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MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
lofiiistDii’s XecturEH, 
On tbe General Relations of Science to 
PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE. 
LECTURE NINTH. 
Means by which General Scientific Knowledge 
may be DiflPused, and made Available for the 
Improvement of Practickl Agricnltnre, and the 
General Elevation of the Agricultural Class. 
Gentlemen :—I take it for granted, that 
you are all satisfied of the importance of 
scientific research to practical Agriculture. 
If satisfied of this, you must be also of the 
importance of diffusing a knowledge of the 
results of such researches, especially among 
practical farmers. 
There are two objects we may have in 
view, in our desire to shed such knowledge, 
1st The improvement of the Agriculture 
of the State, or along with this, the eleva¬ 
tion, intellectually and socially, of the agri 
cultural community. All members of the 
community are interested in the first of these 
objects or ends, viz: the general improve¬ 
ment of the Agriculture of the State, and a 
large class are especially interested in the 
second, which looks to the elevation moral¬ 
ly, intellectually and socially, of the agricul¬ 
tural community. In regard to the first of 
these objects, the gener^ improvement of 
the Agriculture of the State, before we form 
any idea of what should be done, it is de 
sirable to know what is the actual condition 
of Agriculture now. I must ask you to 
judge of the condition of Agriculture by the 
tests which I shall name. By the state of 
the roads in the Agricultural districts; the 
kind of rotation practised throughout the 
State; the kind of stock reared, and the 
mode of feeding them; the extent of land 
uncultivated, or poorly cultivated, compared 
with the density of the population. 
You can only obtain accurate notions on 
this subject, by actual observation. I hav® 
not seen enough of your State, to form an 
opinion of its agricultural character; nor 
have I any data from which to form an 
opinion, though I have heard and read 
much on the subject But there is one 
mode we have within our reach, and of 
which I propose to speak, and that is, the 
average produce of the land. To a person 
unacquainted with the county, from per¬ 
sonal observation, such data are generally 
very decisive indications of the state of its 
practical Agriculture; at the same time, it 
is necessary to take into consideration wfith 
the average product, the physical geography 
of a country, its geological structure, its cli¬ 
mate, &c.; but supposing him to know all 
this, he could form an accurate notion of 
the Agricultural condition of a^country from 
its products, and by comparing these Avith 
those of other countries. I have the ave¬ 
rage product of New York, as shown by 
the last census, which is the best data I 
have. The average product per acre of this 
State, as so shown,is of Avheat, 14 bushels; 
of oats, 26 bushels; of barley, 11 bushels; 
of lye, 9^- bushels, and of Indian corn, 25 
bushels per acre. These results are given 
as the average product of the State, in one 
of the volumes of your Transactions. In 
one of the volumes of Prof. Emmons’ Na¬ 
tural History of this State, I find another 
series of averages, a little less than these; 
but I adopt the larger ones. Now, I be¬ 
lieve the^ are few persons, acquainted with 
the early liistory of this State, who will not 
tell you that the average returns were form¬ 
erly far greater than now. In fact, you 
may judge Avhat the product of New York 
once was, from the present product of New 
Brunswick. According to returns, the ave¬ 
rage product of that country is of wheat, 19 
bushels per acre; of oats, 34 bushels; of 
barley, 29 bushels; of rye, 20 bushels; of 
Indian corn, 41 bushels per acre. 
Now, I can very well judge of the former 
product of New York from these results 
obtained in New Brunswick; for, when 
that the average product of this State is 
about the average of Ohio, and that botli 
States are sailing in the same boat; and that 
if you go on here in the same process of ex¬ 
haustion, you will soon compete Avith that 
State. 
