AGjaaCUl.'TtJaAS. AI>I5Ii£S§, 
BY J. P. STEVENS. 
Delivered before the Liberty County Agricultural Society, 
January 17, 1616,--[G'onftode(7.] 
It would ba interesting to dwell at length upon 
the effects resulting from proper drainage, plow- 
ing, hoeing, &c.,but we must be contented with 
a lew passing observations. 
The effects of draining are more percepti- 
ble upon tenaceous clay lands than upon a light, 
porous, friable soil. In the cultivation of the 
former, this is the first step which the planter 
takes preparatory to planting his grain. Pro- 
per drainage prevents the accumulation of 
stagnant water, and gives free e.xiL to the escape 
of large and sudden visitations from the clouds; 
favors the access of fresh supplies of rain wa- 
ter, and consequently of fresh air to the roots; 
washes away those no.xious accumulations 
which collect iniliesoil, and renders it softer 
and more impressiole by the roots By effec- 
tually resolving the hard lumps and rendering 
the subsoil more porous, it enables the plant to 
enjoy a wider range for feeding, and it facili- 
tates vegetation by dissipating that coldness of 
the soil which so often paralyzes the plant in 
early spring. The sanative influence of hoe- 
ing and plowing is no less remarkable by mi- 
nutely dividing the soil, encouraging the plen- 
tiful supply of air and water, thereby affording 
a due supply of oxygen, which is necessary to 
the decomposition of vegetable matter, the ger- 
mination of seeds, and maintaining the plants 
in a healthy condition. The destruction of 
weeds and insects, and extending the field ol 
imbibition to the roots are productive of incal- 
culable benefit. 
One ct the most judicious and economical 
methods of retaining the natural fertility of 
soils, and in the disregard of which we are guil- 
ty of a must flagrant sin, is ihe observance of 
a judicious rotation of crops. Chemical ana- 
lysis and experience demonstrate that the con- 
stituents of the soil are heterogeneous, and that 
what will prove detrimental to one plant affords 
healthy food lor another. Decandolle main- 
tained that plants absorb various soluble sub- 
stances simultaneously, and that consequently 
some are received which cannot be assimila- 
ted, and must be returned to the soil. Now it is 
evident that this deposition of excrements must 
increase in proportion to the length of time that 
the same crop is successively planted, and final- 
ly there will be an accumulation sufficient to 
induce total sterility. Now this very substance 
may be soluble and assimilable by another 
plant, and a twofold object will be accomplish- 
ed by a change. All plants require alkalies ; 
some in the form of silicates, others in the form 
of oxalates, nitrates and tartrates. Corn de- 
lights in phosphate of magnesia and silicic 
acid, and an analysis * of the cotton plant dis- 
covers, in matter soluble in wider, a predomi- 
nance of 44 per cent, of the carbonate of potash, 
as well^ as 9 per cl, each of the sulphate and mu- 
riate of potash; the phosphates of lime and mag- 
nesia, and the carbonate of lime are also found 
in variable proportions. Thus we see, that an 
alternation between even these two varieiiesof 
produce alone will be followed by beneficial re- 
sults; for what one plant is found to reject, an- 
other receives. In the older countries of the 
Eastern world two successive crops of a simi- 
*Seabrook’3 Memoir on the Cotton Plant, 
lar kind are never permitted to grow upon the 
same soil. In Belgium, we are informed * that 
the rotation of crops upon a portion of land re- 
markable for its fertility, which had not receiv- 
ed any manure for twelve years, is as follows : 
Beans, barley, potatoes, winter barley with red 
clover, winierbarley, wheat, oats; during the 9th 
year it was allowed to lie fallow. By the lOth 
year it was probably capable of}delding as boun- 
tifully as during the first. By pursuing this sys- 
tem judiciously, you will perceive that no limits 
can be assigned to the fertility of lands. We 
are blessed with a soil which is unsurpassed in 
natural productiveness by that of scarcely any 
other country, and yet the controlling principle 
with us is to impose upon its resources by a 
most shamelul and suicidal policy until iis trea- 
sures are actually irrecoverably exhausted. 
