!4S 
SOUTHEEN CULTIVATOE. 
On the subject of the diseases of the horse, and other 
points concerning him, as nearly every one is his own 
doctor, I will get over that point very quickly. 
There is one thing to be remembered, however, in ob- 
taining good horses, which must receive attention, or the 
stock will inevitably depreciate. It is, that the same stud 
horse should never remain in the same locality more than 
three or five years at the farthest. The constant mingling 
together of the same blood in the human family leads to 
both physical and mental depreciation, as is peculiarly il- 
lustrated in some of the old crowned heads and aristocracy 
of Europe. Owing to their prejudices against other class- 
es of society, they have intermarried with each other, 
until they have become so closely related, that they are 
far inferior to the common people. It is a fact well known 
that the lower branches of the European legislatures pos- 
sess far more intellectual ability than is found in the aris- 
tocratic branches, and it is from this cause. The superior- 
ity of the American race is mainly owing to its freedom 
from prejudices of rank, so that marriages are made with- 
out reference to absolute high social position. The same 
rule holds good Vv^ith all inferior animals. There is hard- 
ly any farmer who is not familiar with the fact, as applied 
to his poultry yard ; and, as I said before, it is of immense 
importance in keeping up the good equalities of the horse ; 
so much so, that great disappointment will surely result, 
if it is forgotten. 
In conclusion, I desire to say that the history of the 
horse, can hardly be entered into, without obtaining a 
general knowledge of the various epochs in the history of 
the world, and in that point of view alone, it may be con- 
sidered a matter of no secondary importance. Though 
apparently only a research into one branch of natural his- 
tory, it opens a field of examination into the manners and 
customs of different ages, and exhibits the gradual, but 
sure march of intellect and intelligence, from one gener- 
ation to another. 
In the management of the animal itself, a profound 
moral is exemplified for the culture and progress of the 
human mind ; and, like Alexander, he who has the judg- 
ment and natural force of will, to render subservient the 
noble and untamed horse, has the power to wield no 
mean influence upon the age and country in which his 
lot is cast. 
It is impossible to do justice to the subject in a single 
lecture, but if I have called your attention to it in such a 
manner that you will pursue it in all the various branches 
to which it will lead, my end will have been attained. 
Oftentimes the most simple subject will lead to great re- 
sults. I have frequently felt that any position attained by 
myself, has resulted, next to the favor of my fellow-citi- 
zens, from a habit of studying the most apparently insig- 
nificant things presented to me, until I learned whether 
they contained a moral or not. The great object of living 
is to be useful, and an earnest investigation of^ whatever 
subject is presented, a patient development of truth, and 
its application to our own lives, and to those around, us, 
•will develop a large and extended philanthropy, and will 
surely lead to a bright and genial old age, radiating hap- 
piness and usefulness all around; and the evening of our 
lives will exhibit the effects of our exertions and labors, 
till night shall have blotted our forms from sight, and 
nothing is left, but the intangible, though ever present, in- 
fluence of our course through the world. 
At the conclusion of the lecture, Charles H- Detman, 
Esq., Chairman of the Lecture Committee and Corres- 
ponding Secretary, proposed a vote of thanks to Col. 
Pratt for his able and eloquent address, which was passed 
unanimously. 
AGEICULTURAL PROGRESS IN ENGLAND. 
We know not what better heading can be given to the 
following highly interesting and instructive address be- 
fore the London Farmers’ Club than the one above selected. 
No living man has done more than Mr. Mechi to promote 
agricultural progress in England ; for he practices at Tip- 
tree (his country seat) all that he preaches in London, 
where he is a shop-keeper, or merchant. He irrigates 
170 acres by steam power, conveying liquified manure to 
every acre in iron pipes not unlike those used in Ameri- 
can cities for the distribution of illuminating gas. Parti- 
cular attention is invited to the statement that ‘‘tvjelve 
parts in thirteen of all the manure made by human beings 
escape as liquid; only one thirteenth part being solid.” 
This is given on the authority of recent researches made- 
by Prof May, chemist to the Royal Agricultural Society 
of England, and unquestioned authority. He means 
exclusive of water contained in fecal matters. Three- fourths 
of these are simple water, on an average. 
Such of our readers as question the economy of irriga- 
ting crops in the planting States, should pause and re- 
flect when they come to these words: — “Those who 
doubt the cheapness at which water can be raised may be 
assured by visiting the Croyden Water- works, where 
650,000 gallons are forced to the distance of a mile, and 
elevated 150 feet, at a cost of 13 1-2 cwt. of dust coa.1 pen 
diem of 24 hours.” 
By reducing these “cwt.” to pounds, it will be seen thaf 
1502 pounds of coal dust, (refuse coal) force 650,000 gal- 
lons of water a mile and raise it all 150 feet high. On 
most plantations, two field hands will cut and haul to a. 
steam engine, wood equivalent to 1502 pounds of coal. in- 
ten hours. Allow a gallon of water to w^eigh 8 lbs., and 
multiply 650,000 by 8, and it gives 5,200,000 lbs. of water 
forced, as above stated, by 1502 lbs. of coal; making a 
pound of coal lift 3455 pounds of water 150 feet and over, , 
high. It is worth a visit to Croydon Water-works to see 
a pound of coal lift thirty four hundred and fifty -five 
pounds of water one hundred and fifty feet into the air, by 
any machinery whatever. The Edinburgh dairymen who 
pay £21 a year, or about 0100 rent per acre for irrigated 
grass land, sell milk just half its price in Augusta and' 
Athens : 
“Mr. Mechi, who, on rising, was received with cheers, 
spoke as follows : — One hundred years hence, which is- 
not long in the history of a country, our successoi's will 
scarcely believe that a nation wanting annually manv 
millions of quarters of grain to fill up its own inadequate 
production of food, should waste the only means by which 
such deficiency might be made good. I mean the produc- 
tions of the land when they have fulfilled their office of 
nutrition to man and beast. Every one now at all conver-^ 
sant with the theory of modern agricultural chemistry 
must know that our agricultural produce loses little by 
such a process, and that the bulk of its elements ai'e re- 
turned to us in the shape of excretec if we take the trouble 
to collect them. I am aware that the practicability of do- 
ing so has been questioned ; but I purpose this evening to 
show that there is no difficulty in the matter, except what 
exists in the brain of man. The same power that brings 
your water into London will take it out again ; for accord- 
ing to Prof Way and other chemists, 2,500,000 inhabi- 
tants will only add 3760 tons in solid and fluids to the 
quantity of water, 
“ If agriculturists studied attentively Prof Way’s able 
paper on Town Sewage (see Royal Agricultural Society's 
Journal, vol. 15, part I, page 135), it would teach them a. 
great and profitable lesson. They would learn that of all 
the manure made by human being (and I have no doubt 
by animals) 12 parts out of 13 in weight escape as urine, 
only 1-I3th part being solid! Well may farmers love the- 
