306 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



subject of agricultural education, and the best meas- 

 ures to be adopted for the encouragement of such 

 education. In discussing this resolution, Profes- 

 sor Fowler, of Amherst College, introduced the 

 subject of flax cotton, a sample of which he held in 

 his hand, in order to show, briefly, what inestima- 

 ble blessings may flow to mankind by a more inti- 

 mate scientific knowledge. Other gentlemen spoke 

 with great earnestness on this subject, and the res- 

 olution passed unanimously. After dividing the 

 State into three sections, a committee was appoint- 

 ed for each section, consisting of one person, to 

 visit the shows of the societies and report such mat- 

 ters of general interest as they think would be use- 

 ful to the Board. The Board then adjourned to 

 meet again early in January. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 AGRICULTURE— NO. 1. 

 THE PHILOSOPHY OF SOIL, &c. 



We hail with manifest pleasure and gratitude 

 this all-glorious age, when the science of agricul- 

 ture is being looked upon, not in its former degra- 

 ded and disgraceful light, but as a science truly 

 worthy of our profounde&t research; — when the of- 

 fice of the "tiller of the soil" is not considered as 

 the drudgery of all labor, nor the farmer's life as 

 devoid of whatever interests; but to the contrary, 

 he who earns his bread "by the sweat of his brow" 

 — he who labors from morn till night o'er his har- 

 row and plough, is in fact being deemed equal in 

 position with him who, from day to day, 



"pores o'er the many lusty volumes 



Of hia heart's forgotten lore." 



There has been truly a great revolution in the 

 agricultural world within a few years. Indeed, it 

 has been comparatively wholly regenerated and re- 

 formed. And now this science is regarded as one 

 of vital importance to the perpetual growth and in- 

 crease of our — I trust — yet infant republic. It is 

 being looked upon with a philosophic — a scientific 

 view; with a view to raise its standard of true mer- 

 it, to promote its best interests, and give it that po- 

 sition in the scientific world which its real merit 

 demands. Philosophers and men of letters are 

 turning their attention to it. Men of great and gi- 

 gantic minds, of powerful intellects and of great 

 wisdom, are being engrossed in the cause. And by 

 their continued developments in relation to it, still 

 render it a theme of increasing interest and an oc- 

 cupation replete with many sources of enjoyment. 



We find that to be a true farmer, we must fullr/ 

 understand our business — not only the practical ^i^ri 

 thereof, but the theory, the rudiments, the grand 

 fundamental principles. By thus preparing our- 

 selves, we render us emphatically independent works, 

 not dependent upon the opinion, the doctrine or "say 

 so" of any other man. 



He is not truly an engineer who is simply capa- 

 ble of putting in motion and stopping at an appro- 

 priate time his ominate car, but he should render 

 himself able to tear in pieces, to build up, to sepa- 

 rate and examine every component part and portion 

 of his structure, then reconstruct again. Then will 

 he be competent to look upon bis completed fabric, 

 each part separately considered, and turn every por- 

 tion to the very best practical advantage and benefit. 



Likewise with him who follows the pursuit of 

 agriculture. lie first must have an accurate know- 

 ledge concerning the natute and essence of the soil 

 which he is about to till. He should be perfectly 

 familiar with its ingredients and elementary prin- 

 ciples, the relations they bear to each other, and 

 what they v\'onld be the best capable of producing 

 under certain combinations. Thus then he comes 

 into immediate contact with the sciences of geolo- 

 gy and chemistry, without a good practical know- 

 ledge of which he is, in fact, unfit for his profes- 

 sion. 



We observe, then, that this occupation is far 

 from being that decidedly uninteresting and mono- 

 tonous one formerly represented to be, but is en- 

 grossed with a never-ending variety of speculations 

 which demand the closest possible scrutiny of phi- 

 losophical research. 



But I perceive I am spinning far too lengthy for 

 a preface, and must proceed immediately to the 

 theme upon which I propose to expatiate, and if in 

 the course of the following remarks I should chance 

 to "rake up" from the unbounded resouices of sci- 

 ence any truths, or throw out any hints which may 

 prove of any use to tend to increase the fund of 

 knowledge of any of your numerous readers in re- 

 gard to the fundamental principles of agriculture, 

 I shall feel myself fully rewarded. 



The vegetable kingdom, we find, may with pro- 

 priety be considered as the connecting link between 

 the mineral and animal creation, and serves to 

 unite them into a common chain of beings, for it 

 is through the means of vegetation alone that min- 

 erai substances are introduced into the animal 

 system, since generally speaking it is from vegeta- 

 bles that all animals ultimately derive their suste- 

 nance. Vegetation then seems to be the method 

 nature invariably employs to prepare food for ani- 

 mals. Nor does the vegetable exhibit more wis- 

 dom in this admirable system of organization, by 

 which it is enabled to answer its own immediate 

 ends of preservation, nutrition and propagation, 

 than in its grand and ultimate object of forming 

 those arrangements and combinations of principles 

 which are so well adapted to the nourishment of 

 animals. 



But a question arises here. Where do vegetables 

 obtain those principles which form their immediate 

 materials'? Indeed this is a point said to be yet 

 somewhat in the dark, but let us see. The soil 

 which at first view seems to be the aliment of the 

 vegetable, is found on a more minute inspection, a 

 thorough investigation, to be in factlittle more than 

 a channel through which they receive their nourish- 

 ment, so that it is very possible to raise plants 

 without either earth or soil. We have instances 

 of this in the hyacinth and other bulbous roots 

 which will grow and blossom so beautifully in 

 glasses of water. But methinks I hear someone 

 say, "You would have something of a job of it to 

 raise trees thus?" No doubt I should, as it is the 

 burying of the roots in the earth which supports 

 the stem of the tree. But this office, besides that 

 of affording a vehicle for food, is by far the most 

 important which the earthy portions of the soil 

 pel form in the process of vegetation, and it is dis- 

 covered by analysis that but an extremely small 

 proportion of earthy matter is found in the vegeta- 

 ble. 



In this connexion another question of no small 

 importance arises. If the earth does not afford 