Compare, for a moment, with these sta¬ 
tistics, the crops in England. The average 
product there is, of wheat, 21 bushels. It 
is proper, hoAvever, to say here, that we have 
no statistics, and that this is altogether 
guess Avork. Our censuses give us no sta¬ 
tistics of agricultural products; our farmers, 
also, are A'ery jealous about giving informa¬ 
tion on these points; they have rents to pay 
and they naturally think that if they give in 
large’returns, they Avill have to pay larger 
rents; and that is one reasoii why we never 
have this data. Hence, the results I give 
you are but approximations. From the best 
information, the results are these: of wheat 
21 bushels per acre; oats, 35; barley, 32. 
That is all 1 can give you of the product of 
England. The averages of Scotland are 
these: wheat, 30 bushels per acre; oats, 
46; barley, 40. These results are on the 
best quality of land. 
I believe there is no reason to doubt that 
what has been produced in England and 
Scotland might be produced in New York, 
I infer this, not only from comparing the 
character of both counti’ies, but from the 
fact that the prize crops, annually competed 
for in your State, are larger than those giv¬ 
en as the averages in England and Scotland 
I have a table of the amount of premium 
crops in 1846, and they range thus: Avheat 
56 bushels an acre—that is the highest; 
Indian com, 142 bushels—the average is 
only 25; oats, 106 bushels. This is all I 
have of the premium crops. Now, these 
are maximum results. I may state that in 
England we have crops of Avlieat as high as 
88 bushels; of barley, 80 bu.shels; and of 
oats, 108. Indian corn Ave do not grow. 
I regard this as certain, that if the cli¬ 
mate and local circumstances are the same, 
Avhat one soil will produce, science may en¬ 
able another soil to produce; and that it is 
reasonable that the farmer Avho exercises a 
proper degree of skill in the culture of the 
soil, has a right to anticipate the same de¬ 
gree of success as has attended like efforts 
in other countries, having similar advantages 
of soil and climate. If certain parts of 
your country, which have a given geologi- 
cial character, will produce these large pre¬ 
mium crops Avhich I have mentioned, it is 
fair to presume that other parts of the State, 
having the same advantages of soil and cli¬ 
mate, should produce the same results.— 
This is the point Avhich all interested in Ag¬ 
riculture hope for and desire, and Avish you 
to aid them in attaining. 
One point of view I might haA'e pressed 
in regard to our Agricuiture in 
discoursed on the relations of Geology to 
Agriculture, I demonstrated, from the char 
acter of the soil of the two countries, as 
shown by the Geological Map, that, gene¬ 
rally speaking, the western portion of Noav 
York was naturally more fertile than a large 
portion of New Brunswick, and therefore I 
conclude that the average product of New 
Brunswick is far below what was formerly 
the case in New York. 
It may be interesting to you to present to 
you the average product of Ohio. In the 
northern part of Ohio, after a cultivation of 
20 years, the average returns are scarcely 
half what they AV’ere when first settled, show¬ 
ing that the soil there is in the course of 
gradual exhaustion. The averages for the 
year 18.48, which I find in the Transactions 
of tlie Agricultural Society of that State, 
are as follows: Of wheat, 15 bushels per 
^re; barley, 24; oats, 33; rye, 16; Indian 
com, 41. 
You see, therefore, that in Ohio the con¬ 
dition of thing’s is nearly the same, so far as 
wheat and oats are concerned, as in Ncav 
York; barley and rye are greater, and corn 
much greater — many parts of that State 
being peculiarly favorable to the growth of 
Indian corn. 
I have also here the average products of 
all tire States; but I see I have not put down 
the general average for the whole. It is 
enough, however, for our purpose to say. 
Great Britain, and that is, that our farmers 
fancy they suffer from the competition of 
the grain-growing districts of this country; 
they believe you can produce corn cheaper 
than they can; Avhether you can produce 
more from the same quantity of land, is an¬ 
other question. I do not think you can, 
but you are likely to be seriously affected 
by the competition of the Western States. 
You are therefore in a condition similar to, 
or approaching that of England, and you 
will have to compete with the rich virgin 
lands, though already somcAvhat exhausted, 
and you must do something to compete suc¬ 
cessfully. 
