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

"seems to set the vital princiDIe in action, to
expand the air confined in the thousand mic
roscopic cavities of the seed, and to produce
distension of all the organic parts, which
thus have their irritability excited, never
again TO be destroyed except by DEATH
termination being established, by certain
absorption of water and elevation oftempcr-
ature, all tie parts arc enlarged, and new
ones created by muclaginous saccharine
secretion which tho terminating seed pos
sesses."
TI,roughthe annals Of this society you may
learn in what temperature various seeds will
terminate and rpen. and hence, to what lat
itudes they are adapted. Among other adj
vantages to American agriculture, through
its corresponding members, or branch socie-
ties in all the states, it may be expected to
obtain information and give monthly reports
as TO the state of the crops. Such reports
will serve as sort of agricultural thermom-
etcr, by which to indicate the points Of de-
mand and supply, and thus assist in regula-
ting prices. 1t will be for this society, too
to consider how far uniformity ofprices for
produce would be promoted by fostering the
domestic and diminishing our dependence
on foreign consumption. Already is the
most valuable staple of American agriculture
al industry threatened with insupportabe de-
probation, under the effect of manifest de-
termination, on the part of our. best foreign
customer, to look to her own and TO other
countries for the cotton heretofore supplied
from the Southern States.
What, let me ask you, is steam doing for
n rirnfurnV What h,,t tl,,, of ,eepri-
ated capital and enterprise has prevented
the husbandman from making this magic
power subservient to his uses, as it has been
made, and is every day made, more and
more obedicnt TO the purposes of commerce
| of manufactures, and war? Behold how
clearly the application by different classes of
this greatest of all substitutes for manual la
Dor serves to illustrate the effect of combin-
ed wealth and science, applied TO useful OBJ
ects. DO you see steam employed to turn
the furrow, TO sow the seed, to drag the har-
row, to reap the harvest, or to thrash the
grain :! To none of these has it been appli-
ed. But now mark the contrast. The mo-
ment the grain passes from the hand of the
farmer to that Of the navigator, the merchant
miller, and the mill-wright, behold steam be-
comes the agent to take it from his landing,
and bear it to the wharvcs of the crowded
city. There this wonderful agent again takes
1t from the hold of the vessel, and, as by
some power of necromancy, for exercise of
which in times pasta man would have been
burned for witch, steam bears it aloft I'M
seen 10 the hopper, and you see it no more
until it is packed to be exported by steam,
again, to all parts of the world! Is there
any branch in the whole circle of human in
dustry which suffers more for want of capital
in which Improvement is more retarded by
the high price Of labor, than agriculture, and
which needs more the benefit of all labor
saving contrivanccs Would these appli-
cations of steam to the agricultural purpos-
Is have indicated be more in advance OF
what it has already achieved than that which
has been accomplished since Darmin was
deemed an enthusiast for predicting the
time when 1t would "drire the rapid car ~
That in vapor there is a tremendous power
Which science can make subscrvicnt 10 hu-
man wants, is no longer problem but "ear
en io S{a Tie Heart d f'aH a "e It ea
the variety of uses, great and small, 10
mhich H~W get be applied! Why not
then, repeat, have it Telling our timber and
digging our bitches, and sowing and reapine
and lhreshing, as well as grinding our grain
and transporting our flour!
Look, again, at our magnificent exploring
expeditions, to extend the boundaries OF
nautical discovery and astronomical SCIENCE
Who pays for these! The husbandman =
But who asks the Governm' ut to send ou
corps of mneralogists and Botansts into oul
own fields, and mountains, and valeys,t to ex.
plora for new substances to ferilize the
earth, and new vegetables and plants to fur.
nish more elements of subsistence TO the poor
or greater variety to the luxuri,s of the ricl
mans table ! Who shall gainsay, that a.
American forests abound beyond all com.
parison in the richness and variety of thei
growth, SO may our valleys and fields con
tain varions vegetables, yet uncultivated
which may prove equal to that insignificant
) locking root which, though not even know,
N Europe until the close of the 10Th centu
ry, nor planted in Ireland until the com
menccment of the 18th, has Yet long sine,
furnished TO that gallant and il-gGvernet
people from three to .tour.ftths Of their en-
tire foot In England, where obedience t,
the great command of God to increase an,
multiply is restrained by the want of,he alb
soute necessaries of life, the discovery of
new edible root or plant is proclaimed as
great blessing. Thus we see it stated, in
late English journal, that
"At the meeting of the Horticultural So
, ciety on Tuesday, DR.. Lindcy drew atten
ton to new vegetable, lately introduced in
to this country, and grown successfully a
Chiswich, which is likely soon to becom
extensively cultivated for our markets.
= is known by botanisls as the Oxalis Deppi
and the flavor both of the stalks and the III
beers is characteristic, and quite distinct from
!, any thing previously known at our tables
: 1t has been grown extensively in Belgium
from whence it has been introduced here.
: Unprompted by the same necessities, @
by the hope of offered premiums for lhei
: discovery, who shall say how many renal
unknown Or neglected in the vast range ,
;. our climate and territory !planls which, lik