Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1855-03-28
REASONS WHY FARMERS SHOULD PURSUE THEIR
BUSINESS As A SCIENCE.


REASONS WHY FARMERS SHOULD PURSUE THEIR
BUSINESS As A SCIENCE.
THE following is from the Ohio Farmer,
and as we deem it too good to be lost, we
recommend it to the careful attention of our
readers. We hope its length will not pre-
vent our friends from giving it a studious
perusal.
/. Because Agriculture is a Science.
Every man who has pursued, even moder-
ately, the Science of Vegetable Physiology,
understands perfectly that almost all the
modern improvements in fruit culture have
been made, because men have devoted them
selves to the study of the great facts in re-
gard to the growth of plants and trees; the
circumstances in which they flourish most;
the chemical analysis OF the elements which
compose them, and the notifications of
which they are susceptible, by proper care
and cultivation. Just so in respect to the vari-
GUS soils which the farmer has to manage.
If he knows the chemical elements which
compose them, and those which compose
the various products he wishes to grow, ne
will be able to adapt his crops to his soil,
and his manures to both, in way which
will prove to all that Agriculture has its
laws and that acting in conformity with
them, is the basis of the onl y true art in
farming. For example: wheat contains
gluten and starch in such proportions that
they compose together scrcntyJfrc per cen
tum of its entire substance. Now, if the
farmer undertakes to raise wheat on soil
which does not contain the elements of
starch and gluten, he will fail. His soil will
not give that which it does not possess. His
lost labor and wasted capital will be the
penalty Of his ignorance of the scientific
condition of permanent success. On the
other hand, the knowledge of these condi-
tons, and the application Of them in the ex-
ercise of caution, common sense and reason.
able skill, will bring an abundant reward.
Every department of the great business Of
farming is full of the illustrations of the point
that we are now OH namely, that Agricul-
ture is Science, and that its laws, when
known and applied, will secure results as
certain as any that attend the application of
the laws of Hydraulics in Machinery, or those
of light ard chemistry in the beautiful pro.
ductions Of the Daguerrean art.
2. Because Agriculture pursued as a
Science uith the nccdful caution and pcrsc-
rerance, is a source Of the highest and most
constant pleasure.
No thinking, active mind is content with
mere processes Of muscular effort. 10 such
a mind, the tread,mill of a farmers work,
pursued from generation to generation, in
the same unvarying monotony, is tiresome
enough. The toll becomes doubly toisome,
because it is enlivened by no living and in
quring thought. And the farmer himself
becomes almost as stupid as the cattle
he feeds, except politics, or literature, or re-
ligion, shed at intervals, and from afar, a
beam of cheerful light on his mind. But let
every process have its we'll disgested theory !;
let every piece Of work, while done in its
time, and most efficiently performed, be an
experiment which compares different modes
of manuring or cultivation; let every change
be made on sober thought, and with full
knowledge OF the objects to be gained, and
Of the best and cheapest means Of gaining
them; in short, let the life of true Science
send its healthy pulsations through the whole
system of farmers work, and he feels a
Joy "unfelt before" in every work to which
he sets his hand. His farm becomes his
laboratory. The pleasure felt by the Chem
list or Artist, as he communicates these dis.
coveries which bring the ends Of the earth
together, and revolutonize the social condi.
ton of nations, is shared by the careful and
laborious student in Scientific Agriculture.
For he is applying similar principles, and
his labors tend to similar result. Every
crop is study to him, for it has its own
laws to be studied. Every season has its
charm for him, for its changes and chances
must be carefully watched. He must make
suns, showers, and SHOWS and frost, and fire,
all to minister to his interests and work oat
his ends. And in doing all this-and all
this he will do, if he works with open eye
and careful hand-wil lie not find pleas.
ure so constant as to enliven his heaviest
toll, and so varied as to strip of their charms
the false attractions of city life, and SO pure
ly intellectual and refined, as TO place him
in dignity and aim side by side with the
great brotherhood of thinking men, whose
hands have been busy, but whose brains
have been more busy still; and who have
done most for the wealth and comfort Of
the race, because they have done most for
its improvement in all solid and endur.
ing Science.
3. Because 1t uould be greatly to tho PC
cuniary advantage Of the farmer to purSSc
his uacation as q Science.
If he pursues his work simply because he
has done so before, or because his father or
his neighbors have done so, he shuts out
all improvement. If he makes changes
blindly, he is much more likely to lose than
to gain. Besides, if he makes experiments
at random, some of his neighbors-and per.
haps he himself-will set down his failures
to the account of Scientific farming; and be
the more confirmed in their old ways, because
Of his blindness and laundering in single
case. But if he studies, during his leisure,
the results of former experiments in the de.
partment he is enquiring about; if he con.
verses with intelligent men, who have been
successful in the same branch, and who un-
,Jorstond ,pd will avnlo;, IN b;,, Tho ,.;,,;