Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 689 



It is plain that this contains everything tliat is needed to make a 

 fertile soil. And where tried as it is in the banked marshes on the 

 Delaware, it produces the largest crops, and at the least cost, of any 

 land in the State. Tliis subject is inexhanstil)le, bntonr time is not, 

 and I must close. In prosecuting the work of this survey, it has 

 seemed to me that its useful ends should be first developed. It is in 

 this way t]iat it commands the cordial support of the people, and 

 insures their interest in it. Its results in a scientific view are in the 

 highest degree important, and I hope to see them well dcTeloped. 



In the continuation of our work, we are still aiming to develoj) onr 

 resources. The report of last year, copies of wliicli I will have the 

 pleasure of sending here at an early day, will give some idea of the 

 objects to which it has been directed. 



The Chainnan. — It is scarcely necessary for me to say that we have 

 all been delighted and made wiser by the discourse with which Prof. 

 Cook has so kindly favored us, and I regret that it cannot all be 

 reproduced and promulgated in the reports of our proceeding, and 

 thereby aid in advancing -the cause of good husbandry. I am sure 

 I speak the sentiment of the entire audience when I give expression 

 to the hope that we shall have the pleasure of hearing further from 

 Prof. Cook, and that soon. 



Prof. S. D. Tillman. — I liave been very much interested and 

 instructed. The Professor has condensed for us a vast amount of 

 scientific information into the space of an hours discourse ; but the 

 subject ought to be developed more than is possible in a single lecture, 

 and I trust the professor will respoud to the desire which all of us 

 have that this be done. In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I now move a 

 vote of thanks to Prof. Cook. 



Prof J. A. Whitney. — I would express, with the Chair and with 

 Prof. Tillman, the appreciation felt by every person in tliis room in 

 listening to Prof. Cook. There is nothing that shows the rapid pro- 

 gress of agriculture more than does the dissemination of scientific 

 truths, such as have been set forth this afternoon. Farming is con- 

 tinually asking for greater helps from other arts and sciences. Time 

 was when the farmer was content to break the ground with a wooden 

 plow, to harrow in the seed with a bmsh or a rough drag, to cut the 

 grain with a sickle, and thrash it witli a flail. Xow, by the employ- 

 ment of machinery for all these purposes, we find mechanical engineer- 

 ing the servant of agriculture. Only a generation since the husband- 

 man neither knew nor cared to know the composition of his soil, or 



[Inst.] 44 



