136 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
April, 
positions peculiarly favorable to commerce and ma¬ 
nufactures, and the ready importation of bread, no 
community will embark largely in either of these 
pursuits, while a fertile soil and genial clime invite 
to agricultural pursuits. Many individuals too, in 
the fluctuations of business, or the pursuit of health, 
have recourse to it. An agricultural population is 
the main source, whence principally the Mechanic 
arts, the pursuits of Merchandise and Commerce, 
and the learned professions, draw fresh recruits to 
fill up the wasting ranks of each—a striking com¬ 
ment, alike on the sanitary influences of the one, 
and the destructive tendencies of the other. 
In tracing out these relations I need not state 
them all, since, in a loose manner of speaking, eve¬ 
ry single science or calling is nearly or remotely re¬ 
lated to every other. It is enough then, to state 
the more obvious of them. Nor is it needful here, 
that I should trace these relations with minute and 
scientific accuracy, as though writing a school book. 
It is enough to state a few obvious facts, leaving to 
books of science to fill up the blanks. 
II. The Scientific Relations of Agriculture. 
1. To Geometry. —Whether the notion be true or 
false that this science rose in Egypt, among the far¬ 
mers of the Nile, who, by its aid, revived the land¬ 
marks which the annual floods of that river had effa¬ 
ced, weneed not stop to inquire. If it be a fable, it 
strikingly exhibits the impression of the ancients 
of the utility of this science to agriculture. In a 
new country, wild lands must be surveyed; and Suc¬ 
cessive sales and subdivisions require resurveys in 
all lands. 
Fields, also, need to be measured and laid out for 
the ordinary purposes of culture and embellishment. 
Some knowledge then, of the rules, if not of the 
principles of Geometry, are essential to the culti¬ 
vator of the soil. 
2. To Botany. —This science, whether contem¬ 
plating the systematic arrangement of plants, or 
the mutual relations and uses of their parts, is inti¬ 
mately connected with agriculture. Indeed, some 
knowledge of this science is implied in the rudest 
condition of this pursuit. The habits, structure 
and qualities of plants, the soil and climate best 
adapted to them, the best mode of culture, and the 
power of that culture to change and improve them, 
are all questions in which the farmer is interested. 
He learns that the grasses, what are often termed 
English grains, and potatoes, require only moderate 
heat and light, combined with a due degree of mois¬ 
ture. So also of the apple, pear and plum. On the 
other hand, Indian corn, pumpkins, squashes, mel¬ 
ons, tomatoes, cucumbers, and other tropical plants, 
require the highest degree of heat and light that 
our climate usually exhibits, with a less degree of 
moisture than the preceding class. The same re¬ 
mark applies to such fruits as peaches, grapes, 
apricots, and nectarines. Not less must the farmer 
understand the power of originating new plants by 
the union of old and nearly related varieties. But 
enough here on a topic that readily expands into 
volumes. 
3. To Medicine. —The analysis of plants with re¬ 
ference to their qualities of nutrition, stimulation, 
&c., and of minerals constituting the natural or 
needful basis of all productive soils, naturally also 
developes their medical qualities. Hence it will be 
found, to a considerable extent, that the sciences of 
agriculture and medicine advance with equal pace. 
4. To Chemistry. —This science teaches us that 
the whole material world with which we are acquain¬ 
ted, is made up of varied combinations of from 56 to 
60 simple substances; and that about 12 or more 
of these enter, more or less commonly, into the con¬ 
stitution of those vegetables with which the farmer 
is acquainted, as well as into the constitution of all 
those animals which feed on those plants; that what 
thus is found in the animal and the plant must previ¬ 
ously have existed in the soil, and thus should be 
considered a necessary constituent of all soils adapt¬ 
ed to the growth of such vegetables. 
The bulk of all vegetable matter is composed of 
three elements, carbon, oxygen, hydrogen—in short 
charcoal and water, to which is occasionally added 
a little nitrogen. Combined with these, but usually 
in comparatively small proportions, are phosphorus, 
sulphur, iron, silica, potash, lime, allumina, man¬ 
ganese, and, it may be, a few others. Some of these 
last, as phosphorus, potash, silex and lime, are in- 
dispensible to almost every plant, sometimes to the 
herbage, at others to the seed, and often to both. 
Other mineral substances may be present in a soil, 
and, either intrinsically, or by the degree m which 
they exist, may prove poisonous to vegetation ; such 
are lead, arsenic, some forms of iron, magnesia, 
copper, &e. 
Chemistry will teach the farmer the influence of 
heat in the production of the peculiar secretions of 
tropical plants, and hence the relation between a 
hot and dry summer, and their valuable qualities. 
The effect of electricity, also, although not yet, ve¬ 
ry well defined, will be referred to this same science. 
So also, the system of manuring, as intended to add 
to the soil, substances indispensible to the growth 
of plants, but absent from that soil, or present in tot 
small a proportion, is explicable only by the science 
of chemistry. The philosophy of plowing, as tend¬ 
ing to break up the soil, and bring its minute parti¬ 
cles into an available condition, as well as to open 
it to the influences of heat, light and moisture, is 
also chemical. The germination of the seed in the 
soil, the growth of the plant, and the maturity of 
the seed or fruit, are all processes which are purely 
chemical. 
But the full illustration of this branch of the sub¬ 
ject, as in the parallel case of Botany, would be the 
work of volumes. 
5. To Mineralogy and Geology. —All the mineral 
elements of plants being derived from the soil, it be¬ 
comes a question of importance to .ascertain their 
condition in that soil, and also their source. Mine¬ 
ralogy teaches us the rocky origin of all such ele¬ 
ments ; and investigates their state of combination 
with other, and often useless or noxious substan¬ 
ces ; and also the mode of their development, by the 
natural agencies of water, frost and chemical chan¬ 
ges, or by such artificial means as science may indi¬ 
cate. This science further developes the existence 
of some mineral elements, such as some of the forms 
of lime and phosphorus, ^that are the remains of a 
former condition of the world, when animated by a 
very different class of animals from those that now 
inhabit it. Hence, to a great degree, the mineral- 
ogical structure of a soil, settles the question of its 
adaptation and fertility. Soils, especially rich in 
phosphorus, lime, potash, and allumina, may often 
be cropped for a long time with little regard to al¬ 
ternation or stint. 
Again, as all minerals are originally derived from 
those vast rocky layers of which the earth was once 
constituted, so the geological indications of any 
country will go far towards settling the character of 
all those surrounding soils that were constituted by 
their disintegration. 
6. To Astronomy. —The sun is the great and ob¬ 
vious source of both light and heat to the world. 
The seasons of the year and the progress of ve- 
