Des Moines courier. ([Ottumwa] Iowa) 1848-1854, 1853-06-30

10 know that they are becoming more
numerous; bu, the prejudice against edu.
Gated farmers; the con,emp, even, may
say, against an agricultural literature.
still prevails to a very great extent
Book farming is yet common and wide
ly extended term of reproach; or in 9th
er words, the application of science to
Agriculture, is looked upon too much in
the ligh, of blowing in kid gloves
most illiberal, erroneous. and may say,
ungrateiul prejudice. For let me say,
that farming is either guess work, or i,
is the result of the operation of fixed
laws, which it 10 the business Of science
to discover and teach, and that. if i, be
the latter, il requires more perhaps than
any other employment, for its successful
and profitable developenent, the aid OF
science; knowledge of those principles
which the man Of science, emured in
his laboratory, and surrounded by his
crucibies and re.orts. analyzing, COM
bining. and classifying has discovered and
furnished in Agricultural chemistry
those principles which the Geoiogis.. in
his explorations among the rocks in the
caves and fissures of the earth, and in
his geological surveys has elucida,ed;
and the Botanis,, who has given US his
tory OF vegetables. trees. plants and flow
ers; the Zoologist who tells us about The
insect foes of our crops; the Me,eorolo.
g'st, who treats o: the atmosphere, rain
and climate; in short, all those important
natural sciences. of daily practical ap.
plication TO Farming, and which have
cost life time of labor and devotion on
the psrl of the noblest intellecss the world
has produced. Indeed. my friends. we
can't afford, farmers can, afford. to get
along without these accumulated treas !.
ures Of science. the great code of natural
law, these demonstrated facts, which tell
US OF the elementary principles of every
plant We raise; The laws of its life; the
food on which il lives; the soil in which
il thnves: the best mode of its cultiya-
ton. and the greatest possible results to
be attained with the least labor and ex-
pense; which analyses our soils for US.
reducing them into their elements and
pointing out the origin and properties of
each; which points out with unerrirg
certainty wha, crops are best adapted TO
certain soils. and the various changes
and alterations which are advisable;
which demonstrates that however fertile
and productive farm may be at one
period, j, will deieriorate; the causes
that will produce that deterioration, and
the remedy TO be found in the various
ierializing IN anures and chemical agents,
the properties of which .hey will ex-
plain to US, and adjust them in quantity
and quality to meet every emergency.
You will no. understand me as assert
ing that these principles and laws are
wholly unknown to the practical Farm
er, and 10 every practical Farmer, be.
canse such is not the case. Experience
and observation have taught them, TO a
certain extent, without the aid of science.
Butt mean that observation and exper-
ience alone. will never discover all that
the farmer ought to know about the Art
of culture, and what | wish tosnrge is
the importance OF making this branch of
education an object of more prominence.
The acquisitions. suggestions and dis
coyeries which science is every day ma
king. should not be confined to the IL
brary of the scholar, or to the lecture
room of the professor, but should be
diffused. 1t should be the object Of ev.
cry citizen, and of every legislature, to
encourage the universal diffusion of ag
ricultural knowledge; to found and en-
dow Agricultural schools and colleges,
and to promote the wide circulation of
an able periodical agricultural literature,
embodving the latest suggestions, opini-
ons. experiments, observations, and facts
in connection with Agriculture. The
Farmers themselves must do this, and il
will no, be done wi.hou, their co-opeva-
ton.
To farmers. therefore. | would say, in
justice to yourselves. and to agriculture
as an interest, encourage in the first place
the acquisition OF sound agricultural
lea arning, and put down the sentiment,
wherever i. prevails that education is
no, as necessary to the farmer, as to those
engaged in the other professions. Gull
,i,a,e pride of class--a pride of pro-
fession--no. that kind OF pride which
consists in owning broad acres; in pos.
sessing large hocks and herds, and in
raising good crops merely; which is sat
isfied with ploding along in the same
beaten track, blowing in the same fur
row to precisely the same depth, grow
ing the same kind Of crops in the same
way. and doing in all things precisely
as their fathers did before. and acting
constantly on the principle that there il
nothing new under the sun; tha. is salts.
fled with the teachings of experience
however limited, narrow and unsatisfac-
tory il iAay be. and looks at results with
out thought or care for the causes
which produced them, or ever enquirine
whether other causes would not produce
better results; but that nobler kind o
pride which regards the farmer. not as I
mere laboring machine, bu, as rational
progressive and responsible being, ant
farming as science, governed py ixe.
laws as well as an art dependan, upor
the practical application of those laws