34 
THE CULTIVATOR 
every where, stores of neglected wealth. The butcher 
had thrown out on his back lot, vast quantities of bones. 
These he was glad to give away in order to get rid of 
them. The neighboring plaster mill soon reduced them 
to a highly fertilizing powder. Now, in the same neigh¬ 
borhood, waste bones are eagerly sought by all. Again, 
it was customary to draw out and pile up in huge use¬ 
less heaps, the refuse ashes of the soap-boilers and 
potash factories. This same observing farmer obtained 
permission to remove these heaps to his fields. His 
neighbors witnessed his success, and as a consequence, 
he cannot now get leached ashes without paying a good 
price for them. 
Again,—he discovered that much of the fertility of 
his farm was lost by the presence of a superabundance 
of water in the soil. He adopted a thorough system of 
tile-draining, laying his drains scientifically with an 
engineer’s levelling instrument. He can now plow his 
ground sooner in spring, and secure earlier sowing; the 
plow runs more easily through the fine crumbling earth 
than in the wet adhesive mass as formerly; the roots 
penetrate deeper, drouth does not affect the porous 
bed of earth, the cold water of the subsoil does not 
chill the early plant ■ in short growth commences sooner, 
and advances without interruption until it reaches full 
and perfect maturity. The result of this successful 
practice is, that an imported tile-macliine of the best 
construction, has been scarcely able to supply the general 
demand. Who can estimate the benefit thus resulting 
from the enlightened example of a single individual. 
Agriculture— -A Science. 
Progress is the almost universal law of the present 
age. We hear about a higher law than the commonly 
received one in government,—-of a more perfect organi¬ 
zation of society,—of a more refined literature—of im¬ 
proved facilities for commerce, travel, and the interchange 
of thought,—of startling discoveries in science and the 
mechanic arts—of surprising inventions of machinery, 
and so on to an unlimited extent. Yet whenever a new 
principle has been broached, the timid have refused to 
recognise it because it was new , and empirics have seized 
eagerly upon it, and by false induction, drawn absurd 
conclusions; while those who would promote sound 
knowledge, have been obliged to contend with both these 
classes, as well as to enforce and illustrate the nature 
and bearing of the idea they aim to bring into notice and 
to make useful. 
So is it now, when the importance of elevating Agri¬ 
culture to the rank of a science, and making its practice 
a rational employment and a means of culture, is openly 
advocated. All seem well content that there should be 
improvement in other pursuits; but when the hand of the 
reformer is laid on the farms which private industry has 
tilled, some rise up in defence of the old paths, as if their 
household gods had been insulted and dishonored. With¬ 
out spending a thought on a class of persons who ridicule 
the very idea of improvement in Agriculture, we propose 
to answer an honest objection, and to endeavor to remove 
a prejudice against the introduction of scientific principles 
into practical Agriculture. 
k npho nrt of rr'Hrintr science inaccessible which has 
Jan. 
so long been taught in the schools, must, in this progres¬ 
sive and thinking age, give way to a system of a more 
popular and practical nature, retaining all that is truly 
valuable in the old, so modified and brought down to 
common apprehension, as to be serviceable to those who 
most need its benefit. 
All knowledge is derived from first principles, and 
these, in natural science, become evident only after a 
series of careful experiments, and long continued ob¬ 
servation. It is the ultimate object of physical science 
to discover these laws, and by inductive reasoning to 
generalise them and draw from them logical conclusions. 
All that exceeds this, goes beyond the proper province 
of physical science, and belongs to the sphere of specu¬ 
lation. No mind is sufficiently comprehensive and powerful 
to grasp this universe as a whole, and by an analysis of all 
its parts, to exhibit its perfect harmony, the mutual re¬ 
lation of each integral part, and all the laws of nature. 
The phenomena of nature, are alone given to us, and it 
is by observing the connection between these and certain 
results, that first principles are established, and advance 
made. In works on the various branches of science, we 
find only the record of the observations of others and the 
conclusions they have drawn from them, upon the truth 
or falsity of which future observation must again decide. 
It would he erroneous, however, to infer that there can be 
nothing fixed and determinate in physical science; for there 
is a wonderful simplicity and completeness in the laws of 
nature, apparent to every mind. Phenomena, resulting 
from the law of gravitation, and those of astronomy, 
were once the objects of mystic speculation, and gave 
rise to a thousand dogmas which we have received as 
the melancholy inheritance of the past. Mind has ever 
been obliged to wade through error in its search for truth; 
but once discovered, like the diamond in the mine, it 
shines by its own native light, bringing irresistible con¬ 
viction of its worth. 
Natural science is, then, emphatically a progressive 
one, always giving scope to the perceptive and logical pow¬ 
ers,—always exciting curiosity, and repaying investigation 
with the most certain and satisfying knowledge. The in¬ 
fallibility which attaches to every truth brought to light 
by actual and repeated experiment, makes definite and 
undeniable every step of progress, and furnishes unmis 
takable data for farther research. This brings within the 
grasp of every inquiring mind, all the means necessary 
to the perfect comprehension and successful application 
of the results of investigation. Every person who has an 
eye to observe, a hand to work, and ahead to think, may, 
if he choose, he a student of nature,—an experimenter in 
the great laboratory of the world, and a demonstrator of 
practical science. Nature is a text-hook, alike open to 
all, and he whose area of observation is confined to the 
limits of his own garden, may discover facts as important 
as one who traverses the earth in search of the strange and 
inexplicable. There cannot he a stronger incentive to 
action, than the fact that so much which is beautiful and 
instructive lies half concealed and half revealed in the 
bosom of the earth—that the means of filling both the 
purse and the brain are within the reach of all. 
It is, in this country, comparatively a short time since 
Agriculture has been ranked among the branches of na- 
trivoi h Uns the cbrnnlcteness which he- 
