1853 . 
53 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
highest encomiums, or offering the highest re¬ 
wards, for actions and services which have been 
of such general and unrestricted good. The ex¬ 
periment can never be repeated, but the effect is 
for all time. His peaceful and quiet home needs 
no music from the trumpet of fame to make it 
more happy; but if that class which he represents, 
wishes to attain and maintain the first position in 
society, let them acknowledge and appreciate his 
good example. If I shall have caused, by this 
communication, the young sons of the soil to es¬ 
teem and value the character of the modest and 
amiable old South Branch Patriarch, George 
Renick, of Ross county, Ohio, I shall be amply 
compensated. W. Marshall Anderson. Chil- 
licothe, Dec. 9, 1852. 
Agricultural Museum. 
That improvement is a distinctive feature on the 
face of nearly every county of this state, is gene¬ 
rally admitted • and that the position of the far¬ 
mer is rapidly rising to a level with society in its 
best moral and social relations, is probably true. 
A dark shadow broods, however, over many an 
incredulous mind, unwilling to yield superiority, 
or even common fellowship, to science, over the 
narrow claims of practice. The progress of sci¬ 
ence is retarded, by the ignorance of those who 
defend the claims to merit of the merely practical 
man, and deride, for want of argument, the terms 
theory and theoretical. This practice, openly 
avowed by the uninformed, or tacitly admitted by 
interested persons, acts with force upon the mul¬ 
titude, which are generally more ready to follow 
than to lead, operating as a barrier to state as well 
as individual advancement. 
A recent pleasant walk through the agricultural 
rooms, occupied by the State Society, in the old 
State House, at Albany, strongly impressed the 
above thoughts upon my mind, -when a stranger 
present inquired of what use was the collection of 
grains and other seeds—of vegetables of enormous 
growth—of fruits and implements? Did not every 
practical farmer have a knowledge of all these 
matters? 
Of what use is the science of botany to a far¬ 
mer? Why need a fisherman study natural histo¬ 
ry ? Is there any probability of his mistaking a shad 
for a black-fish? or will any man remain ignorant of 
the practices of a misquito or a crow? What then 
is the use of these collections to the practical man? 
It might fairly have admitted of inquiry at the 
same moment, of what use to such a man is a 
mind? Surely not much beyond the making of 
money ^ for the improvement of the mind or the mo¬ 
ral faculties, makes no draft upon the time of the 
merely practical. The questions, how 7 ever, might 
have been answered by pointing out in the same 
rooms, a mass of 'phosphate of lime, from Essex 
county, and its effects upon the wheat plant, and 
by showing, that as science has discovered its va¬ 
lue, the farmers of Great Britain, and their 
friends, made large offers to purchase the entire 
deposit at Crown Point. 
And again, the extraordinary specimens of iron, 
in nearly a pure state, recently received from Mr. 
Watson of Essex county, were discovered by 
theorists who knew their practical uses. 
The questions may be answered in another form, 
by pointing out the errors and losses arising from 
a want of knowledge; for instance, copper mines 
were opened in the west of Scotland, and at last 
abandoned after a large expenditure of capital, 
because the ores did not yield sufficient copper to 
pay the expenses. After a period, the waste Or 
rubbish was analyzed, and found to contain 11 per 
cent of nickel, a metal used extensively in the 
production of German silver, worth about $2 per 
pound, or more. In this case the practical mi- 
ners knew not the value of the substances or ores 
in which they worked. So many instances may 
be cited of our own people seeking for coal where 
science forbids a search. Others found iron py¬ 
rites, deeming it gold. Now a limited scientific 
knowledge would have saved these wasted dollars 
and disappointed hopes. A walk through the ag¬ 
ricultural rooms, or the adjoining rooms, would 
have led either party to inquiry, and afforded the 
knowledge, or shown the need of it. 
It is by frequenting such museums that the 
young and the old may be taught by the eye to dis¬ 
tinguish correctly the various materials—earths, 
salt, and most of the important productions of 
nature, and many of arts : there they may be 
taught to love and admire nature, while they fix 
in the memory the works of the Creator. 
In this respect the city of Albany is assuming 
an honorable position. Her literary and scienti¬ 
fic institutions have been warmed into existence 
by liberal spirits; they have received a small por¬ 
tion only of public patronage, but they have ob¬ 
tained the good will of the people, who freely take 
advantage of their halls and museums, evincing a 
taste for such intellectual pursuits as honorable 
to the patrons as to those who visit them. It is 
suggested that some plan or system be devised for 
ascertaining the number of persons who annually 
visit the museum and rooms of the Agricultural 
Society, that the advance of science may be in 
some measure observed by the increase of atten¬ 
tion. A like arrangement for the halls of other 
institutions would possess equal interest. This 
arrangemeut exists in Europe, and it is on record 
that the visitors to the British Museum in London 
