2S2 



FARSIERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 5 



propositions of the convention, would end in the 

 establishment of the proposed profepsorrjhip and 

 experimental farm. It was asked in conversation, 

 what claim the University had over any of the 

 other colleges in the Stale"? 



Whether agriculture be regarded as a science or 

 an art, it certainly admits of degrees of skill. The 

 principles on which its whole theory and practice 

 depend are to be learned,- for, they are not innate, or 

 born in us, like the germinating principle in the 

 seeds we use. Their connection with several of 

 the sciences is intimate; nay, in many instances, 

 are borrowed IVom the sciences; and, in all, useful- 

 ly illustrated by them. The ignorant, but success- 

 iul farmer owes that success to his industry in imi- 

 tating others, or, to the knowledge he has acquired 

 by observation and dearly-bought experience. 



It is proposed, by means of a professorship and 

 experimental farm, to impart to such youths as de- 

 sire it, both theory and praciice. It would be in 

 vain for a professor of chemistry or natural philoso- 

 phy to attempt, usefully and successfull}', to teach 

 his class either of these sciences by mere oral ex- 

 planations from his chair, unaided by the dumb, 

 but more efficient instruction of an a})paratus. 

 And so it is in agriculture — where experiment is 

 the great expositor. It is not so important that 

 we make every experiment with our own hands, 

 as it is, that we know the principles upon which 

 each is made, witness, and carefully note the vio- 

 flus operandi and the results. Few proprietors in 

 the south till then' own soil; and, if, instead of trust- 

 ing the mode, &c. of doing it to the presumption 

 of uninformed, self-sufficient agents, we would 

 plan every thing and supervise its execution our- 

 selves, our graineries would be better filled and 

 our lands rapidly improve. But, what an amaz- 

 ing difference would exist in our present condition, 

 if, in youth we had been carefully instructed, both 

 in the principles and practice of our vocation 1 

 How many disappointments and bad crops would 

 have been avoided! How many once fruitful 

 fields would have been saved from sterility and 

 abandonment ! 



I doubt not but that you have been amused at 

 the ignorance, curiosity and surprise of a person 

 with beard on his chin, when he examined, f(;r the 

 first time in his life, the crops and all the appurte- 

 nances of a farm. There are many persons in Eu- 

 rope who have never been beyond the walls of 

 their native city; and there may be some in this 

 country who have spent their days in seaports and 

 at sea. Such an individual may be very learned 

 and accomplished, if you please; but, with what 

 profound ignorance would he embark in firming or 

 planting ! He would have to learn even the names 

 and uses of every thing. As all would be new to 

 him, time and study and careful observation and 

 an imitative talent to boot, would be necessary be- 

 fore he could make a living. Although few are so 

 ignorant as this; yet, the majority of the young 

 men among us are less informed than they mighl 

 be, about what is passing around them, and whTch 

 is of the most importance to them in their future 

 rural pursuits. They have been otherwise en o-ag- 

 ed, and it has not been fashionable to direct Uieir 

 attention to any thing eo Iovv and vulgar! I con- 

 cede it to be true, that every fanner^!? son knows 

 the name and use of every thing on the firm be- 

 fore he begins to shave, and can contract with an 

 overseer and have a crop made in the u^ual man- 



ner. But, how many of us have been instructed 

 in the nature and characteristics of soils — the skil- 

 ful use of artificial means to increase their fertility 

 or renovate it when exhausted; lo alternate crops 

 advvmtageously — to cultivate in the most improv- 

 ed and profitable manner such as may be best 

 adapted to the soil and to circumstances: in shorty 

 how many of us have been taught to apply the 

 unerring principles of science to the details of our 

 business, a^nd have been enlightened by the re- 

 corded experiments and practices of the present 

 and past ages? Would not a knowledge of chem- 

 istry, geology, mineralogy and botany have done 

 us, and through us, oiu' common country, more 

 substantial good than all the Latin verbs antl nouns 

 the whole of us ever conjugated and declined ia 

 our lives] 



I am sure there is no Tie plus iiUra to human 

 genius and enterprise: and, perhaps, you will think 

 so, if you but contemplate all that has happened 

 even within your own time. Guided by the in- 

 creasing liohts of science and the dexterity of art,, 

 have not the improvements achieved by man, in 

 nearly all his vocations, outstripped the visions of 

 credulity itselj? The extension of old, and the 

 discovery of new principles, with their brilliant re- 

 sults would astonish the most sanguine, as well as. 

 the wisest philosophers of any other age, if they 

 could reappear upon earth. Need I recount the 

 victories of genius; the wonders of invention; the 

 splendid, herculean achievements of enterprise 

 that so signally characterize and adorn the proud 

 epoch in which we live? It is, indeed, an age o'L 

 "successful experiment.'" And, shall it continue 

 to be said, that every other interest but that of ag- 

 riculture has been fostered and encouraged, as welJ 

 by legislative action, as by associated wealth, and 

 is moving onward with constant and increasing 

 celerity? 



In the midst of this unparalleled excitement and 

 energy, it would have been strange if the impulse 

 had not been communicated to the agriculturist: 

 and we see him, measurably, roused from his 

 letharg}-, both by the novelties of the day and the 

 increasing demand for the productions of his indus- 

 try. The operation of this stimulus upon individu- 

 als of his own profession has produced improve- 

 ments that are slowly spreading abroad; carrying 

 conviction wherever they go, that husbandry is 

 susceptible of a vastly wider range ofusefulncsa 

 and [trofit; and, if projicrly cherished by govern- 

 ment, is destined, soon, to occupy the most digni- 

 fied and honorable place among the pursuits of 

 man. 



The disadvantages under which individuals la- 

 bor in making the exi;erimenfs necessary to devel- 

 ope facts and principles, so essential to "the im- 

 provement of the practice of agriculture;" the tar- 

 diness with which favorable results become gene- 

 rally known and acted upon, and the fact that un- 

 favorable results are hardly ever known beyond a 

 circumscribed circle, have created in the minds of 

 many intelligent citizens, an anxious desire that 

 the Legislature should take "the interests of agri- 

 culture" under its special patronage and protection. 

 These considerations induced the meeting of the 

 convention which assembled in Richmond last 

 winter: and 1 am gratified in believing that the 

 subject, though so unceremoniously "laid on the 

 fable" by our law-makers, continues to occupy its 

 relative importance, and excites an increasing dc- 



