262 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Aug. 
quid. On the contrary, the limit was soon reached ; 
but although small in per centage quality, the pow¬ 
er was, in reference to the bulk of the soil, enor¬ 
mously great. He had found that a pure clay would 
absorb, perhaps, two-tenths per cent, of its weight 
of ammonia—that is to say, 1,000 grains would se¬ 
parate two grains of ammonia ; and from reasons 
which need not then be noticed, a loam or a well- 
cultivated clay soil would absorb nearly twice as 
much. Now every inch in depth of soil over an 
acre of ground weighed about 100 tons. Conse¬ 
quently, ten inches of depth of such soil, would 
weigh 1,000 tons, and would be adequate to com¬ 
bine with and retain two tons of ammonia, a quan¬ 
tity which would be furnished by about twelve 
tons of guano. Now, one-sixtieth of this power 
would suffice for the preservation of the ammonia 
of an outside dose of guano; consequently, he was 
justified in saying that the property was practically 
of immense activity. Mr. Way stated that he had 
ascertained the extent of the power in different soils 
and for the different alkalies. The property was 
decidedly a chemical one; and although he intend¬ 
ed only to state the facts, without entering upon 
their explanation, he might say that he had every 
reason to believe that he should be able to develop 
that satisfactorily at the proper time. 
At a subsequent lecture Prof. Way stated that he 
was first led into this train of investigation by hav¬ 
ing been informed by one or two persons that urine, 
by being passed through certain filtering substan¬ 
ces, might be entirely deprived of its coloring mat¬ 
ter and odor. Prof. W. said he was not only deep¬ 
ly interested in these statements, but totally unable 
to account on chemical principles for the effects 
thus simply produced; and of so high a degree of 
importance did he consider them, as fertile in a se¬ 
ries of new facts, which would lead not only to new 
views of chemical combination, under peculiar me¬ 
chanical conditions, but also to a modification of 
the theory of the mode by which manure is reserved 
in the soil until required as food for plants, and to 
immediate application in practical agriculture, and 
he lost no time in verifying these results, and en¬ 
deavoring to account for their occurrence. As he 
proceeded in this path of inquiry, the new facts, as 
they rapidly succeeded each other, were such as 
would have been totally unexpected on the ordinary 
principles of combination ; and which would eventu¬ 
ally, he had no doubt, lead to new modes of regard¬ 
ing chemical action when taking place under cer¬ 
tain conditions. Prof. W. then proceeded to show 
experimentally the power of finely divided clay soils 
to abstract the coloring matter and smell from log¬ 
wood water, London porter, putrid urine, infusion 
of flax, and tank water; and to explain the proba¬ 
ble manner in which such soils decomposed the 
salts of ammonia, arresting that alkali and repla¬ 
cing it by lime; and also by what a beautiful provi¬ 
sion of nature the substances valuable as food for 
plants were retained in the soil, while other results 
of such decomposition were allowed to pass through 
it, one of those provisions in the operation of natu¬ 
ral laws, which strikingly arrest the attention ol 
the most inconsiderate, and mark the beneficence 
and wisdom of the Creator, of whose work only 
perfection is the unvarying attribute. 
The committee have resolved that the following 
subjects be adopted for investigation during the en¬ 
suing year: 
1. The continuation of the investigation into the 
absorptive properties of soils, including clays. 
2. The nutritive properties of the grasses. 
3. The agricultural properties of the chalks and 
marls. 
4. The chemical properties of water, with a 
view to its effects on irrigation, and on the health 
of animals. 
The Life of the Farmer Favoiable to the Pursuit 
of Knowledge. 
Eds. Cultivator- —I was highly gratified in read¬ 
ing the article from your correspondent, Hon. F. 
Holbrook, on the question “ Should the Farmer 
be a man of knowledge?” I think he has shown 
plainly enough, that the farmer should be a man of 
knowledge, not only as a farmer, but as a rational 
being, and as a member of society. 
But notwithstanding the obvious advantages of 
knowledge to the farmer, there is a prevailing im¬ 
pression, especially among intelligent young men, 
that the pursuit of agriculture is unfavorable to the 
pursuit ol knowledge, and the general cultivation 
of the mind,—that the life of a farmer is a life of 
drudgery and toil , without any stimulus or opportu¬ 
nity for intellectual improvement,-—and that if a 
farmer is intelligent, he is so in spite of the earthly 
degrading tendency of his occupation. The cele¬ 
brated John Foster, of England, in a letter to his 
mother, speaks of the people in the agricultural 
parts of the land as “extremely ignorant and dull 
of apprehension,” and then remarks, “Field occu¬ 
pations, with their attendant and consequent habits, 
notoriously tend to stupify the mental faculties;” 
that is, those who till the soil are, as a matter of 
fact, not only ignorant, but this occupation has a 
tendency to stupify the mind, and keep them igno¬ 
rant! Now, although Foster might have found, in 
this country, that the farmers are very far from be- 
ing “ ignorant, and dull of apprehension,” he 
would have found a great reluctance among young 
men to engage in agriculture, as though it were in 
fact degrading and stupifying to the mental facul¬ 
ties. 
We maintain just the opposite view,—that the 
occupation of the farmer is favorable to the pursuit 
of knowledge,—favorable to intellectual health, ac¬ 
tivity, and vigor of mind, so that if a young man 
has a taste for knowledge, he should for this 
very reason, be a farmer, because he can thus 
gratify this taste for knowledge better than in any 
other calling. 
1. The life of the farmer is favorable to the pur¬ 
suit of knowledge, because it is favorable for health. 
It is admitted that agriculture is a healthy occupa¬ 
tion-healthy for boys and for men. Many men, 
of broken down constitutions have renewed their 
age by leaving the shop or the counting-room, and 
following the plow. The farmer, who breathes the 
fresh air, and listens to the songs of birds, and sees 
so much in nature to interest him, is seldom troubled 
with hypochondria, dyspepsia, and indigestion, 
which are as injurious to the pursuit of knowledge 
as to happiness and health. The man who has been 
confined in his shop all day, if he has a little lei¬ 
sure, wishes to go out and breathe the fresh air, as 
he should do , to recover his elasticity of mind and 
body. The shoemaker and tailor cannot take up a 
book with the same zest at noon or at night, as the 
man who has been breathing the fresh air. Who 
does not envy the health, strength, and cheer of the 
wood chopper, the reaper, the mower or the plow¬ 
man, not only as a means of happiness but as fa¬ 
vorable to intellectual vigor and the pursuit of 
knowledge? 
