THE GENESEE FARMER. 



m 



I SCIENTIFIC AND PEACnCAL AGKICULTUaE. 



Many worthy cultivators of the field are disposed 

 look with comparative inditference upon the 

 leaching of science in relation to their vocation, 

 ^n expression, to which the press gave publicity 

 lot long since — "Away with your scientific fami- 

 ng, and give us experiments and facts" — is doubt- 

 ess the sentiment of many unread agriculturists. 



It may be that scientif/^ farming has sometimes 

 )een brought into disparagement by the failure of 

 nen of science in their attempts to practice the art 



|)f agriculture. It is true that such failures may 

 requently be observed; and it is equally true that 

 he most successful farmers of this, or any other 

 :ountry, are both scientific and practical agricul- 

 turists. In those cases where scientific men fail of 

 success, I think the cause may generally be found 

 m a lack of practical training. It is not the 

 science but the art that is at fault. However sound 

 and correct the theory and principles of the scien- 

 tific farmer may be, the mere scientific man fails 

 for want of the practical art. Liebig would have 

 made a poor plowman ; yet the world have listened 

 to his instructions with attention and profit. It is 

 the business of the man of science to investigate, 

 analyze, scrutinize, and instruct. The practical 

 man should avail himself of the advantages of these 

 scientific and analytical investigations and instruc- 

 tions. The chemist informs the tanner what sub- 

 stances contain the most tannin, and explains the 

 detail of the principles and process of changing 

 green hides into pliant leather. Yet this same 

 chemist, who imparts the requisite and proper in- 

 struction on this subject, if transferred from the 

 laboratory into the tan-yard, to perform the duties 

 of the tanner and currier, might possibly produce a 

 very unsaleable specimen of leather. A musician, 

 who has acquired a wide-spread fame as an in- 

 Btructor, performer, composer, and publisher, said, 

 in our hearing once, while instructing a class in 

 thorough-bass, that one of the most successful and 

 eflicient teachers within the circle of his acquaint- 

 ance could not play a tune himself, on the piano or 

 organ; he had never acquired the art, though a 

 successful teacher of the science of music. Indeed, 

 all who have the most cursory knowledge of music 

 as a science and an art, know that they are separate 

 and very ditierent acquirements. The science of 

 music might be studied for a life time, and instruc- 

 tions given correctly — the whole theory acquired 

 as a science — without any ability practically to 

 perform. 



In all the various arts of civilization, this division 

 of labor is generally recognized and adopted. If in 

 agricultural pursuits less than in other callings, it 

 is because these pursuits are less favorable to spec- 

 olative states of mind than the vocation of some 

 others. The manufacturer has pressed the science 

 of chemistry into his service, with notable advan- 

 tage and positive success; while the cultivator of 

 the ground, who may derive much more advantage 

 from the science of chemistry, too often co-^tents 

 himself in pursuing his own haphazard labors, un- 

 directed by the light of science; or perchance, 

 while following in the wake of others who are di- 

 rected by the light of science, are occasionally 

 heard making light of look farming. 



For some of the greatest advantatres of this won- 

 darfol age, we are indebted to scientific discovery ; 



and for more and greater discovery, we simply 

 want more cultivated brains. The stores and re- 

 sources of nature are boundless as infinity. When 

 the principles of agricultural science become more 

 generally developed, why may we not obtain twenty 

 fold greater productions from the billions of atoms 

 that float in the air or lie deposited in the earth, 

 impregnated with farina and gluten — med'cated 

 for the stomach, flavored for the taste, and beauti- 

 fied for the eye ? 



To imagine that there is no better mode of pro- 

 cedure than to follow in the footsteps of our great 

 grandfathers, would be as if the son of Erin who 

 started from the Atlantic slope for California, on 

 foot and alone, with all his goods, and the requisite 

 implements for gold-digging, trundling along on his 

 wheel-barrow, should say there were no better 

 mode of traveling than his, while the earth-vibra- 

 ting locomotive at his heels shakes the uutrnthful 

 assertion from his lips. 



It is only about forty years since a rude sort of 

 steam engine was constructed, to run on wooden 

 rail-, at Wylam, England; but it was voted a 

 "perfect plague." About ten years afterward, 

 (Sept. 15, 1830.) Geokge Stephenson started 

 '■'■Puffing Billy,"' at the rate of thirty miles per 

 hour, on the railroad between Liverpool and Man- 

 chester, which he had to have surveyed and laid 

 out in the night, to avoid the ridicule of the people. 



The lightnings, which once flashed only to terrify, 

 by scientific discovery are now made to execute 

 beautiful embellishments in the shop of the ai'tizan ; 

 or, tamed and housed up, are employed to carry 

 our news across the continent. 



Such men as Feanklin, Watt, Fui,ton, or 

 MoESE, with great thoughts glowing up like sun- 

 ri e in the soul, have accomplished more for the 

 benefit of the race than if they had labored with 

 their hands for a thousand or even a million of 

 years. And yet it is true, while some men labor 

 with their head, others must labor with their 

 hands. Science and art must go hand in hand, 

 in agricultural pursuits as well as in other voca- 

 tions. Let each department be properly under- 

 stood, and there may be an end to sneers at hook 

 farming, and the proverbial tardiness of practical 

 agriculturists in availing themselves of the advan- 

 tages of chemical discoveries and scientific farming 

 generally, as brought before them in such scientific 

 journals as the Genaee Farmer. One useful dis- 

 covery therein revealed might easily be worth the 

 subscription price of such a journal for a life time; 

 and how much more profitable to spend iheir long 

 winter evenings pondering its pages, than to be 

 assembled with the company in the village post- 

 office or bar-room, laying pipe for the election of 

 constables or presidents. j. a. 



CcTTiNG Geass foe Hay. — The time of cutting 

 grass for hay is still a mooted question. If tliose 

 that consnme it have any power to judge, tiiat 

 which is early cut is the best. I think we are apt 

 to cure our hay too much ; that is, dry it in the 

 sun. The best manner in which hay can be cured 

 is, after it has wilted, to "make" it "under cover." 

 But as such a method is not practicable only in 

 very small quantities, probably the better way is 

 to cure it in the cock by sweating and opening for 

 it to receive the air but not the sun. — G. E. B. 

 Belfast, Me. 