In Avhat way are you to compete success¬ 
fully Avith those neAv and fertile regions ? — 
You can only do it by raising larger crops 
from the same quantity of land, without 
more labor, and of course at less cost In 
the introduction of improved agricultural 
implements, which in England is a matter 
of very great interest, you have perhaps an 
advantage over the more remote States.— 
But your object should be, to grow a larger 
quantity of grain on the same surface and 
at a less relative cost than before. In this 
way, Ave, in England, hope to compete with 
New York and the richest of the Avestern 
prairies. 
How is this to be done ? Nothing can 
be done in this direction unless effort is 
stimulated by necessity. Hence, because 
the necessity with us at home, is great, we 
shall do something; and so here, as the ne¬ 
cessity becomes greater, you Avill make more 
effort to compete Avith those districts, and 
when you do this, and not till then, will you 
be successful. Hoav is this to be done ?— 
Those Avho possess the most knowlege will 
be sure to distance those who compete with 
them, if that knowledge be combined Avith 
prudence and discretion, for it is often 
thrown in the teeth of the scientific farmer, 
that those who have gone before him, have 
all failed. But the truth is, that those cases 
pointed at as illustrations of the xmsuccess- 
ful results of scientific farming, have been 
generally those of mere enthusiasts, who 
had little practical knowledge, and avIio, 
along with science, did not apply that com¬ 
mon sense with which prudent men always 
conduct their affairs. KnoAvledge must be 
applied to the improvement of the soil, if 
we hope to succeed. I think I have shown 
during these lectures, that Ave do possess 
the knowledge which is capable of groAving 
larger crops at a diaper rate. Noav, if we 
possess this knowledge, it must be diffused 
to be applied; no matter what knowledge 
there may be in book.s, or in the heads of a 
feAv men, unless it be diffused among men 
who can apply that knowledge among the 
farmers, it is comparatively useless. 
There are many ways of diffusing know¬ 
ledge, and among these is the establishment 
of agricultural societies. The establishment 
of agricultural libraries, is another means of 
diffusing knowledge among farmers. Tho’ 
in our country farmers are not generally 
reading men,still there always are a few men 
in agricultural communities, everywhere, 
who do read, and are anxious to improve 
themselves in this branch of knowledge, and 
it is desirable in this vieAA’, that libraries con¬ 
taining agricultural works should be estab¬ 
lished. Their ideas and their knowledge, 
like a pillar of fire, becom.e, as it were, cen¬ 
ters, from Avhich light radiates all around. 
Among us, there are organized farmers’ 
clubs, in subprdina^n to agi’icultural soci¬ 
eties, Avhere agricuRural topics are discus¬ 
sed. We have also lectures occasionally, 
given sometimes in stated places, Avhich are 
well attended, and by Avhich knowledge is 
diffused. In the matter of agricultural pe 
riodicals, I do not think we have anything 
better than yours. Some of those publish¬ 
ed in this country are exceedingly good, 
and are Avell known in Europe. These are 
important instruments in the diffusion of 
sound knowledge on this subject But I 
pass over all this, and come to the only oth¬ 
er mode of diffusing this knoAvledge, and 
that is, by means of agricultural schools. 
It is extraordinary, hoAv little has been 
done for the diffusion of agricultural knowl¬ 
edge in this Avay—how long a time has 
elapsed in every country, before it has been 
found necessary to establish schools for this 
purpose. It is also remarkable what ap¬ 
plause has been bestoAved on those countries 
which first introduced this system, and who 
did the little that was done, during the last 
century, in that direction. What was done 
in Switzerland and Prussiii, made a gi’eat noise 
at the time; but they did little after all. 
It is also remarkable that in those countries 
in Europe which have made the highest ad¬ 
vancement in national education, how slow¬ 
ly they avail themselves of the means of in¬ 
struction in this branch of knowledge. I 
hope and belieA’e that the absence of those 
old habits and prejudices Avhich so much re¬ 
strain and retard the progress of such 
knowledge in Europe, will not retard its dif¬ 
fusion, among the more enlightened popula¬ 
tion of the New World. 
