738 



FARxMERS' REGISTER— APPLICATION OF MANURES. 



useful invention often awakens latent genius, and 

 calls forth successful competition, even in the un- 

 learned. No sooner is an improvement in the 

 manufacturing arts announced, than it is adopted 

 whenever it can be rendered beneficial — such is 

 the facility of intercourse — such the desire — the 

 necessity — there, of profiting from every discovery 

 which benefits their art. The fixrmer is less able 

 and less willing to keep pace with the march of intel- 

 lect. He has few opportunities of becoming ac- 

 quainted wi^h tlie improvements of others, except 

 by slow degrees ; and he is so liable to be taken in 

 by the catch-penny productions of the day, and is 

 withal so distrustful of new experiments, that he 

 will hardly venture to buy new implements and 

 machines, nor to adopt new practices, however 

 beneficial they might prove on trial. JMr. Coke 

 tells us that his examples in farming, (and few 

 men ever gave better,) only enlarged the circle of 

 their influence about a mile in a year. Hence, as 

 regards this branch of improvement, we have much 

 to do ere we can overtake the spirit of the age, as 

 exemplified in our sister arts. 



Many of our farm implements have undergone 

 improvement; yet there are others which have 

 been either but partially introduced, or are hardly 

 known, that are calculated to abridge labor and to 

 increase the profits of the farm. There exists a 

 great disparity in the quality of implements. In 

 ploughs, for instance, there is a dilTerence which 

 eludes superficial observation, particularly in re- 

 gard to the force required to propel them, that is 

 worth regarding. I have seen this difference, in 

 Avhat have been termed good ploughs, amount to 

 nearly fifty per cents,, or one half The perfection 

 of our implements is intimately connected with a 

 correct application of mechanical science, a branch 

 of knowledge hitherto too little cultivated among 

 us. Messrs. Many & Ward, the enterprising 

 proprietors of an iron foundry in this city, have 

 assured me that there are more than two hundred 

 patterns of ploughs now in use in this state. Of 

 this number some may be very good, but many 

 must be comparatively bad. Eut what individu- 

 al is able to decide ujjon tlieir relative merits, or 

 even to become acquainted with the different sorts .? 

 It would be rendering an important service to the 

 state at large, and especially to the farming inte- 

 rests, if a competent board was appointed, com- 

 prising men of practical and scientific knowledge, 

 to test thoroughly, by examination, and perfectly 

 satisfactory trial, not only the plouglis, but the 

 other implements of husbandry now in use, or 

 which may be hereafter invented, and to publish 

 the result of their examination, and certify their 

 intrinsic and relative merits. Such board might 

 meet once or twice in a year, and no inventor or 

 vender who had confidence in the goodness of his 

 machine would fail to repair to the place of trial. 

 This would tend to call into action mechanical 

 science and skill, in the confidence of receiving a 

 just reward ; the public v.ould confide in the trial 

 and opinions of the board : good implements would 

 be extensively introduced and bad ones would be 

 discarded. The expense of the examination would 

 bear no proportion to the public benefit. 



Means for promoting the Improvement of j^gricul- 

 ture. 

 I have thus adverted, gentlemen, to those defects 

 in our husbandry, to which I proposed at this time 



to call your attention, and have endeavored to show 

 their magnitude, and the importance of applying 

 efficient remedies. I will now call your attention 

 to some of the available means of placing our ag- 

 riculture on a more respectable and productive ba- 

 sis. The means which 1 shall particularly com- 

 mend to your notice, may be embraced under the 

 following heads : 



1. A school, toillustrate the principles of science 

 ui)on which the labors of agriculture are based, 

 and to teach the best models of practice. 



2. A more general diffusion of useful know- 

 ledge, in a cheap form, accessible to the humblest 

 condition in life. 



3. Agricultural associations; and, 



4. The bestowment of pecuniary rewards, as 

 stimulants to enterprise and industry. 



I need not stop to dwell upon the advantages 

 which learning affords to agricultural labor. Sci- 

 ence may be defined a study of the immutable laws 

 of the Creator, which govern and regulate mind 

 and matter. The study of these laws, and their ap- 

 plication to the wants and comforts of life, have for 

 ages constituted one of the highest and most useful 

 em{)!oyments of man ; and have contributed, more 

 than any other human effort, to refine and elevate 

 us above the grosser and degraded condition of 

 savage life. The concentrated benefits of these 

 labors are not proffered to our hands. Tlie plea- 

 sures and the benefits which they impart, are held 

 out as noble rewards to mental labor, in the same 

 spirit that the blessings of health and competence 

 are promised to him who "earns his bread by the 

 sweat of the brow." Labor, mental or bodily, is 

 the inseparable attendant of rational enjoyment. 

 And is that knowledge to be contemned, which has 

 done so much good to the world, and which has 

 countless blessings yet in store for the human 

 family.' " In a theological view," says a late emi- 

 nent writer* " science is nothing else than a ration- 

 al inquiry into the arrangements and operations of 

 the Almighty, in order to trace the perfections 

 therein displayed. And what, continues our au- 

 thor, are the truths which science has discovered? 

 They may be regarded as so many rays of celes- 

 tial light descending from the great source of intel- 

 ligence to ilhmiinatethe human mind in the know- 

 ledge of the J3ivine character and government, and 

 to stimulate it to a still more vigorous exertion in 

 similar investigations, just as the truths of revela- 

 tion are so many emanations from the " Father of 

 Lights," to enlighten thedarkness, and to counter- 

 act the disorders of the moral world." 



Our state may be compared to a great family, 

 the members of which are employed in diversified 

 pursuits, all designed and calculated to promote the 

 common weal — having a common as well as indi- 

 vidual object, and all united by reciprocal ties. In 

 this light it is considered as respects crime and 

 want. One is punished, and the other relieved, by 

 common consent, and at the common charge. We 

 have erected splendid and extensive establishments 

 for the vicious and the poor. The county of Al- 

 bany has been at greater expense for its poor than 

 would be required of the state toestablish and sup- 

 port a school of agriculture. -Would it not evince 

 both prudence and economy to endeavor to prevent, 

 or to lessen, these growing evils in society, by de- 

 voting a portion of the common means to schools, 



* Diclv on the Iinprovenient of Society by l,hc difiu- 

 sion of knowledge. 



