130 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



OCT. 36, 1S4 3. 



tion of crops, by which lands may be kept under 

 constant cultivation without exhaustion? Who 

 have originated the various methods for reclaiming 

 and improving waste lands ? Who have suggest- 

 ed the improvements which have been made in the 

 plow and other implements of liiisbandry ? Who 

 liave introduced into use the various compost and 

 other artificial manures ? To whom are we in- 

 debted for the introduction of a great variety of 

 new fruits and grains ? T feel that F do not Ijazard 

 the truth by saying that these improvements, almost 

 without exception, have been made by men of ac- 

 tive, intelligent, and cultivated minds, who have 

 studied agriculture as a science, and who have 

 been led to these results by frequent experiment 

 and careful and systematic examination. 



And yet. Gentlemen, even at this day, we occa- 

 sionally hear such men sneered at as "hook far- 

 mers." I admit that mere book farming — mere 

 theory, which is not based upon practical experi- 

 ment, can be of no advantage. I am aware, too, 

 that the scientific agriculturist who labors by expe- 

 riments to make discoveries for the improvement of 

 agriculture, does not always labor most profitably 

 for himself. But thiFis equally true of him who 

 makes experiments in any department of science. 

 There is no magic glass by which we can see and 

 understand the operations of nature, as Joe Smith 

 reads tlirough the stone spectacles the pretended 

 revelations o( God. The laws of nature are dis- 

 covered only by a patient examination of her works. 

 Experiments which cost much labor and money 

 may fail — wholly fail : but when by repeated ex- 

 periments, a new fact or principle of science is dis- 

 covered, which in its application to the arts and 

 occupations of life, tends to relieve the sufferings 

 or increase the conveniences and comforts of man- 

 kind, then is all the cost and labor rewarded a hun- 

 dred fold. Nor is the benefit of the discovery limi- 

 ted to the discoverer. By him, indeed, estimated 

 merely in a pecuniary point of view, the knowledge 

 may have been purchased at a dear price. But to 

 the world it is transmitted free of cost. Its bene- 

 fits to mankind are coextensive with civilization. 

 Wherever the light of science sheds its rays, the 

 value of such a discovery i.s realized by every indi- 

 vidual who will avail himself of it, to as full an ex- 

 tent as by the original discoverer. 



This is true of every valuable discovery in agri- 

 culture. An improvement once well established 

 and tested by experiment, will speedily be adopted 

 by every intelligent and skillful agriculturist, and 

 become not merely an individual but a nltional 

 blessing. 



It has been said that he who makes two spears 

 of grass grow where <inly one grew before, is a 

 benefactor of his race. How deeply tl.en are we 

 indebted to the scientific agriculturist who makes 

 known a new principle in husbandry, causing not 

 merely two blades of grass to grow in the place of 

 one, but many tons of grass to grow where none 

 ever grew before. And yet in many places a sys- 

 tematic husbandry has accomplished all this, in the 

 reclaiming of waste lands, transforming worthless 

 swamps and marshes, covered with wild flags and 

 rushes, into cultivated fields, waving with grass 

 and grain ; redeeming the barren and unproductive 

 parts of the earth; making the wilderness and sol- 

 itary place to be glad, and the desert to rejoice 

 and blossom as the rose. 



But notwithstanding considerable improvements 

 have of late been made in agriculture, there is per- 

 haps no one of the arts of life which has received 



less benefit from the application of the principles of 

 science, nor is there any which could be more pro- 

 moted by the application. 



A knowledge of chemistry, botany, geology, and 

 mineralogy, would be a great advantage to the ag- 

 riculturist ; but an acquaintance with chemistry, 

 especially, is of the utmost importance. It explains 

 to him the nature of the various kinds of soils, 

 teaches him how to analyze them, and discover the 

 difference between those which are sterile and 

 those which are productive, and thus enable him to 

 sup])ly to the former those materials or elements 

 necessary to render them fertile. 



By chemical analysis he may be able to ascer- 

 tain those principles or agencies which are produc- 

 tive of the most rapid and luxuriant growth of 

 plants, and by supplying these elements to the 

 soil, obtain with the least expense, the largest 

 quantity of vegetable products. 



By similar means he can learn the changes which 

 take place in soils during the process of vegetation 

 of particular plants ; what element of fertility is 

 taken up or extracted by each, and thus adopt his 

 crops to the nature and conditions of his soils. 

 And as all manures are applied to sustain the fer- 

 tility of the earth, an analysis of these will teach 

 the kind and quantity which may be applied with 

 profit to each particular kind of soil. 



A knowledge, too, of the process of vegetable 

 decomposition, and the effects of decaying vegeta- 

 ble and animal matter in the different stages of pu- 

 tresence will enable him to use these to the best 

 advantage in enriching his fields. 



