The Middlebury galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1848-1850, 1849-02-20

| 4 celebrated painter was defeated appllcant iol
filling one of the vacant pannes IN the roiuhda o.
your National Capitol; in disgust he abandons
| the canvass and easel turns his attention TO SCI
entifc pursuits and Morse's telegraph is the re-
suit. 1t is believed that, if every man had his
rioht in the case, a portion of the benefit would
nurc 10 the Brandon blacksmith, who had The first
natent in the United States for moving machine
nv BY electro-magnetsm.
In the same way has improvement been made
in land and ocean carriage. Science detects the
lurking place of the ore sends down the shalt 10
its secret bed and cranes it up TO light. Science
guides the hand that melts and moulds and ham,
mers and turns and Furnishes Science gives to
the iron race horse and iron drafthcrse his tire
less nerve and fiery breath. Science IS increas-
ing their number and breed and speed all over the
! land. We trust when she has reared race wor-
| thv Of their work she will send them through tins
fertile valley, 10 carry hence the produce OF your
fields and work shops and marble mines; and you
! shall haze your reward BY the same means I'M
moyement is going on in all the departments OF
mechanical labor But nowhere else Is 1t more
certain or beneficial in its results than in The i'm
provement Of agriculture. l do not mean that
| iabor-saving or labor doing machines can be en-
poved TO the same extent on the farm as in the
workshop In ploughing, planting and hoelng
and harvesting, on an uneven surface, the work
must always be done, mainly, by human hands.
/ No application of steam will ever superSode the
sweat of the brow. All the ranting of poetry and
romance on the beauties and pleasures of farm
ing will never make il anything else, or anything
less than work, hard work. Still it is true that
science is laboring directly and certainly for the
benefit of the farmer enabling him to understand
before hand whether Il certain grain can be raised
OH any given portion of land; enabling him 10
make such application of frrtllizing substances as
to secure double the yield from the same land and
labor. Without this you are not certain OF rals-
ing wheat, next year, where you have raised II
this year; nor can you point out any other spoto
ground where YOU are sure to succeed. For you
do not know whether that soil contains the food
on which alone that grain can live. This cannot
be known but by a careful exam nation OF the soil
But it NAV be settled, beforehand, whether The
parcel of land will support the grain you propose
to cultivate. l know that popular opinion i'm
plies, III analyzing soils. great deal oflearning
and cost Men reason like the Syrian leper, the
prophet will come out. and stand, and strike his
hand over the hole, and do some great thing.
when il is as simple as washing three times in the
river Jordan. l may be permitted to fortify my
self by the opinion of Sir Humphrey Davy, who
has done more than any other man TO improve
agriculture. There is no idea more unfounded
than that 4 great devotion of time. and minute
knowledge in chemistry is necessary for pursn-
my experiments on the nature of soils and ma
nurcs.
Nothing can be more easy than to decide
whether soil effervesces or changes color
| by the action of an acid or whether it burns
when heated or what weight it loses by heat
and yet these simple indications may be Of
great importance in system Of agriculture.
The expense is extremely trifling.-A small
closet is sufficient for containing all the mate
rails required The most. important expert
ments may be made by means Of small por-
table apparatus few phials, few acids, 4
lamp and a cruicible, are al that are neccssa-
~. These things being true, it Is in the pow
er Of every town to have the means of anaiy
ling soils. We commend TO this society to
provide an efficient man and apparatus for the
county.
If land is unproductive, the first thing to be
done is to find out the cause. To this the
common method can give no clue 1t may find
Out the fact. but not the cause, and without
knowledge of the cause there can be no RENE
dy. There goes pale and withered dyspep-
tic. What shall be done for him? Why,
bread and beef are GOOD for lean PEOPLE there
tore cram down the beef and the bread. Wait
a little. Are YOU quite sure that mans organs
will digest the f od you give? There is a
plat of land more lean and haggard than the
! >@CiAN
You say put OF the manure and plaster; but
say wall till you know that is what the land
needs.-The land NAV look very fair and still
produce nothing; Ike the deceptive COW in
YOUR pasture, the fatter and sleeker she grows,
the more she wont give milk. First find out
the cause of sterilitr, and then apply the rem
edy. The agricultural chemist will tell you
that if there az salts ofiron in the soil, put OH
lime Is there too much slicious sand, put on
! clav, or other calcareous matter. Is there too
much vegetable matter, fallow it, or pare and
burn it. Is there too little vegetable matter,
then put on manure. Plaster was first applied
as a manure, by a German clergyman,in l76S.
In eighty years it has had every variety of
trial. Il is, by no means, sure of doing good.
There may be enough of it already in the soil.
1t may be applied to grains that will not take
it as food 1t may be sown when too dry. II
demands five hundred times its own weight OF
water before it will be Of any service. Strange
that plaster has not done more good in this
year Of general license, when so little water is
needed for human use Manures are not GER
tain of doing good. The land may be warm
enough, and need fermented manure to enrich
it. 1t may be rich enough and need Infer-
mented manure 10 warm it. There is 4 want
Of care in gathering all tertilizing substances
from the dwelling and premises Wool loses
forty per cent OF its weight in washing-this
is the best kind OF manure, but seldom saved
In France the washing of wool is esteemed
equal to manuring three hundred and seventy
thousand acres of land. Manure is often al
lowed to lose its best portion by over and toe
rapid fermentation; and yet it is one of the
easiest things to decide when this takes place
The most inexperienced need no other aic
than common thermometer or a piece of pa
per saturated in the acid of salt Farmers prob
! ably lose much by not housing cattle; ant
muclr more by not sheltering manure from thu
, sun and rain. Care and skill should be ap
Piled to all these things. The land in Yer
mont needs attentive nursing for it has grea
deal to bear. When the decree goes fortl
!, that all the world shall be taxed, the land
holder is in no danger of being sighted. 9th
er species of property, skaiking beneath tn
f surface, may escape the list. and send up thei
annual contributing,-legal Or illegal measur
y in some far-off place of secret assignment