302 
AGRICULTURAL PUBLICATIONS. 
the policy of culling the same thing by one name 
in New York and by another in Jersey. We 
have some writers, for instance, who can not say, 
“ put one ounce or two ounces of saltpetre on your 
meatbut they say, “ to cure your meat well, 
you must add a certain quantity of ‘ nitrate of 
potash .’” For my part, I protest against such 
indefinite and far-fetched directions; our honest 
farmers want something more definite and rus¬ 
tic. (/) 
But I beg you, do not consider me as acting 
from selfish motives in this uncouth attack upon 
better pens than mine. I refer not to the articles 
themselves wholly, for there is merit in them, but 
to the big words with which they are encumbered, 
as a common complaint among men who would 
otherwise be glad to avail themselves of the ad¬ 
vantages of “ book-farming.” 
Much has been done to stimulate the farmer to 
new and improved action; many a dark and barren 
corner has been illuminated with the light shed 
abroad through the medium of our agricultural 
works; but much, very much yet remains to be 
done, and as we are stern advocates for improve¬ 
ment, let us if possible improve this branch of our 
work also. I have already gone beyond my pre¬ 
scribed limits, yet one word more and I have done. 
In the present enormous rates of postage , I be¬ 
lieve we have another serious drawback to agri¬ 
cultural prosperity; inasmuch, as it positively 
excludes a more extensive communication between 
farmers who live remote from each other, but who 
would correspond more freely were it not for this 
unjust and impolitic tax. And judging from actual 
intercourse, I believe I speak the sentiments of the 
mass of the people in our section of the country, 
when I repeat that the present postage tax is 
unjust, outrageous, and impolitic. Years ago it 
took two days to go from our place to New York, 
and return; now we go and come in a little less 
than four hours. Then the fare was $3, now it is 
$1. But the postage for a letter is still the same ! 
And I think I do not err when I say, that there are 
as many letters carried in private pockets as by 
mail—and why not? behold the facilities for so 
doing. The people to a man consider the law 
oppressive, and are ever ready to relieve each 
other from its yoke, (g) W. D. 
Morristown , Morris Co., N.J., Aug., 1844. 
(a) We can fully sympathize with our corres¬ 
pondent in his indignation against “scientific” 
terms; for we well recollect when a youngster, on 
first taking up a work on scientific agriculture, of 
being wofully nonplussed in almost every sentence, 
and after studying over a few pages, throwing the 
work down in disgust, and then seeking relief from 
the dry, non-understandahle book, by an active 
exercise with some agricultural implement in the 
field. Time, however, and reflection at length 
convinced us of the folly of such an exclusively 
practical course, and in maturer years we found 
that we must not only read but study , and that 
hard too, if we ever expected to become a good 
farmer; and as appropriate to this subject, we beg 
leave to quote two short sentences from the Comic 
Blackstone, over which our correspondent will 
doubtless have a hearty laugh, as we did on first 
reading them. 
“ Servius Sulpicius, a patrician, called on Mu- 
tius Scsevola, the Roman Pollock (not one of the 
firm of Castor & Pollux), for a legal opinion, when 
Mutius Sctevola thoroughly flabbergasted Servius 
Sulpicius with a flood of technicalities, which the 
latter could not understand. Upon this Mutius 
Scsevola bullied his client for his ignorance; when 
Sulpicius, in a fit of pique, went home and studied 
the law with such effect, that he wrote one hun¬ 
dred and fourscore volumes of law-books before 
he died ; which task was for what we know, the 
death of him.” 
Now it is quite impracticable, as we have fre¬ 
quently remarked, to write upon certain subjects 
of agriculture, without the use of “ scientific or 
hard” words, the hardness or science of which is 
nothing more than this—that they have not yet 
become common or familiar among the farmers; 
and although we may not expect every one who 
gets “ flabbergasted ” with scientific agricultural 
terms, to sit down to years of hard study, and then 
write 180 volumes as Servius Sulpicius did; yet the 
farmer may do something to obviate the difficulty 
during the long winter evenings by endeavoring 
to familiarize himself with them by careful read¬ 
ing. There is scarce a village in the country 
which can not furnish some tolerably scientific 
educated men; let these form themselves with the 
farmers of their neighborhood into a club to meet 
once a week for mutual instruction, and in six 
months they will all acquire knowledge enough of 
agricultural chemistry and geology, to enable them 
to fully understand Johnstone, Liebig, and the 
other writers of the day, and read them with pleas¬ 
ure. We can see no other help for the matter. 
The terms used in chemistry are just as necessary 
as to say in describing a cart, this is the tongue, 
this the tire, the felloe, the hub, the finch-pin, &c. 
(6) “ Saline matters” do not mean salt simply, 
but may be defined as substances having the com¬ 
position of salts; that is, formed of a base and 
acid. Their number is very great; indeed, divided 
into their various families, they are almost innu¬ 
merable—one may reckon up several hundred 
right off. But in agriculture we recognise two 
classes of salts; those present in the soil and con¬ 
stituting the food of plants, and those giving value 
to manures. The saline matters of the earth are 
carbonate of lime and magnesia; sulphate of lime; 
phosphate of lime, magnesia and iron ; silicate of 
potash, soda, and lime. Other salts are either 
infrequent, in minute and fluctuating quantities, or 
of no interest to agriculture. In the whole of Dr. 
Gardner’s communication, the foregoing bodies 
are clearly designated as the saline matters under 
consideration. We recommend C. D. to get some 
one to explain the articles on Tobacco to him. 
We consider them highly valuable ; yet regret to 
say, that although of paramount interest to the 
tobacco-grower, there is not probably one in a hun¬ 
dred but will turn away from the scientific terms 
in these articles with disdain, and leave them un¬ 
read, when they ought faithfully to study them, 
till complete masters of the subject. By so doing 
they may derive thousands of dollars of benefit 
