Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1851-07-31
4grientlt1lral,
From the American Agriculturist.
What Farmers Ought to Know.

What Farmers Ought to Know.
Let us see what farmers ought to know
and do, to raise themselves to the charac-
ter of professional men; and what almost
any of them might accomplish in the long
winter evenings, at a trifing cost for
books, and a little more expense of hard
thought and attention.
A farmer ought to understand the
leading principles of chemistry. The
soil heaplods among at the plough tail, is
mere i1lssssl oEss % ITS
shoes when wet, and choking with dust
when dry. 1t is a vast laboratory, full
of many and strange materials, always
in action, warning, combining, changing,
perpetually; to-day receiving accessions
from the heavens, tomorrow, pouring
them into the wide sea, to be again sup.
piled to other lands. The earth is all
but living creature; and he whose busi-
ness has been slanderously said to be
but " of the earth, earthly" should surely
understand the soils nature, its elements,
its likings, and its diseases.
The farmer should understand physiol-
egy. Under his care, he has the noblest
forms of creation-the OK, the horse, the
sheep. Can he spend a life among them,
and not know how the heart beats-how
the nerves thrill-where lie the muscles
what are the principle of action-and
the seats of disease-how the fatgrows-
and how the bones are formed? Can he
be a breeder, who has never studied the
the peculiarities of races? Can he be
anything but an empire, who undertakes
to feed and fatten cattle, without knowing
of what the food is composed, and what
parts Of the body require this Or that ele-
ment?
The farmer should have knowledge
of medicine, and of the elements of sur
gerry; for though, in this respect, when
applied to human ailments, it may prove
that ga little knowledge is dangerous
thing" vet many fine animal is allowed
to become dogs meat, because it's owner
could not distinguish between fever and
an inflammation, set a bone or bandage a
wound.
The farmer should be botanist. The
primeval curse of mother earth was, that
she should bring forth thorns and thistles
and many other noxious weeds besides
have since been added TO her progeny
How great the amount of toll expended
and how serious the loss of crops, from
such plants as Canada thistle, burdocks
turkey weed, and host of others, lei
those tell who have been the sufferers
Many books have been written on sucf
things; many plans have been given fol
eradicating them; but unless the farmer
can distinguish them-unless he knows
their character, histories, and modes o.
growth, how unaided does he go to his
task Besides, botany, in all its shapes
is the natural science of the countryman
How does the seed germinate How
does the tender leaf unfold itself9 How
is the blossom impregnated and the fruit
formed! What will iGure, what improve
each planta All these are questions
which every farmer should have studied
and ascertained. And can any one be
content to spend life in ignorance ol
the names and characters of the trees
and flowers that are so gorgeously spread
around him, painting his fields and woods
with their thousand hues, and rendering
this outward world mass of beauty2
The farmer should be-or shall we say,
s9ould wish to be--a naturalist. No one
has 80 many opportunities of observing
and noting the habits and pecuharities Of
animals, birds, and insects. In some ca
sss, this knowledge may be of inestima-