Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1842-01-21

in the Congressional Library, under the Sc
yeral departments of Agriculture and Natural
History. The number is, on AGRICUL-
TURE 1922; NATURAL HISTORY,
animal anatomy 81; Zoology, Az; Bo-
,any, 242; Mineralogy and Conchoogy, 81.
Total on Agriculture and Natural History,
] ,l55 volumes. For this collection thanks
are due, in great measure, to the Hon. ID.
ii. Lewis, of Alabama, one Of the vice pre-
sidents for the United States Agricultural
Society.
There may be some whose lip will curl
with contemptuous smile at the very sug-
gcston of any value or pleasure in book
learning for farmer or planter, whose
business is field How much to be pilicd
is the nsensiby of such men to the most
copious and lasting springs of enjoyment
the pleasure which man experiences in the
very process of intellectual accrction! Ina
CINE yourself seated quietly IN your domici
or office, at that still hour when all round
have retired, and become "to dumb forget
fulness prey and not sound is heard
save the chirping of the social cricket, or
the congenial music Of the whsting winds
TO be porting over the pages of some iastinat-
ing and instructive author, finding in every
planned, some hitherto unthought-of prin-
cipe in agriculture developed or striking
character graphically portrayed to be thus
edited and enchanted, taking no note of
time until the morning breaks upon your en-
joyment, and your author is reluctantly laid
dpon the shelf, with heartfelt thanks that he
has scduccd you to forget the world and its
cares, and made you a somewhat wiser
perchance better and more useful man
Who would exchange such teasls of reason
and such pleasures of Imagination for all the
riches of the miser and all the gorgeous and
heartless pageantry of courts Shades of
Scott, of Byron-genius of Bulwer, and of
James, of Macaulcy, and of Irvng-what
do we not owe to you for hours like these :
,'Ah still, though whispered to deceive
Let me thy ictions all believe,
Content from grief one hour 10 borrow
All! still, if DER my distant way,
As through the path of life stray
Hang gathering clouds of future SORROW
Oh, Fancy! gid them with thy ray!'
Let those who would dcride or underval-
he the labors of Agricultural writer's tell,
i they can, what American husbandry has
derived from the experience and reflections
Of Tay Tor, as set forth in the practical cs-
says Of Arator, and from the more analyti-
cal and scientific Investigations of Ruflin in
Il e Southland from such men as Lowell
and Coman and BueI in the North. Be as
snred, tilcrs oftlc SOIL there is no occupa-
ton which opens a wider sphere for, or adj
mlts OF more benefit from, scientific invest
iaatIon and Their recorded results, than yours.
With our United States society, and all its
Instruments and facilities properly organized
and arranged, as a leading branch Of the
great "Natlonal institution the whole ami
NAL and vegetable Kingdoms will be open
before you, pouring in through every sense
and lacl both wisdom and delight. And
this brings me again to the leading purpose
of this address-to solicit your support, in
the manner pointed out in lis constitution, to
the agricultural society now formed at the
seat OF government, Tor the whole United
States. Among the early fruits of such an
ASSOCIATION we may hope for the establish
ment ofnn agricultural library and model
farm, where new grains, and g"o""IIo. and
plants, and fruits, sent in E-e'n abroad, may
he propagated, and, if found valuable and
adapted to our climate, their roots and seeds
may be collected and gra,ulously distributed
through all the States of the Union. All
Substances proposed as measures may, under
| IFS auspices, be analysed, tried, and compar-
ed on all the varieties of soil, which may, il
necessary, be compounded for the purposes
Of experiment, while its annals will record
and lis memoirs proclaim the results. A
great agricultural school will of course form
| IA part ofihc plan of such an association. re
that our young men may come, as TO the
great schools of science in Paris, to be free
" taught and qualified to deliver lectures in
State colleges and elsewhere, on agriculture
cEymi,try, botany, horticulture, mrevalogy
natural history, and comparative anatomy
Is it unreasonable to hope that such an asso.
citation, counenanced as it will be by mel
f just weight of character IN the severa
States, will possess an influence that will in.
sure TO il "A portion of that liberal fund hes.
towcd by the munifccnce of Mr.. Smilhson
for the "diiluson useful knowledge among
men 7" for what knowledge SO useful as tina
Which leads, as it advances, directly to aug
mcnt the means of human subsistence ant
comfort p! Though necessity is the molhe
of invention, the body mus, be fed before th'
mind can phllosophze. Illuminated by tina
sense of duty and pride Of Understandable!
which become those whom God hath emph
aticaly enioined TO "replenish and subdue tn
EARTH" will they not naturally desire, b,
more thorough knowledge of their naiur
IN properties, to extend their appointed do
mnion "over every living thing that movel
upon the earth; and every herb bearing see,
/" which is upon the face of the earth, and eve
ny tree in the which is tie fruit Of ire
bearing seed !" In all these you may b
instructed by the fields, the experiment.
and the lectures oflhe United States Agri
cultural Society. No lorger need you ack
f nowledge your ignorance of their nativ
haunls, the principles of their growth, an
their peculiar uses and, where any thing
left untold or misrep'esented, there will b
left IA gap for your ngenuityto fill up, or a
| error for your penetration TO discover an
, expose. Take, for a simple and solitary eX
, ample Of such lectures the MT Of any com
mon tree or seed nf ann ruloar pt0nt. Ho,