The necessity for alternation may in a great 
measure be obviated by the application of a 
sufficient amount and of appropriate kinds of 
manure. The aid of chemistry is here advan- 
tageously employed in discovering the actual 
amount of sustenance abstracted from the soil, 
and exactly that kind and quality which is re- 
quired to be returned. As animals are depend- 
ent upon vegetables for their maintenance and 
growth, it is reasonable lo suppose that the same 
chemical combinations which existed in the 
latter will be eliminated in some state by the 
former. The process of the decay of animal 
matter liberates carbonic acid, water and am-, 
monia. It has been already remarKed, that 
each of these constituents, singly or in combi- 
nation, furnish abundant food for plants. The 
last principle, ammonia, is found abundantly in 
the various effiuvia of animals in the form of a 
carbonate; it is an object then to know how to 
make it available. By the addition to our ma- 
nure heaps of sulphate of lime, known by the 
name of gypsum, or plaster of Paris, a compa- 
ratively cheap substance, we have the forma- 
tion of sulphate of ammonia and carbonate of 
lime, fixed substances, and therefore transfera- 
ble, Innumerable are the agents which are 
employed for increasing the value and produc- 
tiveness of land. In the laboratory ol the che- 
mist there is scarcely an atom in nature which 
may not be made to yield some available prin- 
ciple. Man, in his insatiable appetite for gain, 
is not even contented to guide the lightning in 
its wild, erratic course, but even compels elec- 
tricity itself to contribute to his comfort and 
convenience. Indeed, it has been affirmed by 
one of the most gifted minds of the age, “that 
the time will come when plants will be manured 
with a solution of glass, with the ashes of burnt 
straw, and with the salts of phosphoric acid, 
prepared in chemical mannfaeiories, exactly as 
medicines are given for fever and goitre.’ ’ 
And now, gentlemen, having taken a very cur- 
sory glance at the lights which men of science 
have thrown upon the efforts of the cultivators 
of the soil, permit me to inquire why it is that 
we are so far behind the age 7 Why are we so 
lethargic upon a subject which is agitating the 
whole civilized world? Why is it that we are 
contented lo grovel and plod in the steps of those 
who have marked out a course for themselves, 
fifty years since ? Why is it that having treated 
with contempt the munificence of a kind Pro- 
vidence by destroying the productiveness of a 
rich and fertile soil, instead of employing some 
of our lime and talents in assisting and impro- 
* Liebig’is Agricultaral Chemistty, 
ving upon nature ; like tf e Arabs of the deiC-, 
nay, like ihe herds of the field, we migrate from 
place to place ? Do you say that our country 
is rich and boundless in territory. Europe, with 
her scores of millions of human beings, is 
groaning under her heavy burthen. Is it possi- 
ble for ihe imagina"' m to poj’f'"'y'' . ..GiOuntot 
wretchedness and misery which would neces- 
sarily follow gome tremendous political agita- 
tion or adversity of seasons. Even under the 
wisest lesiislation, and when enjoying the smiles 
of Heaven, how awfully deplorable is the con- 
dition ol myriads of miserable paupers, who 
drag out an existence of the most squalid po- 
verty, in many instances, of abject want! 
Can we not pr diet the time wffien even our 
country will be exf.eriencingthe force of similar 
circumstances? “Blessed by Heaven o’er all 
the world beside,” the policy of our legislation ex- 
tending an indiscriminate invitation to the op- 
pressed of evety land to participate in our joys, 
with an increase of seventeen millions of peo- 
ple since our political birth-day, who will not 
venture the assertion that the millions of acres 
of desert pine lands, marshes and lens, now sole- 
ly tenanted by beasts and aquatic birds, will be 
compelled, at no distant dav, to unbosom their 
treasures in obedience to the calls of science 
and art. The inducements to the larmer for de- 
votion to the study and practice ol his art are 
superior to that ot almost any other pursuit in. 
life. What are called the learned professions 
occupy, each of them, responsible and appro- 
priate positions in society, but the practice of 
them IS unceriain and unsatisfactory, from the 
fact that the source from which support is 
sought after is the vacillating and changing na- 
ture of man. It has been said with much truth , 
that nothing repays more bountifully and readi- 
ly than the willing soil: and in what beautiful 
and harmonious concert are the graces and vir- 
tues ol the heart nurtured and cherished! 
Bound by a community of interests, each by en- 
riching the products ol his own farm conduces 
to the well being of his neighbor. Removed 
from the cares and perplexities of public life, 
an overweening mania lor notoriety not having 
poisoned the fountain of every ennobling senti- 
ment, enjoying in rich profusion the munifi- 
cence of Nature, witnessing the dear pledgesof 
his affection growdog up in heabh, beauty and 
wisdom around him, he is among the happiest 
and most highly favored of men. As an il- 
lustration of the charms which invest rural 
life, refer to the present occupations of the 
greatest statesmen of the age. The Sage of 
Linden wold, and the venerable and gifted Farm- 
er of Ashland, having occupied the highest po- 
sitions in the councils of the nation, battled 
manfully and gloriously in preserving the peace 
and permanency ol our confederacy, have 
thrown aside the mantles of honor and respon- 
sibility to indulge in the pleasures of fields and 
pasture lands. When the glorious achieve 
raents of generals and statesmen shall have 
been consigned to oblivion, the splendid disco- 
veries ol Davy, Liebig, Johnston, Decandolle, 
Chaptal and Bousingault, will be preserved in 
living monuments as trophies ol their greatness 
and beneficence. 
As a favorable indication of increasing zeal 
in the cause of agriculture as exhibited in our 
community, we regard the organization of this 
Society. United effort in the pursuit of any de- 
finite ol^ 2 t ea|i alone ensure success. Stri= 
