New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-06-11
PATENT OFFICE REPORT. PART III
fCorfiuu@i from Saturdays Trtan-1
A General View Of American Agriculture.
CHAPTER l.
THE POSITION OF AMERICAN FARMERS.


made of wool cotton or lax, has direct persona
interest in the results OF Tillage and Farm Econ
ouy Hunger. and nakedness are wants of ths
most pressing character ana Providence has place,
them alike in every human being In cvzel
communities all are equally dependent on success
fol Agriculture for the means of subsistence. LIE
the soil be permanently exhausted or fail bat fol
year 20 reward the labor of the husbandman snt
no language can adequately describe the inteasit,
of the universal suffering that must ensue. Hence
this branch of national industry has peeaIiar anC
paramount claims 10 the earnest attention and the
fostering care Of all Governments which are re
gardful of the public safety and sustained by com
mon sense.
American Agriculture offers for considerable,
several Interesting and striking features. Prom
nent among these is the fact, that nearly three
fourths Of the labor and capital Of the country are
employed in this single pursuit Agricultursts arc
themselves large majority Of the voters tax pay
ers and consumers Of all domestic and foreign
goods.
Under their republican system, they are mainly
responsible for the good government Of each State
and Of the Union. II their public servants, whe-
Their in Congress State Legislatures, fail to pro-
mote Improvements in Agriculture as recommend
ed by President Washington, the fault is not in
therrepresentatives but in those whoneglect ask
for such aid as Government may properly grant.
American farmers enjoy advantages superior to
those of other nations, for improving both them
selves as q class, ard their landed estates upon
the highest capabilities Of man, and Of the earth
which be cultvates. This Repablic proIers 70
rural tsnd rural science more than one thousand
millions Of acres Of available, farming lands Of
which rs little, or as much may be subdued and
improved, ss wisdom shall dictate. There Is neil
Their compulsion nor restraint in either direction
With this entire freedom Of action, is associated a
degree Of security for life, liberty, property, toera
4
without parallel in the history of the world.
In extent Of ST, facilities for river. lake
and canal navicaton. for variety Of climate, soil,
vegetable and animal products, lJr indefinite and
almost unlimited commercial manufacturing min
eral and hydraulic resources, no other country
equals this There is some danger, however, that
we shall prove unworthy Of so great blessings
that we may forget the source whence they come
abuse the peculiar advantages and the exalted
privileges which we possess, and bsndly cling 10
the barbarous practice of mpoverishng the soil, TO
the incslcuable injury of coming generations In
stead of exhaustpg millions OF acres without any
adequate recompense, instead OF looking Ongingly
TO the wilderness Of forest and prairie at the West
we should search closely into the lands already
under the plow, and learn what can be done, to
add two or three and four fold to their present pro-
ductiveness The time has at last arrived when
it is indispensable to the continued prosperity Of all
the older states, that the principles both Of reno
waiting and exhausting cultivated fields, be
thoroughly and universally understood
SECTION II-A fep facts about Soils, Plants and
animals.
Soils contain, as a general thing, not more than
one part in thousand Of the atoms in an available
condition, which nature consumes in forming a
crop of any kind This statement expresses a fact
of great practical Importance for the outstanding
Of these fertilizing atoms is the first step toward
fipU he n fha ri
the matter in the soil, which makes crops in one
OF its atoms, and forms manure in
another condition OF the atoms, that the farm.
er should learn to preserve from waste and loss.
Soils of different degrees Of productiveness,
where ther mechanical texture and physical prop
critics are alike always contain unlike quantities
of the food OF crops. 1t seems to make little differ
ence hcw small is the amount Of the lacking ingre-
dent in the composition Of cultivated plants Its
absence is fatal to the further growth Of the crop
after its appropriate aliment fails in the soil II il
easy to discover the wisdom Of this universal Law
Suppose Nature should organize grass grain and
other plants which the daily food Of all the
higher orders of animals, as well without bone
earth phosphate of lime) as with that mineral -
Wonld IL be possible for such grass and grain 10
yield to the blood of domestic animals and TO that
Of man himself that solid earthly matter which i'm
parts strength TO human bones and to those oxen
horses, sheep and swine Certainly not, Al.
iron is hlWdb present IN the tOD1 ana blood
Of animals, 70 farmer ever killed a calf pig or an
Ok, which had iron for the frame ofits system No
anatomist ever saw a bone in the body of person.
formed OF other earthly atoms than such as PrOyi
1ence bad fitted for this peculiar function in the an
mal economy.
The brains and muscles OF all animals contain
both sulp hur and phosphorus rs constituent ele-
nents II their daily food derived as it s from the
SOIL lacked either sulphur or phosphorus, must not
dscol N air risln fpIu
weakness and disease and finally result in pre-.
nature DEATH To prevent consequences so disss-
Tous and so obvious Nature refuses to organise
plants without the presence in the SOIL in an arai
,be form, of those peculiar atoms adapted alike TO
he wants of vegetable and animal vitality. This
wise provision should be carefully studied by
very one, who desires 10 enjoy sound health and |
long and happy life Most Of the Ills that flesh
s heir to- as well as most OF the malad;es of |
plants have their origin in the violation of Natures
avs.
The growth and constitutional vigor OF all living
beings, not less than the revolution of the earth on
is axis, are governed by immutabe laws One of |
hese appears to be- that an atom Of carbon lchar
oa) shall not perform the function of an atom of
ron nor can an atom of iron perform the office of |
IN atom Of carbon or that of any other element
oncerned in the organism Of plants and animals.
here are only some fiteen kinds Of elementary
odies used by nature in forming every vegetable
nd animal substance produced on the farm in the
richard, or in the garden.
The science of Rural Economy consists in the
} stematic study of Atoms, and of the Laws by
7hich they are governed, whether they exist in
old or crumbling rocks in loose earths in vegeta-
lie or animal mold, in fermenting manure, in the
wing tissues and cells of organized beings or in
he ioTm Of invisible gases diffused through the
tmosphere. Every prodact of agricultural labor
either a vegetable or animal substance; and
its production not an atom of new matter is called
ito existence. In the language Of science, all
latter which is neither vegetable nor animal. in.
uding air and water, is mineral. Ali minerals are
ther solids, like sand, clay and lime, or liquids
ke water, or gases, like common air. The far
er deals largely with atoms in each Of these
rms hence he should be familiar with the sew
raj sciences which treat of natural phenomena
! witnessed IN the mineral, vegetable and animal
he should know that plants alone can
losist on mineral, or disorganized food-that if
lere were no plants in the ocean nor on land.
either marine nor land animals could have a be.
g. In the absence OF all vegetation, it is obvious