MARSHALL P. WILDER'S ADDRESS. 591 



And why should not chemistry yet convert the undeveloped 

 ingredients of the mineral kingdom into rich elements of fertil- 

 ization ? Of this we have an illustration in a phosphorite re- 

 cently discovered in New Jersey and New York, which by the 

 action of sulphuric acid is transformed into one of the richest 

 fertilizers known, and to obtain which the English have ex- 

 pended four hundred thousand pounds sterling in a year, not 

 only sending their ships to our own and other shores, but have 

 dug over the battle-field of Waterloo, and carried off the bones 

 of slaughtered thousands. 



We may be deemed visionary, but who can be surprised at 

 any discovery or triumph of genius ? Improvement succeeds 

 improvement, and the invention of to-day supplants that of 

 yesterday. No project is too bold for the enterprise of the 

 present generation. Our railroads spread out their net-work, 

 drawing in closer communion the members of the body politic, 

 and binding, as with bands of iron, countries and states in 

 firmer compact. The press throws off its impressions with 

 the rapidity of thought : the fire-horse, impatient of restraint, 

 stands ready to convey them to the remotest hamlet of the 

 land; and the mystic wire, as if reproaching the sluggish pow- 

 er of steam, threads its way to encompass the globe, and to 

 urge on with electric force the progress and improvement of 

 the age. 



Thus we see what science has accomplished for other arts. 

 She has also made some valuable contributions to the art of 

 agriculture, and needs only a wise direction of thought, enter- 

 prise and capital, to work out still greater results, and to raise 

 this much neglected calling, not only to a par, but above all 

 other pursuits. 



But without detracting from the merit which so justly be- 

 longs to the pioneers in agricultural improvement, the fact is 

 undeniable that this art has not progressed proportionally with 

 the other great departments of human labor. In all other 

 trades and professions, a thorough education is essential to 

 correct practice ; an apprenticeship must be served ; but in 

 farming, where it is most necessary, it has too often been omit- 

 ted, or left to chance, or rather w?s-chance. 



