SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. 137 



branch of study in our literary institutions before we 

 can make farmers scientific men, and produce a per- 

 manent improvement in our system of rural economy. 

 It is our object to afford facilities to our young men 

 for obtaining a thorough English education, espe- 

 cially to obtain a knowledge of the various branches 

 of natural science, that they maybe able to under- 

 stand and apply the great principles of scientific 

 agriculture which lay at the foundation of all success- 

 ful practice. We propose to teach them botany and 

 physiology, mineralogy, geology, and chemistry with 

 its application to agriculture, and to afford them the 

 opportunity to witness the operations of tillage un- 

 der the direction of a teacher. No labor will be 

 requiredy but the opportunity will be given for those 

 who feel disposed, and a fair remuneration paid. 

 The instruction in scientific agriculture will be con- 

 nected with the processes of analyzing soils. Fully 

 believing that this plan will be of the highest prac- 

 tical advantage to the farming community, and the 

 only one which will ultimately elevate the employ- 

 ment, and raise up a generation of scientific farmers, 

 we confidently present it to the community for their 

 co-operation and patronage." 



(note a. — page 121.) 



From Professor Hitchcock we learn that sand or any other stratum of earth that 

 first arrests the water in its descent into the earth, if spread on the surface of the 

 ground, operates as a manure. It is that stratum out of which water continually 

 oozes — that stratum into which all wells are sunk — and which, in many places, is 

 found near the surface of the earth. It probably will be found to contain salts and in 

 some instances free alkalies, which have been washed down from the soil, and here 

 aiTCSted. Hard water which is found in most wells, contains such salts, and here a 

 question of some importance is suggested. Is well water for irrigation more fertiliz- 

 ing than rain or brook water? This subject of nmck, sand, &c. is one of the highest 

 interest to farmers, since it must afford many a cheap means of renovating their worn 

 out soils. All eyes should be directed to it and experiments tried with it wherever it 

 cau be easily obtained. 



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