But there are causes at Avork in the old 
Avorld, Avhich under all the efforts to diffuse 
agricultural knowledge, have retarded its 
diffusion by such means. We have schools 
for agricultural instruction, in all its grades; 
yet Ave find that in the neighborhood of 
these schools, not onlyks knoAvledar* notdif- 
lused among tue peaseVntry, but both they 
and the lands they cultivate, aa-e in the most 
miserable condition possible. In my ad¬ 
dress at Syracuse, I alluded|tosome results 
in France and Bavaria, Avhere in the latter 
particularly they have agricultural schools, 
model farms, agricultural societies, and ao-- 
ricultural instruction in the common schools, 
yet the agriculture of Bavaria is of a grade 
among the lowest in Germany. So in f'rance 
Avhere griculture is in a l^ad condition, 
there is an Agricultural University, and 
there are central agricultural schools in all 
the provinces. Instruction is also given to 
the peasantry in the communes. There¬ 
fore, though instruction in this branch of 
art is sloAv in being introduced, we are not 
to infer from the existence of schools in any 
country that Agriculture is in a flourishing 
condition there, nor are Ave to infer the con¬ 
trary from the absence of these schools. In 
Scotland there does not exist a single agri¬ 
cultural school, yet its Agriculture is in a 
high state. In England, where ten years 
ago there were no such schools, Agriculture 
ranks next to that of Scotland. These in¬ 
stances, and those I have cited in France 
and Bavaria, show that the fact, that these 
schools exist in any country, affords no in¬ 
formation as to the state of its Agriculture. 
Hence in giving instruction in schools on 
a^cultural subjects, experience in all coun¬ 
tries that I have any knowledge of, shows 
that there are certain things to be attended 
to. First, it is necessary to avoid as far as 
possible the inculcation of organic chano-es 
in existing methods and institutions; you 
knoAV hoAv difficult it is to introduce anything 
new at all into our schools or seminaries._ 
If you go for a great deal, you get nothing; 
if you ask only for a small portion of time, 
or give a little additional labor to the school 
master, requiring no ncAV machinery to car¬ 
ry it out, then you are more likely to suc¬ 
ceed, than if you at once demand, as some 
have, a large portion of the time, both of 
the pupil and the master in imparting new 
instruction. I do not knoAV hoAv far this 
caution may be necessary in this country, 
but as prudent men you would naturally 
adopt that course; as you Avould find that 
the introduction of such instruction would 
be more generally acceded to if you ask only 
what is necessary, and do not hurry on in 
advance of public sentiment 
To give you an idea of the manner in 
which this thing has been managed Avith us, 
I will state Avhat provision has been made 
for agricultural instruction in Great Britain 
and Ireland. There are not many Agricul- 
in England, but there are a 
tural schools 
good many in Ireland. We have no special 
Agricultural schools in Scotland. In Eng¬ 
land and Ireland the principles of Agricul¬ 
ture Avere first introduced into the elemen¬ 
tary schools. I say the principles, for you 
cannot expect to find a school master who 
can instruct his pupils in practical Agricul¬ 
ture. In general his education does not fit 
him for it, and it is therefore better in the 
elementary schools to undertake nothing be¬ 
yond instruction in the principles of Agricul¬ 
ture. By principles, I mean those results 
to Avhich scientific investigation has arrived; 
for instance, if I say that all substances 
which contain nitrogen in a certain state, 
are more or less useful to vegetation, that is 
a principle—a fact, which is the result of 
experiment and research; that is one prin 
ciple. If, again, I say that all substances 
contain phosphate of lime, which forms a 
great part of the bones of animals, is capa¬ 
ble of being useful to the growth of crops, 
I announce another principle, which is the 
result of a great many investigations. Thus 
I can state principles of this kind, which a 
boy can readily learn. It is such principles 
as these, that it is desirable to give in ele 
mentary schools, and when presented in 
brief terms, is never forgotten, and the boy 
Avhen he goes out upon the farm recollects 
it; he casts about for these substances, and 
if they are applied to the soil, he knoAvs 
what the results will be; for this is a pro 
cedure which is regulated altogether by ; 
knowledge of principles. To fit the school 
master for teaching Agricultural principles, 
the study has been introduced into our Nor¬ 
mal schools in England, Scotland and Ire¬ 
land, as a regular branch of instruction, and 
the school master now goes out able to give 
instruction, which will qualify the boy to be 
come master of the principles in a short 
time. 
