48 [Assembly 



of our forefathers, though abounding in errors, yet were mingled 

 with truths, which will ever maintain their supremacy. Theory 

 " made easy" is " a dangerous thing." Constant practice, combin- 

 ing the careful noting of results — the nice discrimination of the pe- 

 culiarities of soils — the due observation of the influence of climate, 

 and other contingencies, can alone make the perfect scholar. To 

 use a metaphor. Practice and Science should be seen hand in hand, 

 each assisting the other, willing to take a friendly hint, both deter- 

 mined to contribute their quota to the treasury of knowledge. 



The mere theorist, by repeated and labored attempts to force upon 

 our cultivators the results of his speculations in the closet, has re- 

 tarded agricultural improvement at least half a century; because his 

 theories are often not only opposed to the well-established principles 

 of nature, and the dictates of common sense, but are also in conflict 

 with the experience of mankind on this subject, for hundreds of 

 years past. When the mere theorist has been once convicted of 

 spreading false notions, the practical man will be likely to distrust 

 him altogether in future, and condemn alike the good and the bad. 

 A quaint writer on this subject remarks, " Never did I see a man, 

 who swallowed much mauseous physic, possess a pleasurable counte- 

 nance, nor land that was injudiciously doctored, ever turn to good 

 account." Temperance in all things should be our polar star. It 

 must be acknowledged that Nature, bountiful as she is, may be made 

 still more fruitful by the inventive genius of man, when guided by 

 sound discretion; but the unskilful hand mars whatever it touches, 

 a"d too frequently deetroys that which it intended to perpetuate. 

 Well might the Bard exclaim — • 



•' Thine is a glorious volume, Nature ! Each 

 Line, leaf, and page, is fill'd with living lore ; 

 Wisdom more pure than sage could ever teach, 

 And all philosophy's divinest store j 

 Rich lessons rise where'er thy tracks are trod, 

 The book of Nature is the book of God." 



It may be truly said, that the whole field of Nature is laid open 

 to the investigation of man, and that its study is the more accessi- 

 ble, because it is the easiest as well as the most delightful of all 

 studies. 



The student of literature must have his library, the natural philo- 

 sopher and chemist his apparatus, and the student of man his annals 

 and records; which are frequently so perplexing, that much of his 



