Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1858-10-21

make their exertions tell most effectively
They have been lifelong workers; but they
have not known how TO work to the great
est advantage. Each Of them has planted
and sowed enough to shield him from want
for the remainder Of his days; bus when
the time came for reaping ami gathering
| into barns. his crops we're deficient. One
year, too much rain; the next year. too lit.
tlej now an untimely, frost and then the
ravage OF insects, have bsfled his exertions
and blasted bis hopes. and left him in the
down-hill Of life sill toiling for a hand-to-
| mouth, subsistence. think the observa.
tion Of almost any of yous will. have fur
nished parallels in this respect for my own.
ILL., Nov = am suiss ware that no con-
ceivable acquiremsnts and prscd6tions--no
attaiDsbls wisdom and foresight--csn eb-
solassls gsssd sdthsfsnaes asaiassdissppeint.
msnts and dissstsfs. AZ the sblest seaman
ship will mot always triumph over the angry,
waHing elements. 80 the most thorough,
skillful husbapdry viii not always svertafrom
the fruitful Geld the rsssges of frost, or hail
or food. II is only in 0 qualified, yet never
theless q very important sense, that the
maxim-"God is on the side of the harvest
artillery, the strongest hatalions," is true.
We cannot certainly affirm that the man
who farms excellently will this year have
bountifnl harvest, and that his shiftless
doWn-at-the-heel neighbor will not have
half aerop;zfor the elements may In either
case derange our calculations and defeat our
predictions. But what may be doubtful
with regard TO single years Operations
and their results, is not at all Questionable
when we embrace within our purview the
operations of a. life time. The pendulum
may swing ever 90 far this way, then that
but docs not the less obey the inexorabie
law Of gravitstiou; and, in spite of tenn
perary and seeming aberrations,the connec-
lion of cause with effect is constant, per-
feet. eternal. The good farmer--he whose
fences never tail 10 protect his crops, and
whose crops are SO dealt with that they re-
quire and justify protsction-who plows
deeper and better, msnures his land more
bountiiuliy, sows his gra n earlier, tills his
fields more thoroughly, and keeps down
weeds more vigorously, will not only have
more bushels per acre, bat he will grow his
grain cheaper psr bushef. secure larger aver
age profits, and thrive far better, than his
easy-going neighbor who 6plows in May,
plants in June, finds no time for making
,manufes fitfuIly and sparingly, and
tilis grudgingly. In any field OF honorable
exertion, success follows thoroughness and
crowns merit. Were it not so, the universe
would be riddle, and the distinction be-
~ cen right and wrong subtiets or an ac-
c:dent. asa ilsI lHa ,1ie2s ssh i.f
fear these truths need reiteratng in this
Great Vslley of the Mississippi with an
aasPhasis that would be out OF place in a
more sterile region. | have been accustom-
ed for thirty years to hear "the West" COM
mended as region SO fertile that manures
were superhuous, and thoroughness IN culti-
vation a sheer waste OF effort. That ma
turally rich virgin prairies, often resting on
decaying limestone, their surface blackened
wilh the ashes Of five thousand annual con-
flsgra tions, will produce better crops Than
the rugged hilI-sides of New Engia md, where
the ye llow soil scarcely covers the unreient-
ing granite or sandstone, and whence two
centuries of exbausting cultivation have
wrenched nearly every plant-lorming sub
stance which rains and thsws have no, mean
time washed sway, is very manifest truth
Il needs no Liesig, no science, no subtle
analysis, to te ch US that. But do graveiy
dispute the current assumption that, as a
genersl rule. though poor soils may pay for
fertilizing, rich ones will not. Iapprel end
that the absolute t.uth is just the opposite
of this that it is :hetarmer's true economy
il his farm be large and his means but mod.
crate, to apply not only his labor but his
fertilizers to his best soils to the neglect of
the poorest. leaving the latter in pasture, or
in wood or in common, as circumstances
may determine 1t seems tolerahly clear
that soil that CONTAINS ninety per cent of
the elements of a bounteous harvest will
better reward the addition of the remaining
ten per cent than one containing but twen-
ty to forty per cent. of those elements will
reward any application whatever. l may
possibly be wrong in this; bat ! cannot
help thinking thai the grievous mistake of
running over too much iand-of increasing
the areu of cultivation rather than the ac-
reable product-of striving rather to bring a
whole farm into state Of middling fertility
to make the best part of it produce the
largest crops--is quite as common in the
West as at the East.
Nv And here we find ourselves face to
face with the great Problem of SCIENCE IN
FARMING, which seems to me the central
present need of American Agriculture. Say,
il YOU will. that what is termed Agricultural
Science--Soil Analysis, Special Fertilizers,
ard ali -that---is quackery and humbug-
that body ever did or ever could tell by
chemically anaIyzing soil what it would
produce to greatest profit, or what could be
most proftably added to render it still more
productive-snd | shall not contradict you &.
The more Urgent your proofs that no
Science OF Agriculture now exists, the more
obvious is the truth that one Is urgently
nseded. The carpenter, the joiner, cabinet
maker, who. buys P auk, bourds, joists, beams
or lathing-who orders oak, piae, hemlock,
spruce or mshogany--knows just what he
is buying and what he can do with it. But
how many iarmersin thousand who every
year buy Lime, Plaster, Bones, Guano. or
other fertilizers, know just what they are,
and what they viii do for themt How many
even of those who freely buy this or tha,
substance to enrich their lands, and who
have better crops since than beior' such
pure base, know how much OF the improve