SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. 135 



In a communication to a late agricultural meeting 

 at the State House, I proposed for their consideration, 

 as I now do to the consideration of the farmers of 

 Essex county, the following plan of operations for 

 the elevation of the art of agriculture to a compara- 

 tively exact science. Let our first eflbrt be to obtain 

 the services of one or more of our best chemists who 

 shall devote all his powers and time to the analyzing 

 of soils, manures, &-c., to perfecting the science of 

 agriculture, and preparing for publication a popular 

 treatise on this subject. To defray the expenses let 

 a subscription be opened and papers sent into all 

 parts of the commonwealth, with the understanding 

 that all persons who will subscribe and pay in ad- 

 vance dollars, or more annually, till such sub- 

 scription be withdrawn, shall enjoy the privilege of 

 having his soils, &c. analyzed by said chemist, and 

 to have a statement of the constituents of said soils, 

 &-C. returned to him, with the opinion of said chem- 

 ist, as to what is needed to render such soils most 

 fertile; the value of specimens of peat muck, muck 

 sand, marls, &c., and the treatment they need to 

 make them valuable manures for certain soils, &c. 

 Agricultural societies to be admitted as subscribers, 

 with the privilege of having all the soils and manures 

 used by claimants for premium crops, &c. analyzed. 



On the above-mentioned communication a commit- 

 tee, consisting of Dr. C, T. Jackson, Nathaniel P. 

 Denny, and Horace Collamore, made an able report 

 from which we have room only for the following ex- 

 tract: — "Your committee are of opinion that there 

 is no subject of human knov/ledge more recondite 

 than the science of agriculture. No other branch of 

 art requires a more thorough knowledge of the sister 

 sciences than this. — No branch of art has yet been 

 able to exist without technical terms. ' There is no 

 royal road to learning.' The student of agricultural 

 chemistry must labor like others, before he can ac- 

 quire a thorough knowledge of the science. In order 

 to comprehend the meaning of chemical terms, the 



