New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-11-24

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descebds chimney or rises in the open air, would
have gwen crude and incorrect answer; yet no
rational being can deny that to know wbst hoke
il, wbs. are It's relations 10 the common stmos-
pbere, and what the laws Of its creation exist
eace and dispersion would he often useful 70
chimney builder ard that, if every mason fdiiy
comprehended these truths, there would be fewer
smoky chimneys than now. There have doQoue''
been naDy good housewives who never heard OF
chen stry and who could not tel why some WAFER
vii wash while other some will not, or Why
combination Of potash with fat Will MAKE soaP'
AID Why the substitution OF lime or SAT- ior 'ne
potash would not do; yet who can doubt tha'
coed plsc.ical knowledge Of chemistry woah prove
great advantage TO housekeerers, and save NIL
loIs now wasted in aborti7e efforts at culinary OF
b;Ld.td operations, which such knowledge would
haze rendered successful
So with farming. There are good practlcai
armers who cannot write their own Names
but every one Of these would have been Dexter
fsrmer-thdt il. he would have grown larger crops,
or grown them at less cost-had be received good
education An ignorant man may be good farmer
or mechanic in spite Of bis ignorance, but never De-
cause Of it. On the contrary, The chances are many
to one that his ignorance costs him, 10 misdirec'ed
labor or diminished product, many times the eA-
pense Of dispelling il. Many capital crop OF corn
hss been grown by farmers who know nothing ci
starch or gluten lime or phosphorus, oil or water
As constituents Of corn; but he who understands
Just hat the composition Of this grain is, and how
much is supplied from the earth, the atmosphere
or both, will very often add twenty dollars TO the
value OF his product by an outlay Of ten dollars,
where, in the absence Of such knowledge, he would
more probably have expended twenty dollars with
out adding tel to the value Of his prodsct.
A farm or field is in one sense machine, like
saw.mill or steam-eDg A steam-engine Is said
to be Of 20 many horsepower; grlst-mill Will
grind so many bushels Of grain; saw-mlu cut so
any thousand feet Of boards, and is valued accord
ingly. But farm has no definite or recognized
capacity ard is only known as containing or con-
ss;inp Of so many acres, which is very imperfect
and unreliable measure of capacity or value. One
farm Of forty acres exceeds 10 productive power
another Of twice its area; and farmer pretends to
determine, except by the Iudest approximation
what is the capacity of either. All is yet chaotic,
uncertain, in this direction, because Agriculture is,
with the great mass Of its followers, drudgery,
blind following Of fixed routine, and not the appli-
cation Of scientific truths.
We need system Of education which shall place
men in every township who can determine, by
measuring the depth and chemically testing the
qualities Of its SOIL wba. is the actual value of any
farm, and what must be added to it to insure the
largest crops Of Corn, Wheat, Carrots, Grass, or
whatever may be required az the least cost. Now
We pile on Lime or Plaster, Guano or Phosphate,
Bone dust or Potash, and realizing often no sensi-
bic or adequate increase Of crop, grayey conclude
that Lime or Phosphate or Plaster is humbug;
when in truth the fault was in our ignorance which
led us to apply just what was already present in
abundance, instead of Whist was sorely needed.
Often, farm on which plaster was once used with
decided advantage has been p!asterei aud plas-
tered until it has plaster enough; yet still plaster
is applied-of course, to no purpose the sage
cultiyator observes iha. Somehow or other,
"plaster isn't so ,od now as il was twenty years
ago" when in fact it is just as good, and only
bs nndaI standing is defective.
We need semnaIies in which the knowledge
reQuiiite to a reliable analysis Of soils shall be
taught we need common schools in which this
knowledge shall be made available to all, and all
inpelled to profit BY it. True, every farmers son
cannot expect to become Professor Of Chemistry;
but every one may be taught enough Of Chemistry
to enable him TO seek for and apply the chemical
knowledge of others. He may know that the
messing of frui.-treep, the lodging Of grain, the
rustug of wheat all indicate deficiencies in soil or
defects in cultivation; and, if he does not already
know the proper remedy in either case he will DO
moved to ascertain and apply it.
An education which shall make the rising gene
ration in the aggregate better farmers and me-
cbanics than their fathers were-thi, is an urgent
need Of our times. Not that ampler food aud
better houses are all, or the best, that education
can do for U.s. but that they are conditions of pro-
gress in other and higher departments. There are
the usaDds ofgnorant parents who can no otherwise
be convinced of the importance of education to
their children, than by seeing it make two blades
Of grass grow in place Of one. Make the most
stolid and misery parents comprehend that knowl-
edge is physical as well as moral and Intellectual
Power-power over the earth and its bOunties, as
well as power to predict eclipses and calculate the
paths of the panets-and they will realize that
their children cannot do without it. We shall re-
turn to the subject.
The people Of the cOuntry-not counting many