Cheraw gazette and Pee Dee farmer. [volume] (Cheraw S.C.) 1838-1839, 1839-08-02
From the Cultivator.
Analogy between Medical and AgRi.
cultural Education.

From the Cultivator.
Analogy between Medical and AgRi-
cultural Education.
The physician and surgeon, to qualify
them for their profession Of preserving life,
are required to study the anatomy of the
human frame, the functions Of every part
Of the system, and the nature and quality
Of whatever is requisite to administer to its
wants, or TO remove the ills which flesh is
heir to. Without this knowledge he can
but guess at the cause or seat of the disease,
and of course his prescriptions must be
questionable and often knowledge Of these
matters cannot be acquired by bare prac-
tee. 1t must be obtainedIfrom the teaching
of fages-in schools Of medical science-in
the dissecting room. Hence the laws oi
every civilized people require 10 the pupil
this preliminary study before he is permit.
ted to practice The art professionally. And
no intelligent man, who justly appreciates
,he necessity Of the science to perfect the
art, likes to trust his health and his life in
the hands of pretender, who knows moth.
ing ofthe great principles Of the business
which he processes to practice.
So with husbandry. 1t embraces prin.
ciples Of science, upon which good modes
of PRACTICE must necessarily be based : and
without knowledge ofthese principles, the
labors of the farmer, like the prescriptions
of the quack, must be either guess ,oork or
conf ,ed to the routine in which he has been
instructed. His soil and his animals are
liable to sleriity which he is i'll qualified to
cure. Unless he knows something of the
compositions of the one, the anatomy of the
other, as branches Of natural science, he is
not likely to discover the true cause of an
evil, nor to apply TO it the right temedy.--
We will give a single illustration Of farm
crops. It is now universally admitted, that
the alienation Of crops is highly conducive
to good husdandry. But why is it so Sci.
ence, which expounds the laws Of the Crea.
tor, in regard to inanimase matter, not only
furnishes satisfactory answer TO the ques.
ton. but suggest the classes Of farm crops,
and the order of succession, that ought to
alternate aud follow each other. Again,-
gypsum, lime, mari and ashes, are bench.
cially applied to some soils, to some crops
and in some seasons, while they are not
beneficial upon other soils, to other crops,
and ia other seasons. Science can oaly
explain these seeming contradictions. La
schools of scientific and practical agricul.
,ure, in which series ofexperiments should
be continually going on, these problems
would ere long be solved A; rules Of practice
would be laid down the results, and the nat
ural causes Of these results, would be ex.
Baqfa Bss s!s1 ead 'Hs his haa aRa
provement, or the ambition to improve his
condition, would seek for practice, and profit
from The discovery. In this, agriculture
differs from most other professions, ths
benefits of improvements may be monopo
lized by an individual, or small number
improvements in husbandry are accessible
TO all, who are not too concei,ed to learn, o.
too indo,eut to practice, from the examples
of improvement which are every DAY max
ing around them.
The results of the analogy which VI
have drawn, between medical and agricul
,ural knowledge is this.--.hat science il
equally beneficial to both; that while th'
one is destined to preserve and prolong life
the other is charged with nourishing it, ans
of multiplying its comforts and enjoyments
and that both are consequently, entitled t
the protecting care Of an enlightened COM
munity.