So there are established in England in 
some of the grammar schools, and in some 
private academies, under the direction of 
individuals, agricultural departments, Avhere 
instruction is given in the different branches 
of natural science bearing on Agriculture, 
and some knowledge also of practice obtain¬ 
ed, not by a farm attached to the institution, 
but from the farms in the neighborhood.— 
Within the last two years I established a 
school at Camelford, converting a grammar 
school into it. The farmers of the district, 
all around, opened their farms to the inspec¬ 
tion of the pupils, who availed themselves 
of the opportunity to view these farms at 
stated times, and observed all the processes 
going on, particulai’ly in the labor also, and 
thus were enabled to get a practical knowl¬ 
edge of the subject, Avhich very much fa¬ 
cilitated the efforts of the master to explain 
the theory of what they saw going on around 
them- 
We have also special agricultural schools 
in different parts of Ireland; there they 
were established before they were in Great 
Britain. You knoAv fi’om tlie condition of 
Ireland, hoAv desirable there a diffusion of 
such knowledge must be among the agri¬ 
cultural classes, and how important it must 
be to teach them how small farms may be 
made to yield great returns. These agri¬ 
cultural schools have been found to be pro¬ 
ductive of great benefits. The school of 
Temple Moyle has a large number of pupils, 
Avho are made to till the farm attached to 
it, thus applying practically the knoAvledge 
obtained in the school, and the result has 
been that the whole expense of maintaining 
the pupils, amounted to but £ll a year each, 
or ^50, the farm paying all the rest of the ex¬ 
pense of maintaining the institution, with 
the addition of some suberiptions raised in 
the locality. Noav we haA’e special agricul¬ 
tural schools established by a national board 
of education—they have introduced into 
them the little catechism of which I have 
before spoken, in Avhich the principles of 
Agriculture are stated in a brief and clear 
manner. It is found that the boys never 
forgot them, and are never at a loss how to 
apply them. They have also established 
district agricultural schools, and have made 
provision to fit teachers for them. A model 
farm has been attached to the Normal 
school neai’. These are all schools estab¬ 
lished under the government in Ireland. — 
We have no such schools in Great Britain 
established by the national board of educa¬ 
tion, but there too the study has been intro¬ 
duced in the common schools. But Ave have 
in England an agricultural college establish¬ 
ed within a feAv years. SLx or eight years 
ago a school was projected at Cirencester; 
it had great difficulties to contend Avith at 
the outset, and one great difficulty Avas the 
apathy and indifference of the farmers them¬ 
selves. Instruction was cheap there, but 
the farmers did not avail themselves of it— 
During the first years of its existence, out of 
forty pupils only eight were sons of farmers. 
But that state of things is fast disappearing, 
and a desire for this kind of knowledge has 
grown stronger. It has noAV about 100 pu¬ 
pils, and the institution continues to flourish 
more and more every year. 
Having given you this account of what 
we are doing in England and Ireland, you 
see that Ave have done little as yet, and that 
Ave have experienced little or no benefit from 
agricultural education; but we have come 
to a state, when we must, from necessity 
get this education, in order to compete with 
you. 
[^Conclusion of Lecture 9th next week.^ 
MmmWt (Btotionuj. 
