The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-06-13
From the Patent Office Report
A GENERAL VIEW OF AMERICAN AG-
RICULTURE.
CHAPTER |.
the roslrloN OF AMERIoAN FARMEns.

ihE fOoiliON VI ARMENIAN
SECTION. L. Every that eats bread, or wears
cloth made OF wool, cotton, flax, has direct per-
sonal interest III the results OF Tiilagc and Farm
Economy. Hunger and nakedness are wants OF the
most pressing character, and Providence has placed
them alike in every human being. In civilized
communities all are equally dependent on success
ful agriculture for the means Of subsistence. Let
the soil be permanently exhausted, fail but for
year 10 reward the labor of the husbandman, and
no language can adequately describe the intensity
Of the universal suffering that must ensue. Hence
this branch of national industry has peculiar and
paramount claims " the earnest attention ana the
fostering care OF all governments which are regard
iul OF the public safety, and sustained by common
several interesting and striking features. Proini
nent among these is the fact, that nearly three
fourhs Of the labor and capital OF the country are
employed in this single pursuit Agriculturists
arc themselves large majority Of the voters, tax
payers, and consumers OF all domestic and foreign
goods.
Under their republican system they mainly
responsible for the good government Of each State,
and Of the Union. II their public servants whether
III Congress or State Legislatures, iail to promote
improvements in agriculture recommended by
President Washington, the fault is not in their rep
rescntatycs, but in those who neglect To ask tor
such aid as government may properly grant.
American farmers enjoy advantages superior to
those OF other nations, for improving both them
selves class, and their landed estates upon the
highest capabilities of man, and of the earth which
he cutivates. This republic proffers TO rural art
Of acres of available farming lands; Of which as
little or much may be subdued and improved,
wisdom shall dictate. There Is neither compul-
sion re5traintin either direction Whthis entire
freedom Of action is associated degree of security
for life, liberty property, toeratono OF religion, and
exemption from onerous taxes without a parallel
in the history Of the world.
In extent OF coast, facilities for river, lake.
and canal navigation, for variety Of climate soil,
vegetable and animal products, Tor indefinite and
almost unlimited commercial, manufacturing,
Inppr nj and vA IL M
equals this. There Id some danger, however, that
shall prove unworthy of SO great biessings-tlia
We may forget the source whence they come
abuse the peculiar advantages and the exalted
privileges which we possess, and blindly cling TO
the barbarous practice Of impovershng the SOIL
to the incalculable injury OF coming generations
Instead Of exhausng millions Of acres without any
adequate reconipcnse, inst, ad OF looking longingy
the wilderness of forest and prairie at the West,
should search closely into the lands already
under the plough, and learn what can be done to
add two or three and four fold to the present pro-
ductveness. The time has at last arrived when 1t
is Indispensable to the continued prosperity OF all
the older States that the principles both OF renovat
ing and cxhausting cultivated fields be thorough
ly and universally understood
SECTION ll.-AJeo tacts about SOILS plants, and
ariniais.-Soils contain, as a general thing, not
more than one part in thousand of the atoms, in
available condition, which nature consumes in
forming crop of any kind. This statement OK
presses fact OF great practical mportance for the
outstanding of these fertilizing atoms is the first
step toward arresting the Impeachment OF The
earth. 1t ID the matter in the soil, which makes
crops in one arrangement OF Its atoms, and forms
manure in another condition OF the same atoms,
that the farmer should learn to preserve from waste
and loss.
Soils of different degrees of productivencss, where
their mechanical texture and physical properties
alike, always contain unlike quantities of the
food of crops. Ii seems to make little difference
how small Is the amount Of the lacking ingredient
in the composition of cultivated plants. Its absence
is fatal The further growth Of the crop, after its
appropriate alment fails in the soil. IL Is easy TO
discover the wisdom Of this universal law. Sup
pose Nature should organize grass, grain, and
other plants which serve the daily food OF all the
higher orders OF animals as well without bone earth
phosphate of lme) with that mineral, would IT
be possible for such grass and grain TO yield TO the
blood OF domestic animals, and TO that OF man HIM
SELF that solid earthly matter which mparts strength
human bones, and TO those of oxen, horses, sheep
and swine? Certainly not. Although iron is al
ways present in the food and blood of animals, nc
farmer killed calf, apig, OK, which bad
iron for the frame of its system No anatomst ever
aaw a bone in the body OF person formed of Other
earthly atoms than such as Providence had fitted for
this peculiar function IN the animal economy.
The brains and muscles Of all animals contain
both sulphur and phosphorus as constituent cc-
ments II their daily food, derived it is from the
soil, lacked either sulphur phosphorus, mus
not this radical defect in their nourishment soon
induce weakness and disease, and finally result IN
premature DEATH To prevent consequences so dis
astrous and obvious nature refuses TO organize
plants without the presence in the SOIL an an aUdiI
able form, of those peculiar atoms adapted alike tc
the wants of vegetable and animal vitality. This
wise provision should be carefully studied by every
one who desires to enjoy sound health, and long
and happy life. Most Of "thc ills that flesh is heii
to-" well as most of the malades Of plants, have
their origin in the violation Of natures laws.
The growth and constitutional vigor Of all living
beings, not less than the revolution of the earth OF
its axis, are governed by immutable laws. One o
these appears TO be, that atom of carbon (char
coal) shall not perform the functions of an atom
iron; atom % iron perform the office o
an atom Of carbon, or that OF any other elemen
concerned in the organlsm OF plants and animals
There are only some fifteen kinds OF elementary
bodies used by nature in forming every vegetable
and animal substance, produced ON the farm, in the
orchard, or in the garden.
The science OF Rural Economy consists in tho
systematic study of Atoms, and of the Laws by
which they arc governed, whether they exist II
solid crumbling rocks, in loose carths, in vegc
table or animal mold, in ferinenting manure, II
the living tissues and cells of organized beings, o
in the form of invisible gasses dfused through th
atmosphere. Every product Of Agricultural labo
is either vegetable or am animal substance; ane
in it's production not an atom Of new matter !
called into existence. In the language OF science
all matter which is neither vegetable nor animal
including air and water, is mineral All mineral
either solids, like sand, clay and lime; or II
guilds, like water; or gases, like common air. Tn
farmer deals largely with atoms in each Of thee
forms; hence he should be familiar with the scv
cra sciences which treat of natural phenomena a
witnessed in the mineral, vegetable, and anima
kingdoms. lie should know that plants alone cal
subsist on mineral, disorganzed food-that
there plants in the ocean nor on land
neither marine nor land animals could have a be
ing. In the absence Of all vegetation, IL il obviou
that all animals must be carnivorous, or cease
consume organized aliment. Being wholly depcn
dent ON mutual destruction for the means of sui
sistcnce, every day would diminish the aggregat
supply OF food aud the last animal would soon di
Of starvation.
From the above reasoning IL is plain that vcgcta
BILE life is older this planet than animal life; an
that plants may have hourished thousands of yeai
before the lowest type of being which depende
wholly ON organized food for Subsistence was cr'
ated. II will also be that the line Of denarci
ton between animals and plants is well define'
by the fact that the latter can organize the elemen
oi all vegetable and animal substances into the'
compound bodies, which the former cannot IL
All plants produce and increase organized matte
all animals consume and diminish the quantity
organized food.f