VOI>. XV. KO. 40. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



317 



and low for cultivation, without tlie use of fur- 

 rowing and ilraininj. The country is divided 

 into comparatively small fields, (unlike the mighty 

 solitudes which the American wilderucss stretches 

 out before the eye,) broken only by the stately 

 mansions and groumls of the nobility and gentry, 

 and surrounded 



" By hedge-row elms on hillocks green, 

 Right against the eastern gate. 

 Where the great sun begins las state 

 Robed in flames and amber light. 

 The clouds in thousand liveries dight, 

 While the ploughman near at hand 

 Whistles o'er the furrowed land, 

 And the milkmaid singeth blithe, 

 And tlie mower whets his scythe. 

 And every shepherd lells his lale. 

 Under the hawthorn in the dale." 



It cannot he denied that other countries are also 

 far behind the English in the quality of the stock, 

 the blood and strength of their horses and cattle, 

 and even dogs, owing doubtless, to the extraordi- 

 nary pains taken in breeding. The horses w hich 

 one may daily see in the Regent's Park, would 

 excite the emulation of our most accomplished 

 gentleuien of the turr,and the <lisplay of fat sheep 

 at Smillifield woidd almost startle the good peo- 

 ple of Brighton. 



The United States, in the immense magnitude 

 and fertility of their domain, embracing a great 

 variety of soil and climate, and affording growth 

 to the products of the colder as well as tropical 

 regions, afford a wide and rich field for agricultu- 

 ral science. The freedom of our government, the 

 cheapness of the soil, the abolition of the laws of 

 primogeniture and the statutes of distribution, 

 which one of our most distinguished jurists' has 

 declared are the only just agrarian laws, furnish 

 ample means and molives to agricultural labor. — 

 AVe have no unjust imposition of taxes, like those 

 which limit a portion of the hard-working labor- 

 ers of Irel-nd to three potatoes a day. Here, a 

 man with common industry, may keep himself a 

 freeman upon his own soil, and far from want 

 with nothing above him but " God and the laws." 

 The Indians, before the emigration of our fore- 

 fathers, practiced agriculture, but it was limited 

 with them to small corn fields which they culti- 

 vated in their migratory expeditions through the 

 wililoinsss. It seems to be essential to the pro- 

 gress of agricultural industry, that the rights of 

 jncuHt and /u!(»! should be clearly defined, and that 

 the husbandman should jiossess an absolute or 

 fiualified pro[)crly in the soil. To this fact may 

 be attributed the want of Success which attended 

 the agricultural labors of our ancestors. That 

 they acquired a subsistence from the earth there 

 can be no doubt, but it could hardly be expected, 

 that a colony flying from persecution and estab- 

 lishing itself in dense forests could make any very 

 marked advances in this art. The colonists bad 

 not the implements of husbandry, or the leisure 

 necessary for its cultivation. Their time was oc- 

 cupied in laying the foundations of a new social 

 system, and in repelling the attacks of the sava- 

 ges. The most approved modes of practice had 

 not then been completely developed, and the uten- 

 sils of the art had not been invented injhose com- 

 modious forms which have so much facilitated 

 agricultural labor in our own day. Obstacles to 



' Mr Justice Story. 



the success of the art were subsequently presen- 

 ted in the outbreaking of the American revolu- 

 tion. The disasteis springing from that event 

 which were felt throughout every section of the 

 country, called upon the people to exercise the 

 arts of war, rather than those of peace, and they 

 were therefore compelled to stiap their muskets 

 upon their backs while they were guiding the 

 plough. When, however, the storm of the revo- 

 lution blew over, the energies of the people quiet- 

 I}' sank dovvn into the right channels, and since 

 that period the business of husbandry has been 

 gradually advancing in this country. 



Tije aid of science to the arts, which may be 

 deemed a prominent chanii^teristic of the present 

 age, is no where more strongly exhibited than in 

 the g^rogress of husbandry. Chemistry, botany, 

 geology, even natural philosophy, have all contri- 

 buted to this work. 1 he composition of the dif- 

 ferent sjiecies of soil, and their capacity for pro- 

 ducing the different kinds of vegetation may be 

 easily ascertained by chemical analysis. To un- 

 derstand rightly the pro|ier food of plants, the va- 

 rieties of vegetables necessary to be raised for the 

 amelioration of tlie soil, and also the ditTerent 

 kinds of manures and composts adapted to the 

 several kinds of land, requires a minute philoso- 

 phical investigation. 'J'he soil is frequently bar- 

 ren in a great degree, and there is no mode of 

 ascertaining the causes but by chemical tests. If, 

 for example, the salts of iron are discovered in 

 the soil, they nuiy be deconqiosed X<y lime ; or if 

 there is an excess of silicious sand, this may he 

 remedied by the a|)plication of calcareous matter ; 

 if of vegetable matterj by liming and burning ; or 

 if there is a deficiency in this respect, it may be 

 supplied by manure. In fact the whole structure 

 of organic matter is dependent upon physical laws, 

 and it is only by ascertaining its chemical consti- 

 tution that we can act upon it agriculturally with 

 full success. 



