Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1845-04-25
THE FA NJ r.

"Thp farmer must acquaint himself with the
nrincin'es of his art. It's foundation is laid in
knowledge, and its successful practice depends
upon individual skill. OF late years the scien-
ces have laid open vast resources for the farmer.
-Geolorv, Botany, and especially Chemistry.
have already taken rapid steps towards rerolu>
tionizinr the practice of agriculture. IT no lon
ger answers for a man TO quote his father as the
| hest authority. We must 60 higher now and
follow the laws Of NATURE. Let us not be I'M
2ers,ood 20 .rean that every farmer must become
a'chenist in the strict sense of the term, al
though 10 a certain degree he must be one. lie
is a practical chemist already, and he should be
in A measure a theoretical one that is, he should
be a reasoning man in respect to the operations
he carries on. lie should be able to see the
cause when a certain effect is produced, and to
understand why The various processes which he
follows are necessary, and what are wrong and
wha, are rlrht. This does no, involve neces,
sarilv an acquaintance with all the technical
terms Of science-term how so much the
dread Of the uneducated farmer; hut he should
understand the names of things he uses, and not
ask the chemist who !abors for his benefit TO
perform his impossibility of finding names for
substances which a man can comprehend with
out finding them out.
"But it is not, after all, the names which most
concern the farmer, although, in order to be a
rational one, he must understand them. The
substances themselves are what he is interested
in, and their application in his business. lie
ought to understand the relative value of LITER
en-, manures and their adapiedness TO particular
soils or crops The preparation, improvement
and management of manures in order to secure
their highest effect the composition of soils
and plants and the effects produced by the latter
growing in the former to exhaust them and
: render them unproduc,ive /; in fine, he mus
/. know the whole relations ofthe vegetable, min
eral and animal world.-The farm should be re-
-, oarded an outdoor laboratory, where every pro-
e cess is regulated by rule as strict asthe chemis
obeys in his. II we should stop to give instan
ces to substantiate the value II this kind o
: knowledge, we should soon Gil a volume ; 70
=. there is no process in the whole art that woult
q not hear US out.-Therefore we need not do il
n We are well aware Of the prejudice which ha
heretofore existed against book -farming-a pre-
iadice which is rapidly disappearing, and whicI
was the child Of ignorance.
at eanno, be possible that agriculture alon'
!, of all the arts must stand aloof from the aids OF
= lered by science. All other industrial occupa
e lions owe their elevation and Importance To IT,
p And what may not farming be when The farmer
L - IT, 4 - 4 -.
e in the full realization of the dignity OF his ca'Iln9
c becomes The thoroughly informed man he ougi'
/. to be-; and there is no sufficient reason why an.
2 man in this country should be ignorant OF all th'
e improvements that have been made in agrIcul
: ture, and equally true is it that, knowing them
y there is no reason why he should not put then
in practice. We are a reading people f; we min
d, ole with each other; what one does is seen an
y known BY all. The distinction OF classes is on
> " nominal, and, in all that pertains to ihe com