No. 216.] 607 



plants by the vast commerce of this emporium, together with all in- 

 formation from Europe, from all the world, as well as from every 

 point of our own country, at the earliest times; and all this knowledge 

 will be immediately and readily diffused from hence throughout our 

 wide spread land, and I have not the slightest doubt that the seeds 

 and plants produced on the experimental farm here, would yield a 

 great profit. 



Let me quote a case from the vicinity of London, where a single 

 family, father and descendants made several fortunes on twenty acres 

 of ground by raising for sale, onion seeds alone! That seed was in 

 demand on the continent, as well as in England, Scotland and Ire- 

 land, at the highest rates, for it was perfectly raised and preserved, 

 and owed its great reputation to years of persevering toil and culture 

 of that valuable root. 



The investigation of soils and manures is highly important, there 

 are many minor matters very essential, but this is the basis of suc- 

 cessful farming, and this knowledge cannot be so well attained by 

 mere practice, as it can be by an education for that very ])urpose, 

 where science and practice daily alternate, in the routine of studies, 

 labor and instruction, which our agricultural college and farm con- 

 template. That the young farmer may know the rules of judging or 

 ascertaining whether the soil he is about to cultivate, possesses all 

 the primitive earths necessary for the healthful growth of plants ; if 

 it does, then to prepare his putrescent manures, animal and vegetable, 

 the proper food of plants, and how best to mix or compound and 

 preserve these, and the best time and manner of their application, 

 so as to draw from them the best and greatest portion of nutriment, 

 and to understand by analyses their chemical properties, and also 

 the plants they are intended to feed, which food is most congenial 

 with the habits or constitution of the vegetable he is about applying 

 it to. Where the soil is deficient in one earth or mineral, and re- 

 dundant in another, how to correct, in the cheapest and shortest way 

 the deficiency of the one, and the redundancy of the other. Provi- 

 dence has so wisely arranged all her works, especially as relates to 

 soil, plants, and the proper food of the last, as to have these move 

 in harmony in their respective agencies; each earth has its different 

 ingredients, and which can only be made to act by a happy mix- 

 ture with other earths, each kind of manure its appropriate gases, 

 which act as nutriments, and when happily combined, as to subserve 

 the apparently mysterious economy of vegetation. This mystery we 

 wish to dev elope and make clear to the humblest capacity, or as clear 



