104 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the evening, had kindly yielded it to Prof. Rogers, who was 

 obliged to return to the city in the morning. They would not, 

 however, be deprived of the pleasure of hearing Prof. Agassiz, 

 who would speak the next evening, and when they had heard 

 both these gentlemen, he thought they would find it difficult to 

 decide which had gratified them most. 



ADDRESS OF PROF. WILLIAM B. ROGERS. 



Thanking you, sir, for the very complimentary manner in 

 which you have introduced me to this audience, and most espe- 

 cially for a form of compliment in which I am associated with 

 one who is distinguished, not only on this continent, but 

 throughout the world and will be forever distinguished in the 

 history of science as its promoter and cultivator in an eminent 

 degree, — thanking you for this compliment, and thanking the 

 Board for the opportunity they have afforded me of addressing 

 them on this occasion, I must at the same time assure you that 

 I come before you entirely free from the presumption that I am 

 able to instruct any member of the Board or any intelligent 

 farmer in the Commonwealth, in the practical business of agri- 

 culture. I have, it is true, in connection with my studies and 

 my explorations in geology and in chemical science, been 

 brought continually in contact with the problems of agriculture, 

 and have learned long since to understand, not only their 

 immense magnitude and importance, but their peculiar com- 

 plexity and difficulty ; and I have, therefore, proposed to myself 

 this evening, in a somewhat rambling way, to present such 

 ideas as have occurred to me in relation, first, to the connection 

 which subsists between agriculture and positive science ; and, 

 secondly, to illustrate my views on this subject by reference to 

 one or two of the larger and more comprehensive relationships 

 which I have been enabled to trace, to some extent, throughout 

 the length and breadth of that portion of the Union which lies 

 between the Atlantic and the Mississippi Valley, in regard to 

 the soils, and the rocks with which those soils are associated. 



The day has long since passed when the association of agri- 

 culture, in its largest and in its most advantageous practical 

 forms, with the principles of science, even in their more abstract 

 modes of development, was looked upon as a mere dream of the 

 enthusiast ; because the instructed men of all parts of the civ- 



