554 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 SCIENCE A CO-WORKER. 



Messrs. Editors: — Gent., I am happy to see 

 from the public journals an increasing spirit of in- 

 quiry going on amongst us, and manifesting itself 

 in practical results in the agricultural affairs of 

 this and other neighboring States ; wishing that 

 all good success may attend the efforts put forth 

 by those laudable and greatest of philanthropists, 

 who, by their example and precept, are working a 

 work which shall descend to future generations. 

 I am well aware of the prejudice which has hith- 

 erto existed against book farming — a prejudice 

 which I hope and think is rapidly disappearing, and 

 which was the child of ignorance. 



Of late years the sciences have laid open vast re- 

 sources for the farmeu. Geology, botany, and espe- 

 cially chemistry, have already taken rapid strides 

 towards revolutionizing the practice of agricul- 

 ture. It no longer answers for a man to quote his 

 as the best authority; he must go higher now, and 

 follow the laws of nature. There is no class of 

 men would be more benefited by acquiring a 

 knowledge of chemistry than the farmers,to enable 

 them to carry on their operations with profit and 

 satisfaction to themselves. Let ua not be under- 

 stood to mean that a farmer must become a Chem- 

 ist, in the strict sense of the term, although, to a 

 (Jfirtaiii degree, he must be one. lie is a practical 

 chemist already, and he should, in a measure, be 

 a theoretical one ; that is, he should be a reason- 

 ing man in respect to the operations he carries on. 

 He should be able to see the cause, when a certain 

 effect is produced, and understand why the vari- 

 ous processes which he follows are necessary, and 

 what are wrong and what are right. This does 

 not involve necessarily an acquaintance with all 

 the technical terms of science — terms so much the 

 dread of the uneducated farmer ; but he should 

 know the names of things he uses. But it is not, 

 after all, the names which most concern the far- 

 mer, although, in order to be a rational one, he 

 must understand them. The substances them- 

 selves are what he is most interested in, and their 

 proper application in his business. He oughtto un- 

 derstand the relative value of different manures, 

 and their adaptation to particular soils or crops ; 

 the preparation, improvement and management of 

 manures, in order to secure their highest effect ; 

 the composition of soils and plants, and the effects 

 produced by the latter growing on the former ; to 

 exhaust them and render them unproductive, he 

 ♦ must know the whole relation of the vegetable, 

 mineral, and animal world. The farm should be 

 regarded as an out-door laboratory, where every 

 process is regulated by rule, as strict as the chem- 

 ist obeys in his. 



It cannot be possible that agriculture alone, of 

 all the arts, must stand aloof from the aid offered by 

 science. All other industrial occupations owe their 

 elevation and importance to it. And what may not 

 the farmers be, when the farmer, in the full real- 

 ization of his calling, becomes the thoroughly in 

 formed man he ought to be ? And there is no suf- 

 ficient reason why he should not ; there is no rea- 

 son why any man in this country should be igno- 

 rant of all the improvements that have been made 

 in agriculture, and equally true that, knowing 

 them, why he should not put them in practice. 



I say there is no reason why any man should not 



be well informed in all that concerns his business. 

 What would we say of tlie mechanic or the arti- 

 san, who had a piece of mechanism to construct, 

 and who refused to call in the aid of science to 

 assist him, or who did not even know how to ap- 

 ply the square and rule, — in fact, who had no sys- 

 tem whereby to work it out, but went on at hap- 

 hazard. We would naturally conclude it would 

 be a failure, or at the best, but imperfectly done. 

 Now I contend that a piece of farm-work imper- 

 fectly done, will produce the same result. Let a 

 farmer, for instance, with the idea of increasing 

 his crops,put upon a soil naturally rich in calcare- 

 ous matter, lime, an excellent fertilizer. What 

 would be the result ? Failure, expense and disap- 

 pointment, and, perhaps, an unjustifiable bad 

 character that lime was of no use, as he thought, 

 having given it a fair trial. Let him reverse the 

 matter, and put on his land manure rich in vege- 

 table or animt^l matter, whilst some of the organ- 

 ic manures are what the land wants to build up 

 his crops ; the result would also be a failure, and 

 loss. But sir, I forgot there is a reason why the 

 farmers are not what they might be, or should be. 

 Before all are so, the barriers raised by prejudice 

 and early training must be broken down, and that - 

 patriarchal respect for old customs and old usages 

 and old ways must be done away with. 



With this you will receive a table of artificial 

 manures, imperfectly made out as it is. If you 

 think it worth a place in your valuable journal, it 

 is at your disposal. I intend, if time and health 

 are granted, to give you a few notes on manures ; 

 but, as T am just a working man, my leisure time 

 is not great. I beg to acknowledge the receipt of 

 the volume of State Societies' Transactions, for 

 which I feel much obliged. 

 In haste, lam, Gent., 



Yours, &c., M. A. Peery. 



P. S. Could you inform me how I could get a 

 few berries, paradoxically called the White Black- 

 berry 1 If so, you will much oblige. 



Yours, M. A. p. 



Remarks. — J. S. Needham, of Danvers, propa- 

 gates and sells the White Blackberry. 



CALIFORNIA MATTERS. 



Our agricultural friends at San Francisco will 

 accept thanks for a kind invitation to attend their 

 " Grand Agricultural and Horticultural Fair,^' at 

 the "corner of Bush and Montgomery Streets, on 

 the first of October,1853." Although dated in Aug- 

 ust, we did not receive "the billet" until the 

 28th day of October, and hope this fact will be to 

 them a sufficient reason for our non-appearance, 

 early, on the ground ! 



Out in that land of gold, see what kind of pre- 

 miums they offer, viz : — 



For the best designs of fruits and flowers, on 

 embroidery, $50; same, painted in oil, $50 ; for 

 the best plow of California manufacture, suitable 

 for general use, $100 ; best specimen of Califor- 

 nia flour, $50 ; for the best butter, $50 ; best 100 

 acres of barley, oats, wheat, corn, buckwheat, 

 $25 each ; best floral design, $25 ; best mantle 



