Aug. 
264 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
This library should include books belonging to all those 
departments of science that affect agriculture. The 
practice of husbandry and gardening in all their branch¬ 
es, including the works of Young, Sinclair, Loudon, 
Stephens, Johnston, Thaer, Colman, Downing, Thomas, 
kc. &c. Works illustrating the condition of agriculture 
in foreign countries—voyages and travels, as the narra¬ 
tive of the U. S. exploring expedition, &c. In chemis¬ 
try the writings of Berzelius, Gmelin, Liebig, SprengeL 
Knapp, Johnston, Norton, &c. The works of Torrey, 
Gray*Darlington, Eaton, Sprague, Lindley, Hooker, 
Sec., in botany 5 Lyell, Agassiz, Hitchcock, Mantell, 
Miller, and the various state geologists, should be rep¬ 
resented in their most important productions; Dana, 
Beck and Alger, in mineralogy; Kollar, Harris, Kirby 
and Spence, in entomology. 
The Natural History of New-York: Transactions of 
State Agricultural Societies; Journals, including all 
agricultural periodicals of the United States. Silliman’s 
Journal, Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of 
England, Journal of the Highland and Agricultural So- 
cietj 7 of Scotland, and the more important Chemical and 
Scientific Journals of Europe, should be found in this 
Farmer’s Library. The cabinet should contain speci¬ 
mens of useful vegetable productions and articles de¬ 
rived therefrom—'native and foreign, as seeds, roots, 
fruits, prepared articles of food, a complete herbarium 
of native and cultivated plants, special collections of 
grains, grasses, noxious weeds, &c. Certain animal pro¬ 
ductions as wool, woolen cloths, skeletons and prepara¬ 
tions illustrating animal anatomy and physiology; col¬ 
lections of small animals and insects injurious or useful 
to the farmer; specimens of soils, marls, clays, peat, 
plaster, kc .; illustrations of general and special geology 
and mineralogy; collections of various fertilizers; models 
of implements, &c., with whatever, of an industrial na¬ 
ture, may be interesting to the farmer. 
The Laboratory—the most important of these de¬ 
partments—should consist of several rooms of moderate 
dimensions, and might very appropriately occupy a high, 
one-story wing, erected on the end of the main building. 
It should be fitted up for analytical purposes, with a pro¬ 
per arrangement of furnaces. Shelves, drawers, tables, 
an unfailing supply of water, and the usual complement 
of balances, glass, porcelain and platina apparatus, with 
chemicals, &c.; in short, every convenience for prosecut¬ 
ing chemical research. It should be furnished under the 
direction of a competent chemist. 
The expense of such an establishment would vary with 
the situation, the size and equipment of the building. 
It is probable that an expenditure of two thousand dol¬ 
lars, would erect a building, and furnish a laboratory 
sufficient for the incipient operations of such society. 
Though much might be advantageously appropriated in 
furnishing the library and cabinet, they need not at first 
be put in a state of forwardness. As soon as sufficient 
means have accumulated, the building should be erected, 
the lecture room and laboratory furnished, and the other 
departments filled afterwards by the annual income. 
These equipments being provided, it remains to put 
them into the hands of a competent person, under whose 
directions they shall work out results beneficial to the 
society—results commensurate with the expenditure 
of means and the greatness of the object to be accom¬ 
plished. Very much depends on the person who is ap¬ 
pointed to control the laboratory,—the chemist of the 
society. He is to be the chief means of the society’s 
usefulness. His intellect and labors are to give tone and 
consideration to the establishment. The society may 
possess an ample building, a perfect laboratory, a com- 
plete library and fine collections; it may furnish abund¬ 
ant funds and exhibit sufficient signs of prosperity, but 
if it employs a take-it-easy, behind-the-times sort of a 
man, it might as well dig for coal in New-York as an¬ 
ticipate any good. 
A Man is wanted, one who unites the requisite of the 
philosopher and the man of business; a man of energy, 
activity, of profound knowledge in the natural sciences, 
skilled in the processes of scientific research, of original 
investigating habits of thought; one who can project 
and accomplish discoveries; who can increase the means 
and compass the ends of philosopic inquiry. He should 
be educated under the most accomplished masters of 
this and the old world, from those whom the voice of 
nations has pronounced worthy to judge. He should 
withal be versed in the practical operations of husbandry, 
and possess an extensive fund of knowledge in all that 
relates to the empirical part of agriculture, that he may 
be able to elucidate and elevate it by science. He should 
possess the qualities of a good public speaker,—fluency 
in speech, clearness in explanation, attractiveness in 
manner; and to crown all his accomplishments, he should 
ardently love his mission—would it be other than a di¬ 
vine one?—literally “making the desert bud and blos¬ 
som like the rose.” 
Could the services of such a man be secured for the 
society, and he be liberally furnished with the means of 
investigation, the resulting advantages could be scarcely 
overrated. His labors would be worth thousands of dol¬ 
lars annually, to the society, in a pecuniary way, while 
the intellectual waking up that he must necessarily 
cause, would be attended with blessings which eternity 
only can estimate. There are certain manufacturing es¬ 
tablishments in our country, that pay competent men 
$2,500 annual salary, and even more, and make money 
out of them at that. Science is susceptible of as valua¬ 
ble applications to agriculture, as to any other art, and 
is there any manufacturing company that has so much 
capital invested, or so great interests at stake, as the far¬ 
mers of one of our large counties? 
But with our full equipment of means, and the secur¬ 
ed services of an accomplished man of science, it may 
be asked, what shall be done? The general statement 
that science is to be applied to agriculture, is not suffi¬ 
cient. We want something definite. Let us be inform¬ 
ed the details of a plan. I may, however, partially sa¬ 
tisfy a proper curiosity in pointing out some of the most 
obvious paths of pursuit that promise important re¬ 
sults. 
This may be best accomplished by tracing the suppos¬ 
ed progress of such an institution. Things must be done 
by strict system. One of the valuable privileges of the 
members would be having analyses of their soils, or if 
natural fertilizers, made at so Iowa rate as barely to pay 
the expense. It would be unjust to attempt to furnish 
analyses without charge, for thus, in one year, the work 
