Office removed to flic Aj?riciiiUur:il Ware-I^ouse and Seed Slorc, 

 i\o. 87 IVoi-tli Second street. 



THE FARMERS' CABINET, 



DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURfJ, AND RURAL ECONOMY. 



Vol. III.-No. 11.] 



Jnue 15, 1839. 



l"\V!iolc Xo. 53. 



At a mncting of the Chcstor County Ctiliinot of Natu- 

 ral Hciencos, held Feb. 10, 1839, itwas—Rrsolved, yiial 

 William P. Townsend he r<:qiiested to furnish Jii- 

 BEPii Cloud, Esq.., with a copy of Dr. Joseph Clui'd, 

 Jr 's E.ssay on Agriculture, with a view to its publi- 

 cation in the Farmers' Cabini:t. 



VV. Townsend, Rcr. Sec. 



West Chester, F.^b. 28, 1839. 

 Dear Sir,— I Iiave the pleasure of forwarding you 

 the above Resoliilion, with a copy of the Essay referred 

 to, and respectfully request your attentioi* to its pub- 

 lication. Very obediently yours, 



Wm. r. TOWKSEND. 



Joseph Cloud, Esq., ) 

 Greenwood, Del. co.. Pa. \ 



An Essay on Agriculture. 



Read by the late Dr. Joseph Cloud, of Como. Chester 

 county, before the Chester County Cabinet of JVatu- 

 ral Sciences, March 10, 1833. 



I think agriculture the most honorable, because the most 

 independent of all professions.— FRxttKhi^. 



" The benefits that might be derived from 

 the union of chemical .skill with the extensive 

 observation of agricultural facts, are perhaps 

 incalculable." The truth of this remark, 

 made by Henry, whose name stands deserved- 

 ly amongst those of the most enlightened 

 chemists, must be felt and will probably jus- 

 tify my having selected agriculture as a fit 

 subject for the consideration of the Cabinet. 

 My apology, moreover, for discussing a theme, 

 which, though by no means exhausted, has 

 grown somewhat trite, must be founded upon 

 the hope of awakening inquiry into the causes 

 of the effects produced in the vegetable king- 

 dom by certain chemical agents, which are 

 confessedly not well understood. 



Agriculture has been thus defined: "The 

 art of cultivating the earth so that it may pro- 

 duce the vegetables we desire in their great- 

 est perfection, and may be divided into two 

 branches, namely, theory, ^LnH practice. The 

 former treating of the various means of pre- 

 paring and managing the soil and manure, 



Cab.— Vol, III,— No. IL 329 



and of the difl'erent kindsof vegetables which 

 are adapted to particular .soils ; the latter re- 

 lating to tlie implements of husbandry, the 

 methods of cultivating land, raising crop.^, and 

 feeding cattle." But it would be happier to 

 say, that " agtieulture is the science which ex- 

 plains the art or meansof cultivatin? and im- 

 proving the eaVth, so as to render it the most 

 fertile and productive," drawing consequently 

 a correct line of distinction between it and 

 husbandry, "which, properly, only signifies the 

 mode ojf cultivating land." 



Before proceeding further into this inquiry, 

 perhaps a brief review of the history of the 

 subject upon which we are engaged, may be 

 proper and somewhat interesting. 



After man was ejected from the scene of 

 primitive happiness, husbandry must have been 

 one ofjiis first employments, for according to 

 the great chronicler of tlie Holy Book, the 

 Lord God then said to man " In the sweat of 

 thy face shalt thou eat bread " and he sent 

 him forth to till the ground. 



This art was practised with much attention 

 by the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Carthagenians, 

 Grecians, and the Romans, particularly dHrinw 

 the period when that great people were 

 marked hy the sternness of their virtue; it 

 was prized by them as at once pleasant and 

 honorable. 



Pastorals were f^unor by their poets— such 

 men as Numis Pempillius, and Cato the Con- 

 sor, turned from the cares of state to tlie com- 

 position of works upon the cultivation of the 

 soil— in the same pursuit, Seneca was fain to 

 quit awhile iiis researches into ethics— and 

 upon every proper occasion, Cincinnatus 

 abandoned the sword and grasped the handle 

 of the plough. But, during the dark ages that 

 followed the fall of the Roman empire, little 

 attention appears to have been paid to any 



