Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1871-02-18
YARM AND
Prejudiees Against Scientific Agri-
culture.


rronr tho Nashville Union& American.
Persons who ritiirpIe the appxopri-
alton Of portions Of newspapers to
she discussion Of agricultural science,
are either blind tn the value OF such
information, or indifferent to the de-
vetOpment Of the most essential de-
partment of national industry. There
Is among a large proportion Of the
tillers of the soil, an unreasOning
prejudice against book farming, rs II
II called, and when such persons find
leading journals indoctrinated with
the same foolish prejudices, they are
hardened In their belief and needless
Iy continue to reject information es-
sential to individual prosperity.
Agriculture h the basisof all wealth;
without II no other pursuit can pros.
per, and yet no other leading indus
try has been so greatly neglected by
those who pursue ID, or 80 little fDs-
tered by government. In the South,
this neglect, heretofore, was charge
able, I'm part, to It's peculiar system
0f labor, and, In part, to the value of
its staples; slave labor was deemed
incompatible with scientific expert
ments, and the demand for cotton,
sugar and tobacc) was thought tn be
more profitably met by the employ
m mt Of muscle, than through the
agency of agri ultural chemists. But
with the radical changes effected In
our system of labor, there Is u growing
conviction In the minds of planters
Of the absolute necessity for less mus
Gle and more practical knowledge
This conviction suggests an inquiry
into therelatioDs between science and
production, and between increased
fertility and diminished labor, rs APP
piled to the cultivation and yield Of
u given number of acres. TO check
this inquiry 10y treating it with ridi-
cule, instead of meeting IT by sup
plying the needed information, is
neither witty, nor wise, nor patriotic.
But it may be that writers Oh agri-
culture sometimes err in giving less
ons in agricultural chemistry, to new
beginners, and discourage inquiry and
defeat experiment 10y making both
impossible to the uninitiated. For
instance, they may be told that nitro
gen and ph~osphoric acid are the first
elements of fertility that are exhaust
Q ed In all soils that water and car
bOnic acid are the chief products of
vegetable decomposition, and that
the liberation of this acid enables it
to attack and render soluble, In water,
tire ~silicates of potash and bone phOs-
phates-most important elements OF
fertility. But in making these state
mepts no practical knowledge is i'm
parted, because it IL given in an uI-
known tongue. But IL you tell the
same person that ~subsoiling brings to
the surface, elements of fertility,
never before subjected to the action
Of light, heat and air; that it affords
u reader escape to surplus moisture
in wet seasons, and retains that mOis-
ture i'm seasons of drought, you pro-
pose an experiment which any far
mer can try, and implant in him a
desire to test theories by practical TX
pertinent.
Again: il you tell the uninitiated
that everything that rots-whether
animal or vegetahle-glves out du-
ring the process of decomposition
valuable elements of fertility that
the waste matter about dwellings and
the kitchen, even the sweeping of the
yard should be thrown upon the ma
nure pile, to increase its bulk and
quality, he feels that he can find out
the truth of your assertion by follow
ing your suggestion, and that he can
not fail in the experiment. by reas'
@n of unknown terms and directions
not understood.
We would by no means, he under
stood at wishing writers on agricul'
ture to cOnfne themselves tn sucll
simple suggestions and statements o.
fuct, unsustained by practical exper.
mcnt and the deductions OF chemical
analysis. There are dispersed through
the South men of scientific attain
ments, with ample means to enable
them to play the part Of experiment
tai farmers and to Illustrate the greaI
importance and profit of the appli'
cation of scientific principles to the
cultivation Of the soil. Through
such examples, u. rieultural chemis
try may become popularized infor
nation, and the faculty of imitation
and close observation make scientific
farmers of men who cannot explain
the first principles of the system the,
may have adopted.
This view OF the subject suppose
the absolute necessity for scientif'
~iereatises on farming, but rs in scho'
there are senior and junior classes Il
which lessons should be given adapt
cd to their capacity and progress, St
in farming there are advanced an.
beginning classes, to each of whicl
there are appropriate lessons In TIL
science of agricultural chemistry.