ill itx Relations to Chemistri/ and Gcohcpj. 
205 
I. As to the first of these questions, were we to judpfe from 
the character of the agricultural literature of 1848 compared 
with that of 1S38, we should conclude that a vast stride liad been 
made. At the latter period the aid of science was all but scouted 
among the leaders of agricultural opinion in the different parts of 
England; and the strength of the agricultural periodicals, when 
they touched upon the subject at all, was for the most part ex- 
pended in undervaluing the worth of natural science to the farmer, 
and in especially ridiculing the pretended value of chemistry. 
Now the weekly journal is considered badly conducted which in 
every number does not embody some scientific and especially some 
chemical information. Scarcely a provincial paper which boasts 
an agricultural corner but indulges freely in chemical nomen- 
clature, as being now agreeable to the taste and within the easy 
comprehension of almost every farmer ; while the bearings of 
geology and physiology on matters of rural industry are discussed 
by countless correspondents in the increasing though still too 
limited agricultural periodicals. 
But though in a free country like ours the periodical press 
must follow the public lead, and may be regarded as a fair 
general index of the taste and tone of the public mind at any 
given period, yet the improved character of the agricultural 
journals marks rather the progress of the people than the pro- 
gress of science — the diffusion of existing information rather than 
the actual advancement of science itself. I shall enter therefore 
a little more into detail. 
When about eight years ago I began first to study with the 
view of writing upon this subject, my attention was especially 
arrested by three several circumstances : — 
First, by the want of correctly-ascertained facts in experi- 
mental agriculture. The benefits of this or that mode of pro- 
cedure, the effects of this or that substance upon the soil or the 
crop, I found described in books in a loose or general manner. 
From the earliest times experiments have been made in practical 
agriculture. We may almost say that the entire art, as practised 
in climates and upon soils such as ours by improving men, is one 
nearly unbroken series of trials; but precision in regard to weio-ht 
and measure was scarcely ever attended to : a rough guess at the 
produce generally satisfied and probably served the purpose of 
the experimenter. The influence also of important varying cir- 
cumstances upon the results of the trials was little attended to, 
or at least seldom thought worthy of an accurate and permanent 
record. 
In truth, agriculture has scarcely been regarded by its fol- 
lowers as a branch of book-learning at all. The knowledge of it 
was generally transmitted directly from mouth to mouth; and as 
