468 



THE SOUTHEEN PLANTER. 



[August 



Nature, and given a respectable position 

 amonp: nations to a people but little intel- 

 lectually gifted ! How many wonderful 

 discoveries do we owe to tljie necessities of 

 their compact masses ! The struggle for 

 existence has always been one of the great- 

 est stimulants to the activity of the human 

 mind. 



This continuous prosperity, through a 

 long series of centuries, is owing to the sed- 

 uL'us care of the government. No people, 

 left to themselves, will think of future gen- 

 erations; audit ie for that reason that all 

 governments should foster and aid the de- 

 velopment of this most important of arts, as 

 government only can."^^ This is so well un- 

 derstood in the present day, by all nations, 

 that those who govern are turning their at- 

 tention daily more and more to its aid and 

 advancement. England has done so by di- 

 rect legislation; her aristocracy, also an in- 

 tegral part of her government, having, conse- 

 quently, the weight necessary to carry out a 

 continuous system, has given all the impe- 

 tus of this weight and their great wealth to 

 its energetic development. 



It is only within comparatively few years 

 that science has revealed to us the true com- 

 position of bodies and the laws that govern 

 their action ; thus developing the wonderful 

 resources of Nature, and reducing that to 

 system which, in the time of our forefathers, 

 was ignorant practice based upon hereditary 

 experience. 



It is true that this subject has occupied, 

 from the earliest times, the attention of 

 statesmen, philosophers and philanthropists; 

 but they only collected and reasoned from 

 the results of experience, without entering 

 into the laws which led to and governed the 

 results which they recorded. Agriculture, 

 therefore, now stands upon a basis far dilFer- 



* Under the complex system whicli prevails 

 in this country, there can be no doubt that t!ie 

 power is inherent in, and of binding^)ligation 

 upon the State governments^ to " ibstW and aid 

 the development of this most important of arts," 

 but, whether the Federal Governme7it has any di- 

 rect power over the subject, or can any other- 

 wise " foster and aid agriculture, than througli 

 the incidental effects of the lawful exercise of its 

 specified, constitutional powers, admits of very 

 grave doubt; and in view of the uncertainty in 

 the premises, therefore, it had better be let alone 

 before it is meddled with, lest haply, by the ex- 

 ercise of the questionable prerogative, it may 

 be found fighting against the rights of the States. 



W. 



ent from what it has hitherto occupied; and 

 not working, as we have heretofore, in the 

 dark, but knowing loliere to lo{)k for causes 

 and effects, we may expect in the next cen- 

 tury to make a stride that will give to this 

 art, or rather convocation of arts, a place 

 among the exact sciences. But this very 

 rapidity of advancement will render it more 

 fatal to be left behind in the race; and nei- 

 ther nations nor individuals can stand su- 

 pinely by, depending upon the past, and ex- 

 hausting the accumulated resources of Na-' 

 ture, without individual and national ruin. 



if. ^ * ^ :i< 



One of the most interesting and import- ' 

 ant subjects to the agriculturist is, of course, 

 the means of keeping up, or restoring the 

 fertility of his land ; and that he may not 

 work in the dark, it is essential that he ^ 

 should understand the nature and action of 

 soils, the functions of plants, and the opera- 

 tion of fertilizers. 



It is important wx should always bear in 

 mind that this earth is not a heterogeneous 

 mixture of an indefinite number of illy-de- 

 fined substances, but, on the contrary, the 

 different objects or forms of matter which 

 present themselves to our senses are limited 

 in the number of their constituents; as far 

 as knowledge extends they do not exceed 

 sixty-two. 



Each substance is mi generis, and, no mat- 

 ter from whence taken, possesses precisely 

 similar properties, and is governed by inva- 

 riable laws in its action upon other sub- 

 stances. They are solid, liquid, or aeriform, 

 according to circumstances. Water is a fa- 

 miliar example ; it is solid in the form of 

 ice, liquid in water, and aeriform in steam. 



Substances have been created once and 

 lorever; they may change place, form, and 

 combinations, but t-uch a thing as blotting 

 out of existence, or re-creation, is impossi- 

 ble. Some are abundant, while others are 

 exceedingly rare, and difficult to procure. 

 To show the small or limited number of sub- 

 stances which enter into the bodies around 

 us, it is only necessary to remember that the 

 great mineral masses, which form by far the 

 largest portion of the earth, are composed, 

 as far as our knowledge extends, of a few 

 elementary principles. Water is composed 

 of two gases, and the air we breathe like- 

 wise of two gases, one of which is common 

 alike to air and water. Nor do they com- 

 bine in an indefinite manner; they unite 

 with each other in simple, definite proper- 