It is said by Dick, on the authority of another, 

 "that the celebrated Lavoisier cultivated 240 acres 

 of land in La Vendee, on chemical principles, in 

 order to set a good example to the farmers; and 

 his mode of culture was attended with so much 

 success, that he obtained a third more of crop than 

 was procured by the usual method, and in nine 

 years his annual produce was doubled." 



The application of chemistry to agriculture may 

 well be considered the highest branch of that noble 

 and useful science. For if we consider the vast 

 extent and infinite variety of the objects and mate- 

 rials to which agricultural chemistry may be ap- 

 plied, and its unequalled importance in improving 

 the art of producing food for man and animals, and 

 as constituting the great source of national wealth 

 and prosperity, it must be admitted that while it 

 presents a field for noble and philanthropic efforts 

 for the benefit of our race, it also affords objects for 

 the most nice and critical analysis ; subjects for the 

 most careful experiment and investigation, and the 

 broadest scope for philosophical study and reflec- 

 tion. 



It has been said that "the undevout astronomer 

 is mad ;" and it may be as truly said that the sci- 

 entific agriculturist who has observed and studied 

 the works of God as annually manifested in the 

 changing seasons, the growth of vegetables, and 

 the wonderful adiptation of the earth and its pro- 

 ducts to the wants and comforts of loan, and who 

 does not feel his soul lifted in devout gratitude to 

 the Author of all these blessings, is mad indeed : 

 for he might plant and water in vain, did not God 

 give to him the increase. 



I have, Gentlemen, already alluded to a rotation 

 of crops as among the benefits derived, and to be 

 derived from the application of the principles of 

 chemistry to agriculture. 



The utility, and even necessity, of an occasional 

 change of crops, seems to be generally admitted, 



and a practice corresponding to this belief, genera 

 ly prevails. I apprehend, however, that the princ 

 pies of this theory are not much understood, ai 

 that the crops cultivated, and the order of ths 

 succession, are usually determined by accident 

 convenience, rather than by any examination 

 their effects upon the soil and its capabilities 

 further production. 



The theory of a rotation of crops is plainly inl 

 mated by the usual operations of nature. A fore 

 of pine trees when cleared away is usually su 

 ceeded by oaks, and in the same manner, pine ai 

 hemlock generally succeed hard wood. 0th 

 trees alternate on the same principles. The vai 

 ous grasses also interchange naturally. For i 

 stance, a field of clover will often change "per 3 

 into other grasses. 



Experience too has demonstrated, that the cul^ 

 vation of the same plants upon the same field f 

 several suci-essive years, will exhaust the soil, ai 

 that the fertility of land is better sustained by 

 frequent interchange of crops. 



Chemistry explains the reasons of these fad 

 and teaches how they may be made subservient 

 the improvement of agriculture. 



It is found by chemical analysis, that differc 

 plants are composed of different elements or su 

 stances, and that these are combined in them 

 various proportions. And as all plants derive th« 

 principal nourishment from the earth, it is obvio 

 therefore that different plants will extract from tl 

 soil those particular elements or substances 

 which they are composed, and which are, cons 

 quently, essential to their growth. 



Hence the cultivation of one kind of crop on tl 

 same field for several successive years, will exhai' 

 the soil of those elements or components whii 

 form the principal substance of such a crop, and co 

 stitute its peculiar food. 



It is immaterial whether the process of ahsor 

 tion by the roots of vegetables, be merely mechai 

 cal, as some suppose, or whether there is a chen 

 cal operation by which the roots of a particul 

 plant separate from their combination in the sc 

 those elements only which form its substance, a 

 which, therefore, nourish it and promote its growl 

 Those who maintain the former theory — that t 

 operation is merely mechanical — that a plant 

 liable to take up by its own roots whatever is ne 

 to it in a state of solution — maintain, also, that 

 the process of digestion or assimilation, whatev 

 is taken up by the roots that is not congenial 

 the growth of the plant, and is not altered by tl 

 vital action, is excreted or thrown off, as in tl 

 process of animal life. 



Which ever hypothesis may be true, then, the r 

 suit is the same. One supposes that a plant tak' 

 nothing from the soil but what it can assimilaK 

 the other, that it returns to the soil every thir 

 which it cannot assimilate. 



(neither case the soil becomes exhausted 

 those particular elements which the plant growit 

 upon it can assimilate ; and the fact is well attoa 

 ed that the same crop cannot be repeated toadvaii 

 tage, until by some means the exhausted elerneni 

 of the soil are restored. This was formerly doni 

 and is now, to some extent, by letting the land li 

 fallow — it being erroneously supposed that tb 

 soil, like animal nature, required repose. 



But it is obvious that a soil thus exhausted b 

 the growth of one kind of plants, may contai 

 enough of the elements necessary to the produc 

 lion of other plants composed of different substar 