BOSTON REFRIGERATOR. 
This is an admirable convenience for the 
warm season. Meats, fish, butter and other 
articles liable to become injured and spoiled 
if exposed to summer heat, may be kept in 
the best state of preservation, by simply 
keeping a small quantity of ice in the re¬ 
frigerator. They are so constructed as to be 
non-conductors of heat and air; at the same 
time they will ahvays let off the water when¬ 
ever any accumulates from the melting of 
the ice, Avithout labor. They can also be 
made with a stone jar for water, which can 
ahvays be kept cool and drawn out Avith a 
faucet, without opening the chest The re¬ 
frigerator is a neat article of furniture for 
the dining room, store room, closet, steam¬ 
boat, packet, or recess, and Avill be found 
almost invaluable. It can be obtained at 
the Genesee Agricultural Wtirehouse, in 
this city. Two sizes—$13 and $15 
TO MAKE WHITE WASH. 
As this is the time for cleaning up door- 
yards, and white washing buildings and fen¬ 
ces, Ave give a recipe for making Avhite wash, 
Avhich is said (in the Horticulturist,) to be 
one of best and most durable character: 
“ Take a barrel and slack one bushel of 
freshly burned lime in it, by covering the 
lime with boiling Avater. 
After it is slacked, add cold Avater enough 
to bring it to the consistency of good white 
Avash. Then dissolve in Avater, and add one 
pound of white vitriol (sulphate of zinc) and 
one quart of fine salt 
To give this AA’-ash a cream color, add one 
hall a pound of yellow' ochre in powder.— 
To give it a fawn color, add a pound of yel- 
loAv ochre, and one-forth of a pound of In¬ 
dian red. 
To make the wash a handsome gray 
stone coloi’, add one-half a pound of French 
blue, and one-fourth of a pound of Indian 
red; a drab will be made by adding one- 
half a pound of sienna, and one-fourth pound 
of Venitian red. 
For brick or stone, instead of one bushel 
of lime, take half a bushel of hydraulic ce¬ 
ment” 
The Dandelion. —Dr. Holmes, speaking 
of this well-knoAvn plant says: —“ In med¬ 
icine, it is considered an excellent tonic and 
corrector of any derangements of the func¬ 
tions of the liver, dyspepsia and chronic 
diseases of the digestive organs. It may be 
used for these purposes in two ways, viz: 
in decoction and in the form of an extract 
For decoction, take, say root and herb, wash¬ 
ed clean, half a pound; water, half a gallon; 
boil down to a pint The dose from one to 
two Avine glasses full once or twice per day. 
To make the extract, take fresh roots 
bruise them, 11-2 lbs.; soft, boiling water, 
two gallons; let it stand 24 hours; then 
boil down to a gallon, strain while hot, and 
simmer it away gently to a thick waxy sub¬ 
stance. Be careful not to burn it in the 
latter stage of the process. It should be a 
brown, bitter, aromatic substance, and easily 
dissolved in water. The dose of this is from 
ten to thirty grains.” 
To Make Currant Wine.— While at 
Detroit last Autumn, attending the State 
Fair, we had the good fortune to be quar¬ 
tered at. the residence of the Secretary of 
the State Society. .One day at dinner, we 
had a glass of very excellent currant Aviue. 
It was so much better than anything of the 
kind we ever drank before, that we begged 
of Mrs. P. a receipt, and here it is: 
One quart of currant juice; two quarts 
of water (cold;) three lbs. of brown sugar; 
put it in a cask Avith the bung out, or in very 
loose, so as to allow it to ferment; when the 
sound from fermentation ceases then make 
the cask tight; leave it for a year, and then 
bottle it— Wool Grower. 
To Make Batter Fritters. —Take half 
a pound of flour, one once of butter, (which 
melt,) the whites of three eggs, well beaten, 
half a glass of beer, and enough water to 
make a thick batter. 
i 
