The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1842-02-05

A CHRISTMAS GIFT TO THE YOUNG
AGRICULTURISTS OF THE UNITED
STATES.
"Say unto wisdom, thou art my sister;
and call understanding thy kinswoman.
By JOHN S. SIMMER; WAsnINGToN CITY.
(ConcIudc

Let those who would deride or under
value the labcrs of agricultural writers
tell, ifthcy can, what American husban-
dry has derived from the experience and
reflections Of Taylor, as set forth in the
practical essays of Arator, and from the
more analytical and scientific investga-
tons of Runn, in the South; and from
such men as Lowell and Colman and
Buc, in the North. BE assured, tlllers
Of the soil, there is no occupation which
opens wider sphere for or admits of
more benefits from scientific invesliga
ton and their recorded results than
yours With our United States Society,
and all its instruments and facilities pro-
perly organized and arranged as lead
ing branch Of the great "Natona. lnstl-
lutlon," the whole animal and vegetable
Kingdoms will be open before you, pour
ins through every sense and faculty both
wisdom and delight. And this brings me
again to the leading purpose of this adj
dress-to solicit your support, in the
manner pointed out i'll It's Constitution, to
the Agricultural Society now formed at
tho scat OF Government for the whole u
niled States Among the early fruits OF
such an association we may hope for the
establishment OF an extensive agricultural
library and model farm, where new grains
and grasses, and plants, and fruits, sent III
from abroad, may be propagatcd, and, if
found valuable and adapted to our climate
their roots and seeds may be collected and
gratuitnusly distributed through all the
States of the Union. All substances pro-
posed As manures mav,under its auspices,
be analysed, tried, and compared on all
the varities Of soil which may, if neces-
sary, be compounded for the purpose Of
experiment, while its annals will record
and It's memoirs proclaim the results. A
great agricultural school will Of course
form a part OF the plan Of such an associ
alton. To that our young men may
come, as to the great schools of science in
Paris, to be freely taught and qualified to
deliver lectures in State colleges and else
where on agriculture, chemistry, botany;
horticulture, mineralogy, natural history,
and comparative anatomy. Is it unrea-
sonable to hope that such an associations;
counlenanced as it will be by men of Just
weight OF character in the several States,
will possess an influence that will ensure
to il Il portion of tina! liberal fund beslow-
ed by the muniicence of Mr., Smithson
for the ''diilusion of useful knowledge
among mcn9' For what knowledge so
useful as that which leads, as it advances.
direc " TO augment the means of human
subsistence and comiorR Though neces-
silv is the mother of invcntiolethe body
must be fed before the mind can phloso-
phize. If animated by that sense of Gu
ty and pride of understanding which be-
comes those whom God hath emphatically
enjoined to "rcplenish and subdue the
earlh,' will they not naturally desire, by
more thorough knowledge of their nature
and properties,t 10 extend their appointed
dominion "over every living thing that
movelh upon the earth, and every herb
bearing seed which is upon the face of the
earth, and every tree in the which is the
| fruit ofa tree bearing seed?' In all these you
may be instructed by the fields, the expe-
riments, and the lectures of the United
States Agricultural Society. No longer
need you acknowledge your ignorance of
their native haunts, the principles of their
growth, and their peculiar uses; and,where
any thing is left untold or misrepresented
there will be left gap for your ingenuity
to fill up, or an error for your penetration
to discover and expose Take, for sim
pie and solitary example of the nature Of
such lectures. the nut Of any common tree,
or the seed Of any rulgr plant. How in
teres'ing would be the developments Of
the professor, beginning with its defni-
ton and termination, and proceeding to
its growth by the root and by the stem,
the action ofits leapcs and its aow rs, and
so on to its maturatlon, its longevity, ard
finally, to its DEATH Ask respectable
young farmer, whose lot is to be that of
an agriculturalist through life, this first
question in his catechism: What IS a
seed9 and with too many the answer
would be-a seed. Why, seed is a
seed! whereas, in the books or in the lee
ture room of our agricultural society, he
would be told that seed is living body
detached from its parent, and capable,
under certain circumstances, of growing
into new individual OF the same size and
species. Yet it does not follow that it
will reproduce all its parental peculiari-
ties; for that entire dependence can only
be had upon the leaf bud. The seed Of