140 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



In our excessive devotion to antiquity, we seem to me to 

 resemble tlie captive, who, after weeks of toil has succeeded in 

 digging his way through the walls of his dungeon, to liberty 

 and light, but who delays his escape, in order to count the frag- 

 ments of rock he has left behind him. Not that I would attempt 

 to decry the advantages of a so-called liberal education ; not that 

 I derive no practical lessons, nor worthy examples from the 

 history of man's life and deeds in years bygone ; but that I 

 would devote at least an equal proportion of time to studying 

 the works of the Creator which are the past, the present, and 

 the future. Let those subjects with which the learner must 

 grapple in his every-day life, be i\\Q first inculcated. Let him be 

 taught not to look at, but to see, and let the simple facts of 

 natural history take the precedence of vague traditions of the 

 world's childhood, and superficial accounts of foreign countries. 



Thus only will he be enabled to solve, the now impenetrable 

 mysteries of his surroundings, and to distinguish between the 

 foes and the friends of his prosperity. We cannot afford, God 

 help us, to laugh at each other's ignorance, but our descendants 

 will not hear those constant misnomers that have shocked my, 

 perhaps, too sensitive ear, and may reasonably smile at the m'an 

 who, after forty years' experience of cattle, discovers that they 

 have no front teeth in the upper jaw. For ourselves, we must 

 glean what information we can in the intervals of labor, and 

 guard our crops as best we may. 



The universal search for an insect elixir mortis, of easy appli- 

 cation and speedy effect, bids fair to be rewarded in the sea of 

 petroleum or coal oil, which now floods the country. This 

 immense supply of material which has given a new impetus to 

 the inventive genius of our mechanics, and drawn already to 

 a great extent on the resources of the chemist, ought not to be 

 neglected by the agriculturist. Its cheapness and efficacy in 

 destroying insect-life are unanswerable arguments in its favor. 

 Are you afraid that it will injure your fruit ti^ees, or render the 

 soil unfit for the growth of your crops ? You have only to try 

 it ; experiment faithfully with its different modifications and 

 combinations for a year or two, and do not confine it to a single 

 crop, nor application. Then, if you |ire not satisfied of its 

 utility and necessity, discard it, and not iill then, I speak 

 advisedly. I have had personal experience of its u js for 'several 



