Smyrna times. [volume] (Smyrna, Del.) 1854-1987, 1856-03-12
Agricultural Legislation.

rom those IN authority. 1t 10 right thaS ~ ~
hould, since it is the basis Of our national 1t
end the master-whee that drives the tn
of trade and commerce. In Con- u
gress the. SUBJECTS receiving more cOnsidera- "
lion than it has at ANY previous time. In one p
of his washington iesters,sMr. Greeley says, d
the reason why the Committee on Agriculture a
was cast more strongly than uslal-Mr. Hollo-
wayof Indiana, a veteran editor and legislator, I
filing its chair. with Messrs. l.. d. Campbell,
Grow aud other prominent members following 4
lis understood to have relation to the project I
OF creating distinct Agricultural Bureau in
the Department of the Interior, to be presided
over by some able and enlightened master OF
Agricultural Science, and to mature and estab-
lish a system of careful experiment and obser-
vation throughout every portion of our country,
touching the diverse capacities of soil, climate,
&c., and the most economic and effective means
ofincreasing agricultural production.
j To such Bureau, the various Meteorologi-
cal Reports now made at the several Military
posts would doubtless be communicated, while
arrangements would be made to procure similar
reports from localities remote from Military
stations The earliest and latest occurrence
of !fosts in each season of cold the adaptation
, of each locality to the Peach, tho Grape, the
Apple and other fruit; tho success or failure OF
Wheat and other grains, with the apparent
causes Of failure when failure is experienced;
one northward boundaries of the successful
growth of the Cane, Rice, Cotton, and other
, tropical or sem-tropical plants; the capacity
for accimation of the various grams and fruits,
} with its limits; these, with thousand similar
problems, are only capable of perfect solution
through many experiments, simultaneously
e prosecuted at widely separated points, yet un-
s der the supervision and control of a single en-
Q lghtened head. The transportation of seeds
Il and trees from colder to warmer climate and
: the reverse, requires to be prosecuted more ex
II tensively and observed more carefully thar
1t hitherto. Many fruit enjoys local reputa
It ton which is elsewhere emphatcally denied it
g doubtless because of its degeneration when re
is moved from the happily conspiriug influence
IN of soil and cline which insured its perfection
Of why not the same rule operating inversely
DIS work amelioration as well as degeneracy +
or Then the whole subject Of improving grains b
er crossing or hybridization has hardly begun
ar be considered. At the Worlds Fair in Lor
ay don, five years ago, specimens of Wheat wei
Ids exhibited wherein the product had been il
en- creased, it was stated several bushels per acl
ed by ludicious or fortunate liberalization, viii
ert in other instances, of course, opposite result
de- had defeated the aim of the experimenter-tf
i'd new variety being less prolific than either
ee- its progenitors vast field for improveme
'ou here opens 10 view; but it can hardly be e
ro- pected that individuals will volunteer 10 devo
the their lives and fortunes to its thorough expl
ted ration. Where great common benefits are juC
our cously sought, it is but just that they shou
be sought at the expense of the community.
The failure of the Potato is one of the me
sia- important events OF our age. 1t would be hal
asst, ly too much to attribute TO the PotatoRot of q
unit '6-'7, the storm of Democratic revolution viii
Ugh convused Europe in l845 And, whate,
The partial or temporary resnscitation may ha
been or may hereafter be attained, cam
LII says Mr.. Greeley, doubt that the " Potato
oy seen its best days that it will never ag;
'ers yield so beautifully, prove wholesome, nut
tal' tious and palatable, or afford so secure re
that ance, as it did thirty, fifty, or hundred yc
lous ago. And, while lock with great dlstrust
'@oi most of the substitutes recommended, and
MS slow of faith in the capacity OF any of them
ill the place 81 long and usefully held by
III So / stil ,lC III
) by it to give every plausible substitute fair I
ern' patient trial. They can at the worst but
win and some of them may be destined, if not f
must to replace the Potato, at least to console u,
the part for its loss.
the Asyet, the Agricultural DePa rtmenta at Wa
ORA ington is not even Bureau-it is in form
Oun- a eIeTkship subordinate to the Patent OF
but which is itself subordinate to the Departm
pose of the Interior. For long time it was
ported--so far it was permitted to exist
;eell an annual abstraction from the funds of
r'er- Patent Office. At length Congress g
rate ashamed Of pluudering the cash box of the
>oH- ventors, themselves for the most part needy
penniless, for the support ofan important bra
the of the public service; and for some years
N Id an appropriation of ten to sixty thousand
lars has been annually made from the Trea
for the purchase or production of rare and '
now able seeds, for the prosecution of analytica
ses- searches into the structure, economy
Off requirements of plants, and into the nature
- habits of insects which blast the hopes and
ID, i. lily the exertions Of the farmer. Prof CT
Greek OF New York, in the pay Of the Goyernu
Hd.- devoted the last season mainly 10 the in
For which attack the Cotton plant, aud his COZ
VIM. sions are. embodied 10 the, late Agricul
phion Report. The next season is in like mann
inson. be devoted to the Wheat plant, ON which
sai4a nvages Of insects have IN this country pr
'Fhos more extensively and psrsistently ruinous
. ycs ON auv other sbonld this course of ohs
L. - "