A n D R I. S S 



the points In law, or the live points in theology, or the mysteries of 

 medicine. He may be a know-nothing in politics, unable to tell who 

 will be the next Governor, but he does know how to till the earth, 

 and is educated in his business. 



Such a knowledge of the science of his business is economical to 

 the farmer himself, and to all the social, and religious interests of the 

 community. Give all our farmers these qualifications, and not only 

 are they greatly elevated, and benefited, as a class, but every other 

 interest, in society is profited. 



I come to speak, then, upon the economy of this scientific agricul- 

 ture, to the farmers as a class. Some here to-day, possibly, do not 

 find'farming a very profitable business. Some, perhaps, hardly make 

 the ends of the year meet, and others do not save more than two or 

 three hundred dollars, annually, by their hard toil. 



This knowledge of the principles of his business, which is within 

 the reach of every cultivator, would help you, in the matter of dol- 

 lars and cents. It would lead you to economize in the quantity of 

 soil you cultivate. You now spread your labor, and your manure, 

 over too much surface. The average produce of corn, per acre, in 

 the state, is not^over forty bushels. The experiments of educated 

 farmers, in this and other states, have demonstrated, that a hundred 

 bushels' or more, can be raised, upon the same acre. Premiums upon 

 this crop, in almost all your counties, have been awarded, varying 

 from ninety, to one hundred and forty-five bushels, to the acre. It 

 takes more labor, and more manure, but a bushel of corn is produced 

 at least twenty-five per cent, cheaper, by thorough culture, than by 

 the common process. So of all other crops. They can be grown 

 much cheaper on a little land, than on a greater surface. The man 

 of science would see this truth, and act upon it. Almost every farmer 

 could sell half of his land, and get rich faster on the remaining half. 

 He would also economize, by a thorough mechanical preparation 

 of the soil. Most men own a second farm, beneath their present 

 surface, which has never been disturbed by the plow. Indeed, the 

 shallow surface-plowing, has only served to harden, and consolidate 

 the subsoil. There are more or less of the elements of crops in this 

 subsoil, originally, and some of the salts of the manures, with which 

 the surface has been dressed for ages, have found their way down 

 into this unknown region. The roots of plants cannot penetrate 

 thither, to get hold of this aliment, and it remains worthless, like 



