Wisconsin herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1846-1849, 1848-10-07
ADDREgS
OF the Hon. John G.. Spencer,
az the Fair Of the State ,4griculiwal Soci-
efy, September Z, 1913.

York State agricultural Society,"
That nave obeyed your summons to de-
liver the usual annual address to your SOcie
ty and its guests, at a very short notice, and
amidst engagements that allowed little time
for preparation, is TO he regarded more as
an evidence of readiness to contribute what
ever may, to the cause in which you are
engaged, than of confidence in the value of
the contribution. In rejecting how could
best aid in accomplishing your object, the
obvious idea at once occurred, that from
any one engaged in the pursuits which have
occupied my life, you could not expect any
information ON the practical business of ag-
riculture. llstead of daring to enter such
field, in the presence Of gentlemen who are
not only practical and scientific farmers, but
who are distinguished through the broad eX
tent of our country for their atainments,
their skill, their devotion, and their success
in this most essential department of human
industry, it would become me rather to kneel
mt your foot-stool and with the submission
of infancy in such knowledge, learn from
you its first elements.
But the promotion of agriculture depends
upon other things besides The mere science
of production. The highest skill may he
applied to the improvement of soils, the
most patient industry To their cultivation, land
the largest crops OF the most useful grams
may be gathered; cattle and horses such as
those which here challenge admiration, may
be produced; thousands upon thousands may
attend upon your annual festivals, at once
to testify and to crafty their interest in such
exhibitions; the loyeliest part of creation
may grace your assClhhages by their COM
binations of skill and taste ia arranging your
i 4 u III. L
beauty, and may add the higher and more
enchanting grace of their approving smiles;
and although our hearts may swell with Joy
at these evidences Of the great success which
has attended the abors of this Society-yet
the enquiry remains how shall these mag
nifcent results Of toll, skill, science and en-
terprise, be made to reinunerate the labor
and the capital employed in their produc
ton? In other words, where shall a mar
ket be found for them! where shall the best
market be found?
As this is probably the only topic upon
which YOU could expect me to advance any
thing that might be useful or acceptable,
shall confine myself almost entirely to it
Before entering upon it however, allow me
to make few general remarks on the pres
ent state ofthe science Of production. In no
department of knowledge has such eXtraor
binary progress been made within the pres
ent generation, as in the development of
the laws of nature which govern the germi-
nation, nutriment, growth and perfection of
seeds and plants. The simple truth that
plants, like animals, have their peculiar food
in the soil that what is nurrltIuu, 10 one. IS
useless or injurious to another, unl0cks the
whole mystery OF agriculture and reduces it
to question of t;ct, or rather of many facts.
Modern Chemistry, although it may not
nave discovered this truth, has illustrated
and sustained it, and given it a force and
application of which our fathers had no con-
cepton. Every intelligent farmer now
knows that be must feed his wheat, bis corn,
his barley, his oats, his potatoes and his tur-
nips. with the same cane and Discrimination
that he would feed his cattle, his horses, and
his sheep. es, aud he Is told with what he
is to feed them. by the analysis of the
component parts Of plants, it IS asceriained
of what chemical aud other elements they
are constituted, and then the application of
these elements to their subsistence, becomes
as easy and familiar as the preparation of
food for cattle.
For these great results we are indebted to
the labors of scientific men who have devo-
ted their lives to the study and TO innumer-
principles could be established. And these
men have been mostly retired students and
professors, who have derived their facts
from the observations of practical agrlcultu-
ristS. And am sure that III this couneXlon
your grateful sympathies will concur in
awarding the highest merit to Professor Lie
big. of Germany, whose work on Agrlcultu-
raj Chemistry has opened such new and
comprehensive views, a 10 form an epoch
in the intellectual history of the world. !
advert to this great triumph OF science, for
the purpose of dspeling, it possible, the pre-
iudice against abstract Investigation and SCI
entific pursuit. The man who acts upon a
single. or at most a few experiments, with
out understanding the principles which gov
ern them, and vino pr0cialnis the result as
n general law, Is essentially Quark, I'D eE-
cry profession aud in every department of
Knowledge. Bur he who has many facts
collected from distant sources, arising under
the most varied circumstances, who exam
ines them carefully aHd compares them with
each other 80 rs To separate the accidental
from the permanent and Inyarablc, and fix
e. these beyond dspuJe-reiuces his elc-
,nents into a science, and becomes safe
r1itie. Few practical men can devote the
necessary time u such investigations, or the
necessary reflection and study To draw from
them these useful results. And hence it
was that until recently, Agriculture was not
n science. but collection of confused, mis-
cellaneous and inconsistent facts and ob~er-
vations. fruitful of error aud consequent
loss and injury. md such VIII always be
the consequences of limited. narrow, local
observations and facts, received a. general
truths.
Let me not be understood as diScouraging
observations aud experiments. Tar from IL.
They furnish the elements and mnteral-
for science to work with. But what j. de-
precateJ, Is a reiian-e upon these expert
-reai- before they have rriergoue the anal
- - --..-.E-...-on II ---nn-n. do un-