I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



687 



most important to nearly all plants, such as 

 the earthy phosphates, the potash, soda, and 

 silica, or sand. He will observe, too, that 

 they are far from being insignificant even 

 in the coal ashes. If this analysis is cor- 

 rect — and we have no reason to doubt it — 

 coal ashes ought to be more generally pre- 

 served and used as a fertilizer. 



The ashes of all wood are composed very 

 nearly of the same materials, and so far as 

 effects upon vegetation are concerned, it is 

 of very little consequence whether they are 

 from oak, elm, maple, or any other variety. 

 Ashes from soft wood are said to be less 

 valuable ; but we have high authority that 

 the ashes of the hardest oak and the softest 

 pine vary but a trifle in the materials which 

 compose them. 



From the New England Farmer. 



Agriculture. 



Mr. Editor: —In order to obviate some 

 of the prejudices which, unfortunately, exist 

 among farmers against book knowledge, I 

 wish to say a few words upon scientific, cx- 

 perimental, and practical agriculture. 



Scientific agriculture, as I understand it, 

 explains the various methods of cultivating, 

 improving and beautifying the earth, so as 

 to render it more productive and delightful. 

 The term agriculture, is derived from "ager," 

 a field, and " cultura," culture, so that, ac- 

 cording to its etymology, it means field- 

 culture. In a restricted sense, it is confined 

 to, and explains, the different operations re- 

 quire! in the cultivation and improvement 

 of arable and grass lands, and whatever ap- 

 pertains to the same; the cultivating and 

 preserving different kinds of crops, fruits, 

 &c. In a more extensive sense, it includes 

 the breeding, rearing, feeding and manage- 

 ment of all kinds of stock, and the disposal 

 of the same. And it is the particular pro- 

 vince of scientific agriculture to explain the 

 reasons why things should be done thus and 

 so, and not in a different manner. Science 

 means knowledge; and he who possesses it, 

 is master of his subject, and is competent to 

 explain it. But, as it is human to err, and 

 there is no such thing as human perfection, 

 it frequently happens, that our most scien- 

 tific men are mistaken in some points, and 

 therefore are not perfectly reliable in all 

 their statements; and the reason is obvious, 

 either because they have been deficient in 

 scientific knowledge, or because they have 



carelessly overlooked some of the causes 

 which have contributed to produce a certain 

 result, or have attributed the result to wrong 

 causes. In either case, it does not prove the 

 uselessness or the worthlessness of science, 

 or book-knowledge, but directly the reverse ; 

 for, if the most knowing and scientific some- 

 times make mistakes, the least scientific, 

 that is, the most ignorant, will be the most 

 likely to make the most frequent mistakes. 

 Errors of this kind are the result of ignorance, 

 and not of science or knowledge; and their 

 frequency is generally in proportion to the 

 degrees of ignorance which prevail. Igno- 

 rant people, on this subject, are like narrow- 

 necked bottles, the less they have in them 

 the more noise they make in pouring it out. 

 They seem to think that " a little knowledge 

 is a dangerous thing," especially if it be de- 

 rived from books. At least, they think it 

 quite unnecessary for farmers to trouble 

 themselves much about book-knowledge, or 

 to try to educate themselves beyond their 

 immediate labor in the field. They seem 

 almost to entertain a prejudice against one 

 who devotes much attention to subjects of 

 art, or science, or general literature, as 

 though such studies were inconsistent with 

 the ordinary business of a thrifty farmer. 

 Very few farmers are so burdened with 

 work that they cannot find one or two hours 

 each day for other studies besides those 

 which relate to agriculture. The objects of 

 all our private studies should be the better 

 to qualify ourselves for our work, to make 

 us more intelligent, more skilful, more scien- 

 tific, and thus to raise ourselves above mere 

 serfs and labourers, to a position of influence 

 and growing usefulness. 



Experimental agriculture differs in some 

 respects from the scientific, inasmuch as it 

 consists in endeavouring to find out, by a 

 series of experiments, what science already 

 knows and is prepared to teach systemati- 

 cally. All experiments are more or less ex- 

 pensive. It may cost hundreds and thou- 

 sands of dollars to test and to make sure 

 what we desire to know. To accomplish 

 our purpose, time and money and labor are 

 required. Rut, when we have once obtained 

 our knowledge by well tried experiments, 

 and printed the results in a book, it then 

 ceases to be experimental, and is so much 

 added to our present stock of scientific know- 

 ledge. Every one who tries experiments 

 should be a man of thought and reflection, 

 who knows how to combine elements, so as 



