31 ® Technical and Scientific Words.—Chemistry.—Extracts from a French Paper< 
time you made it full blooded Yankee, my ancient; (ass 
lie was going to say, but seeing one of the four legged 
progeny before him, corrected the thought before giving 
utterance to it,) I tell you your mind is as obstinate, 
and as much hardened against obtaining knowledge, 
and doing the right thing, as one of your own kings 
was, at about that favorite epoch of yours, 3,000 years 
ago; and if you don’t beware, and learn what is offered 
to be freely taught, you may possibly fare yet some¬ 
thing as Pharaoh did, and get drowned in the Red, 
or rather I would call it the Black Sea of your own ig¬ 
norance. And here you have got an ox and a mule 
working together I perceive. Why man, don’t you 
know better ? And don’t you see that the mule, true 
to his nature, has perversely planted his feet forward 
in the ground, and has thrown himself back on his 
haunches, and seems obstinately determined not to 
budge another inch; so that the poor ox has a double 
load thrown upon him, for he must drag the mule now 
and the plow too, notwithstanding all your boys flog¬ 
ging. No wonder the poor fellow lolls so much, and 
no wonder your ground is so miserable scratched up; 
why I should just as soon think of hitehing on to the 
tail of a crocodile , and drag him over the land to plow 
it, as to such a quaint old fashioned thing and gear¬ 
ing as this. It is well my friend, (growing cooler after 
this expectoration,) that you have a good soil here, or 
you would starve to death, thin as you are, and as little 
as it takes of lentils and soup to fill that drawn-up sto¬ 
mach of yours. Why don’t you yoke an ox with an ox, 
and'not with an ass ? Don’t you know it is forbidden, 
and that it is written, thou shalt not plow with an ox 
and an ass together ?” 
“ God is great,” answers the Egyptian, “ and Maho¬ 
met is his prophet—but he ain’t an ass yet.” 
“Very true,” says my narrator, no longer able to 
contain himself, “ but he is next neighbor to it, as well 
as another object I have in my eyeand despairing 
of a convert to “ scientific terms” and “ book farming,” 
he turned away to examine the colossal ruin before 
him, and was soon lost in a reverie over its magnifi¬ 
cence and grandeur. 
I was going to # add, Messrs. Editors, more remarks 
of my own to the above colloquy, but fearing that I 
have already exhausted your patience with my long 
story, I forbear. 
Your ob’t. serv’t, 
John Meadows. 
Sleepy Hollow, Tarry town, Dec. 1842. 
Chemistry. 
The respected writer of the letter which 
follows, Judge Garnett, of Virginia, has an¬ 
ticipated what we had just taken up the pen 
to say; and as he has expressed himself so 
much better than we should probably have 
done upon the subject, we cordially welcome 
him to our columns. What he thinks it “ not 
extravagant to predict,” namely, “Doctors 
for our land,” we saw already in practice 
last year, to a certain extent, in several parts 
of England; especially in draining, forming 
water meadows, mixing manures, and even 
prescribing , if we may be permitted to use 
the term, a rotation of crops, and rules for 
stock breeding. We do not mean that such 
persons have yet assumed the title of Doc¬ 
tors, (although they are better entitled to it 
perhaps, than many who kill and cure secun- 
dem artem ,) but there are regular professors 
on some of these matters, and a few depend¬ 
ent upon such profession for a reputable and 
reasonably lucrative living. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
To Messrs. A. B. & R. L. Allen : 
Gent. —The following translation from a French 
Periodical of high reputation, was given to me the 
other day, by a young friend; and I now send it to you 
as a very suitable article for your paper. In my hum¬ 
ble opinion, it is calculated to impress upon the 
minds of all our brethren who will read it, the neces¬ 
sity of acquiring a scientific, as well as practical 
knowledge of our profession, before we can have any 
right to expect that we shall be able to carry it to that 
degree of perfection of which it is certainly susceptible. 
Could the belief in this necessity become common, I 
do not think it extravagant to predict that we should 
soon have Doctors for our lands, as well as for our bo¬ 
dies ; and that the analyzing of soils, of the various 
cultivated plants, and of all substances used as ma 
nures, would become a distinct and lucrative profession. 
Scarcely any farmer, I should think, who had faith in 
his Doctor, would hesitate to give him a fee in ex¬ 
change for such knowledge, as would enable him at 
once to know what crops it was best to cultivate on 
his particular soils—what fertilizing substances were 
most suitable to each variety, and what plants were 
most nutritious for feeding any kind of farming stock. 
To attain this multifarious knowledge in the common 
way, and to any very useful extent, requires the expe¬ 
rience of a very long life; and after all, the farmer who 
relies upon that alone, must proceed very much at ran¬ 
dom in many of his operations. Whereas, the skilful 
agricultural chemist, after ascertaining the composition 
of his soils, could enable him at once to know how to 
manage them in a way most improving to them, and 
profitable to himself—at least so far as this depended 
upon the choice and application of manures—the par¬ 
ticular rotation of crops, and their relative values as 
food, either for man or beast. 
In the subjoined extract, I was particularly struck 
with the valuable properties which the Jerusalem Arti¬ 
choke, has been ascertained to possess, and which, but 
for the analysis of the agricultural chemist, would never 
have been known to us. Although a hardy root, and 
one which will grow in almost any soil or climate, 
there are probably thousands of us who never save it, 
and are utterly ignorant of its nature. But now it will 
soon be known to the whole agricultural community; 
and for this knowledge be it remembered, we are indebt¬ 
ed, not to the mere practical farmer, who knows no¬ 
thing of the principles of his profession; but to the 
man of science, as well as practice : in other words, to 
the agricultural chemist. 
With sincere wishes for the success of your valuable 
paper. I remain gentlemen, 
Yours respectfully, 
James M. Garnett. 
Extract from the number of the Revue des deux Mondes 
for the 1st of August, and from an article on the 
“ Nouvelles Tendances de la Chimie,” by M. Qua- 
trefages. 
The sources of the oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon in 
vegetables are known; but whence comes the fourth 
element, the azote, which is not less essential to them, 
and still more necessary to the herbiverous animals ? 
The vegetable kingdom offers various answers to this 
