16 DR. NICHOLS' ADDRESS. 



operation.s of a farm in accordance with the teachings of science, and I 

 am happy to say that I have not been led astray. It has been a 

 delight to observe how exact and beautiful are tho laws of nature, as 

 displayed in the productions of the fields. There has never been a 

 time when soil cultivation, as a pursuit, was more hopeful and promis- 

 ing than the present. We have just learned the important fact that an 

 abundance of plant food has been stored up for our use in mines and 

 rocks, and that we have only to reach out our hands and take all that 

 we require. Ten years ago who could have dreamed, even, of such 

 vast deposits of potash as have been opened up to us at the Strassfurth 

 salt works in Germany. Some idea of the supply may be formed from 

 the fact that at the present time more potash is furnished from these 

 mines than from the wood ash sources of the whole world. About 13,- 

 000 tons of potash were sent to market from the United States, in 

 1870, and yet Strassfurth, where a dozen years ago it was not sup- 

 posed that a single ton could be procured, 3(3.000 tons of the muriate 

 of potash were manufactured and supplied to consumers upon both con- 

 tinents, during the past year. The surface salts at these mines, which 

 hold the potash, are practically inexhaustible, and millions of tons will 

 be supplied in succeeding years. No doubt our own salt mines will be 

 found, upon careful examination, to afford potash, and hence we may 

 look with confidence to the rapid cheapening of this most useful pro- 

 duct. 



Ten years ago, who could have supposed that along the river beds 

 upon the coast of South Carolina there were millions of tons of rocks 

 holding that important element of plant food, phosphoric acid? These 

 rocks were indeed known, but their important character was not un- 

 derstood. The pho.sphoric rock beds of that region extend over an 

 area of several hundred square miles, and the beds are, in places, 12 

 feet thick. It is estimated that from five hundred to a thousand tons 

 underlie each acre. How vast is this supply of an agent of the highest 

 importance to agriculture, and what a source of national wealth is open 

 to us. At the present time, there is great activity in the work of 

 grinding these phosphoric rocks, and with the aid of acid, preparing the 

 superpiio.-phate of lime, for agricultural uses. 



Let mc press upon your attention, in closing, two important and in- 

 teresting considerations. One is, that nature has provided ample ma- 

 terials to supply all our wants. In mountains and caverns and streams 

 she has deposited all elements and combinations which are essential for 

 our well being and progress, and it is unreasonable and wicked to 

 doubt regarding the future ; and second, do not disparage science, but 

 su,stain and foster it, for it holds the key which is alone capable of 

 unlocking nature's storehouse and bringing forth from the dark recesses 

 of earth those rich materials which have been provided for our susten- 

 tation and happiness. 



