1864. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



To a certain extent, and indirectly, it can ; but as 

 it is the object of all schools to do so, your object 

 and means will be the same as those of other good 

 schools. If you wish to teach young farmers to 

 know when they know a thing, and when they do 

 not, you will n«t put them through a course of ag- 

 ricultural chemistry, for the result would proba- 

 bly be a ])ersuLision that they knew something of 

 that of which they knew nothing at all. 



"If then the noble endowments of Congress are 

 to result in anything but a delusion and a snare, 

 let those who are to direct the organization of 

 these colleges pitch their profession low, and the 

 results will be higlier. If the colleges turn out 

 well drilled lads, thoroughly grounded in an Eng- 

 lish education, knowing something of surveying, 

 book-keeping, and mechanics, with such lessons 

 in farming as they may learn by example and 

 practice on a good farm, it will be well. Such 

 boys will have a better education than George 

 Washington. But if they graduate youths who 

 think they know something of vegetable physiol- 

 ogy, agricultural chemistry, and the theories of 

 Liebig, they will merely produce a considerable 

 number of badly educated men, who are worse 

 than uneducated men, because they use their com- 

 mon sense less, and are more conceited. u." 



As a "coincidence" that attracted my notice, the 

 same pa])er (Co. Gent., Sept. 17, 1863,) in which 

 the foregoing communication was published, con- 

 tained also the commencement of a review by 

 Prof. S. W. Johnson, of Yale College, of Liebig's 

 latest and most elaborate work — "The Natural 

 Laws of Husbandry," — in which, it is claimed, the 

 learned, and world-renowned German has given to 

 the public his mature views on agriculture, after 

 sixteen years of experience and reflection. Here 

 if any where, it would seem, we might expect that 

 the "Science of agriculture" must be embodied 

 and illustrated. We find, however, -that Prof. 

 Johnson cannot get over the 4th page of the first 

 chapter without complaining that Liebig assumes 

 as uncontroverted the doctrine that plants excrete 

 matter into the soil, while Prof. Johnson shows 

 that this doctrine was long ago successfully con- 

 troverted, and says that there are no known facts 

 to support the theory. 



Of another of the assumed facts of Liebig's 

 "Natural Laws of Husbandry," Prof. Johnson re- 

 marks : "This is no demonstrated fact, but a pure- 

 ly theoretical inference, and a hasty one at tliat." 



Another assertion of Liebig, Prof. Johnson char- 

 acterizes as "one of the loose statements, 'glitter- 

 ing generalities,' whose ultimate effect on tlie 

 reader is injurious." 



Of still another statement of the distinguished 

 German, Prof. Johnson says: "This statement 

 would be nearer true were it considerably qualified." 



How would these men harmonize as teachers in 

 an Agricultural College ? And if such men as 

 Liebig and Johnson must be excluded, who shall 

 occupy our embryo "chairs" of scientific agricul- 

 ture r* 



These disagreements of the Doctors go far in 

 my mind to confirm the conclusion that "the the- 

 ories of scientific agriculture are not yet proved 

 by facts," and, consequently, that "scientific agri- 

 culture, though aimed at and hoped for, cannot 

 be said to exist j" therefore it cannot be taught in 

 colleges. 



With one more reference to the review of "The 



Natural Laws of Husbandry," we close this arti- 

 cle. On page 28, it is said : 



"A proper knowledge of theradication of plants, 

 [starting and growth of roots,] is the groundwork 

 of agriculture ; all the operations which the farm- 

 er applies to his land must be adapted to the na- 

 ture and condition of the roots of the plants which 

 he wishes to cultivate." 



On this i)aragraph of Liebig's new book. Prof. 

 Johnson comments as fi)llows : 



"There is great truth in the observation ; but 

 what are the facts which illustrate and enforce it ? 

 Wherp shall the inquirer look for that knowledge 

 that is the groundwork of agriculture ? * • 

 The mountains of the moon have been studied far 

 more thoroughly and successfully than the radica- 

 tion of plants, and we know more of the wherea- 

 bouts of long-vanished comets than we do of this 

 'ground- work of agiicullure.' " 



The reader will please mind his quotation 

 marks ; as this is Prof. Johnson's language, not 

 mine. Yet he does not say that he should expect 

 the success of a college established to teach "the 

 mountains of the moon." s. F. 



Winchester, Mass., Nov., 1803. 



For the yew England Famier. 

 CIDEK APPL.es. 



This is a familiar designation, and yet it is not 

 so easy to define what particular fruit is referred 

 to. No one ever saw a tree thus labelled in the 

 nursery, nor a ])late bearing this title at any po- 

 mological exhil)ition ; and a modern fruit grower 

 would scorn the inii)ulalion of producing apples 

 only fit for cider. 15 ut in almost every orchard 

 planted by men of other days, there is left, here 

 and there, a venerable tree (or offslioot from the 

 original) that is pretty sure to yield most when 

 grafted fruit is scarce ; and you can best describe 

 it by the title placed at the head of this communi- 

 cation. No trees looked more attractive in the 

 time of blossoms, nor filled the air with sweeter 

 fragrance. They fairly competed in this respect 

 with the more pretentious "Baldwin," and "Seek- 

 no-Further." When you come, however, to taste 

 the result of all this fair ])rumise, you will be vtry 

 apt to conclude that apple blossoms are among 

 the deceitful appearances. Some of the fruit 

 tastes bitter-sweet, and some bitter-sour. Some 

 sets the teeth on edge for a keener bite, and some 

 j)uckers the mouth so as to prevent another bite. 

 The only alternative is to let them be and rot, or 

 gather them up and cart llu-m off to the "press," 

 wliich would contrive to reduce even "the apples 

 of Sodom" to cider. 



But within a few years, until quite recently, pub- 

 lic sentiment has consigned them to decay, rather 

 than to the hopper. Moreover, many an old 

 cider apple tree has survived the old cider-mills. 

 While the former have been suffered to cumber 

 the ground, the latter have, one by one, shared 

 the fate of all cumt)erers — so that apples, good, 

 bad and indifferent, find it a rare jirivilege to go 

 through the mill. Especially was this the case 

 during the last year — not more remarkal)le for 

 its abundance of a])ples, than for the revival of 

 the old practice that cold water armies had so sig- 

 nally overcome. Everything that would press out 

 the juice, whether operated by horse power, or 

 hand, was called into requisition. The few old 

 presses that had come down from a former gener- 



