1852 . 
THE CULTIVATOR 
137 
The Science of Agriculture. 
The art of-agriculture is pretty generally well understood 
in this country; probably, (considering all circumstan- 
stances,) as well as in any other. Our farmers can all do 
the work, and do it well too. But the science, the the¬ 
ory of agriculture, is not so well understood. Agricul¬ 
tural science embraces a considerable number of other 
sciences. Indeed, it is a combination of sciences, for 
there are very few that do not enter into the practice of 
the farmer. He may not know it, but it is true, never¬ 
theless. Let us enumerate them. The farmer should 
be a chemist,*mineralogist and geologist, because he 
practices these sciences every day of his life, whether he 
knows it or not. He should be a botanist, for he practices 
it very largely; he should be a physician, for he has fre¬ 
quent occasions to resort to this science, in both man and 
beast; he should be an entomologist, for no class or pro¬ 
fession has as much interest in this branch of knowledge 
as the farmer; he should be well versed in natural histo¬ 
ry, and he often is, without knowing a syllable of its the¬ 
oretical principles; he should be an astronomer, and this 
too, he is, quite too often, ignorantly; he should be a po¬ 
litical economist, for in him, at last, the public welfare 
takes refuge in all its troubles, and from him it derives 
all its strength—the enlightened farmers constitute the 
state. If agriculture be a science composed of nearly all 
other sciences, it is also an art composed of, or compris¬ 
ing nearly all other arts. The farmer ought to be, and 
frequently is a blacksmith ; some of his family are bakers 
and brewers ; he is a carpenter, a machinist, and quite 
frequently an engineer . Now if all this be true, what 
class of the human family require so general and so tho¬ 
rough an education as the farmer, to make them masters 
of their profession? It seems to the writer that the world 
acts most preposterously in bestowing a thorough liberal 
education upon those who are to practice a single simple 
science, and withholding it from him who is to practice 
all the sciences and all the arts. Farmers, themselves, 
are too apt to take the same eourse, by educating at a 
university one of their sons, who is destined to be a doc¬ 
tor or a lawyer, and contenting themselves with giving 
their other sons and daughters, who are to be farmers 
and farmer’s wives, the simplest of a country school edu¬ 
cation. They would seem to reason somewhat like this 
— u Doctoring and lawyering comes from education, and 
farming by nature,” a remark actually made tome by an 
old and respectable farmer. That even the art of farm¬ 
ing is incapable of easy and quick acquirement, every 
farmer knows; but that the science, the theory of fann¬ 
ing, as well as the handicraft, should be expected to be 
obtained more easily, and in less time, than those of the 
other professions, is, of all human errors, the most unac¬ 
countable. It is true, the boy raised upon a farm, and 
diligently performing the usual labors of a working far¬ 
mer, will acquire the handicraft of the art by the time 
he is of lawful age, without the aid of school education— 
he may do so without being able to write his name. But 
then what sort of a farmer is he? A mere mechanical 
operator, who is obliged to follow the patterns and exam¬ 
ples of his predecessors, being incapable of improving 
them in form or substance, not knowing anything of the 
theory of their operation, or upon what principles they 
may be changed for the better. The common black¬ 
smith knows not why he blows the bellows—he only 
knows he increases the heat of his forge by it, but he 
knows not why; and so the merely practical farmer 
knows that by doing certain things he will produce cer¬ 
tain results, if the season be propitious, because such 
things produced such effects in his predecessor’s time, but 
he knows not why! If the blacksmith and the farmer 
knew all about the theory upon which their labors depen¬ 
ded for their effects, how much more effectively, and with 
how much more certainty of results, would they not both 
labor? I have seen stable manure applied to land alrea¬ 
dy too rich in such materials, and have heard wonder 
expressed because it did not produce results there equal 
to those it produced on land where it was wanted. I have 
seen lime applied to land wherein there was already a su¬ 
perabundance, and have seen it withheld when it was 
much wanted, all because the operators were unacquaint¬ 
ed with the chemistry that properly belongs to their pro¬ 
fession. Suppose the dairy woman knew the theory of the 
operation of churning, the philosophy, if you please, of 
the separation of the butter from the milk or cream, how 
many hours oY hard labor would such knowledge not save 
her, and how much more butter would she not obtain 
from her milk. Even in the kitchen of every farm house, 
yes, every city dwelling house, there are numerous chem¬ 
ical operations constantly going on, which if properly un¬ 
derstood, would result greatly to the advantage and com¬ 
fort of all. The simple preparation of a cup of coffee, 
will depend for its result upon a chemical operation, and 
the beverage will be good or bad, according as it shall be 
prepared in accordance with correct chemical principles. 
Generally, cooks have made coffee so often under the in¬ 
struction of others, that they know how to make it pro¬ 
perly, but they have not the least idea of the philosophy 
of the work. The same may be said of all other opera¬ 
tions in cooking. But the greater interests, such as mak¬ 
ing, saving, and applying manures; analyzing soils, se¬ 
lecting and applying renovators, (lime, &c.,) and mixing 
soils: these all require a knowledge of chemistry, theo¬ 
retical and practical. There are but few farms that have 
not different qualities of soils, in different places, in ex¬ 
cess. Here, a low, “ sowr” bottom; there, an arid sand 
hill; here, a dead clay, and by the side of that river a 
wide margin of black vegetable mold. How speedily 
would the truly scientific farmer commence carrying sand 
to the clay, and clay and sand to the vegetable mold, and 
the latter to all the others—and by thus mixing the vari¬ 
ous soils, render the whole fertile? If he be in doubt 
whether the soils of his various fields contain the neces¬ 
sary quantity of lime, how easily can he ascertain that 
fact, and if they do not, apply the proper quantity of 
this renovator. Possibly his soil is rich enough in vege¬ 
table organic matter—and if so, he ascertains the fact, 
and applies no more of that class of manures, but resorts 
to chemical renovators. And probably the reverse turns 
out to be the case—he has found lime and potash enough 
in the soil, and wants vegetable matter, and he applies it. 
In fine, a knowledge of chemistry, vegetable physiology, 
and a modicum of common sense, will enable him to as¬ 
certain what articles of manure his various fields require, 