The advantages of agrieidtural chemistry are, 

 moreover, demonstrated in the practice of the ro- 

 tation of crops. The benefit of this practice con- 

 sists in keeping the soil always in strength, and 

 at the same time in drawing from it all the jnofit 

 which is practicable. It is well known that dif- 

 ferent plants produce different effects upon the 

 soil, some tending to rob it of its strength, and 

 others to act gently upon it ; some to loosen, and 

 others to bind. Hence it is necessary to good 

 hu.sbandry, that a careful examination should be 

 made into the chemical combination of the dif- 

 ferent plants, and this is tlie only mode in which 

 crops can be properly alternated. A merely the- 

 oretic agriculturist, doubtless, would be unable to 

 cultivate the soil with full success, but the far- 

 mer, it is obvious, would practise husbandry with 

 far greater advantage if be could combine a knowl- 

 edge of the principles of the science with an e.x- 

 perimeiital practice of the art. The design, and 

 the only design of agricultural chemistry, is to 

 discover improved modes of cultivation. This 

 may be done most effectually, by experimenting 

 upon those elements which constitute the soil, and 

 upon those causes which produce the growth of 

 vegetation. The soil, as well as the vegetation 

 which it p.roduces, contains a number of chemi- 

 cal constituents, which have been accurately anal- 

 ysed, and it is through the agency of the uner- 

 ring jirinciples of science, that a knowledge of 

 the causes of its barrenness can be obtained, and 

 also the pro[)cr means of its fertilization. 



On this foundation has been erected the work 

 of Sir Humphrey Davy, whose title we have pre- 

 fixed to this article. The course of lectures on 

 Agricultural Chemistry was delivered during ten 

 successive years from 1S02, before the British 

 Board of Agriculture. 'Idie work was published 

 at their request, and dedicated to that body. We 

 have before us the London edition, issued in 

 1814, but the volume has been reprinted in this 

 couniry, and is already embodied into the agri- 

 cultural literature of our republic. It euibraces 

 eight lectures, with an appendix, containing "an 

 account of the results of experiments on the pro- 

 duce and nutritive qualities of different grasses, 

 and other plants used as the food of anjmals, in- 

 stituted by John, Duke of Bodrord." These lec- 

 tures embrace aM that may be sujjposed connec- 

 ted with the application of chemistry to agricul- 

 ture. The most prominent subjects treated of in 

 the work are "the general powers of matter which 

 influence vegetables ;" the constitution of soils ; 

 the nature of the atmosphere, and its influence 

 upon vegetables; animal, vegetable and mineral 

 manures ; and the chemical effect of the differt:ut 

 modes of improving lands. These lectures are 

 written in a clear ami vigorous style, ai'd we pos- 

 sess an ample voucher for the accuracy of the 

 facts and principles they embody, in the reputa- 

 tion of their author as the first chemist of his age. 

 Our limits forbid us from entering into an exhi- 

 bition of the valuable facts contained in this vol- 

 ume, but we commend it tp all the reading clas- 

 ses of tlie community, as it embraces knowledge 

 of great importance to the man of science, the 

 theoretical agriculturist, Siid the practi(;al farmer. 

 We subjoin the following remarks from the intro- 

 duction — which contains a syllabus of the course 

 — exhibiting the phenomena of vegetation : 



"The phenomena of vegetation must be con- 

 sidered as an imijortant branch of the science of 

 organized nature ; but, although exulted above in- 

 organic niHtter, vegetables are yet, in a great mea- 

 sure, dependent fur their existence upon its laws. 

 Thev receive their nourishment from the external 

 eleuients ; they assimilate it by means of peculiar 

 organs; and it is by examining their physical and 

 chemical constitution, and the substances and 

 powers which act upon them, and the modifica- 

 tions which they undergo, that the scientific prin- 

 ciples of agricultuial chemistry are obtained. 



" According to these ideas, it is evident that the 

 study ought to be cotnmenced by some general 

 enquiries into the composition and nature of ma- 

 terial bodies, and the laws of their changes. The 

 suriiice of the earth, the atmosphere, and the wa- 

 ter deposited from it, must either together or sep- 

 arately afford all the principles concerned in veg- 

 etation, and it is only by examining the chemical 

 nature of these principles that we are capable of 

 discovering what is the food of plants, atid the 

 manner in which this food is supplied and pre- 

 pared for their nourishment. The principles of 

 the constitution of bodies, consequently, will forui 

 the first subject for our consideration. 

 (To be continued ) 



IIoGS. — Mr Jesse Far well of Charlestown, N, 

 Hampshire, lately slaughtered two swine, eigh- 

 teen months old, one of which weighed five hun- 

 dred and sixtyoight, and the other five hundred 

 and fortysix pounds — both one thousand fourteen 

 pounds. He killed a couple sometime since whose 

 aggregate weight was 1400 lbs. 



