his team is 

 kept almost constantly at work in some of 

 their large establishments. Now it would not 

 always be proper or prudent for us to liillow 

 English rules of farming in this country, but 

 we may take useful hints from them ; and it 

 .seems to us that one strong hint is, keep the 

 plough going more constantly. — Maine Far- 

 mer. 



The simple man is the beggar's brother. 



