The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1874-10-29
Srlert NisreHang.
THOUGHTS ON AGRICULTURE.

DALllhohE, Nlusi CNNobNi %
Senator Thurman, of Ohio, delivered
an address at the state fair, at Pimlico,
to-day, before the Maryland Agricultural
and Mechanical association. There were
about 5000 persons present. Upon being
introduced Mr.. Thurman spoke substan-
TALLY as follows:
To speak of the Importance Of agricul-
ture would be as supertluous as to speak
of the importance of the atmosphere.
cannot live without air or without food,
and the pursuit that furnishes the latter
needs no rhetoric to demonstrate its val
ne. Nor would it be much less futile to
dilate upon the importance of the ma
chine arts; for that which is obvious
needs no proof. He who has not read
and thought upon the subject is likely to
be startled at the assertion of profound
and learned men, that the Oldest pur-
suit of the human race has been the
slowest infts scientific development, and
that, although the art of agriculture has
been practised with success for many
thousand years, the science of agricul-
ture is of recent origin and dates back
but little more than century. Instead
Of being discouraged by the slow pro-
gress formerly made through so many
centuries we naturally say that if agri-
culture thrived and grew under the dis
advantages of imperfect knowledge and
unscientific methods, what must be its
progress in the future, when aided by
the discoveries and application of sci
ence, the general dissemination of knowl-
edge, and the combined efforts of able,
earnest, and instructed minds2 We find
in our libraries Greek and Roman works
on agriculture, written before the Chris
tain era, and from which instruction
may be derived by the most enlightened
and skilful farmer Of to-day. What
should be the size of farm; what its
proportions of arabic, pasture, meadow,
and wood land; what crops and manures
are best suited to different soils; what
advantages are derived from open and
underground drainage; when should ir-
igation be practised, and what are its
results; what are the benefits derived
from land lying iallow; from deep and
frequent ploughings from rotation of
crops from turning undergreen grasses /;
from burning the stubble are questions,
among many, discussed in these works,
and which are subjects of yet more elab-
crate discussion after a lapse of more
than two thousand years. Nor was stock
breeding and the care and preservation
of stock overlooked; and when we read
Of raising pigeons, not for their flesh
merely, but for the very superior manure
they furnished, and when we lenrn how
carefully this manure was pulyerized,
prepared for use by an admixture with
earths, and then skilfully and without
waste applied, the modern word "guanO"
almost invariably comes to our lips, and
we think Of the wonders it has achieved
upon many an exhausted field of our ma
tive land. But, gratifying as this pic
ture of ancient cultivation may appear,
there is another side to it in which it
was lamentably deficient. For want of
the mechanical invention and skill by
which our age is 80 justly and highly
distinguished, the implements of agriCul-
ture used by the ancients were so far in
ferior TO ours that could they be produced
before yOu to-day, not all the good they
once accomplished could save them from
your wonder and ridicule. Here it is
that inventive genius and the mechanic
arts have contributed directly and most
beneticially TO promote the cultivation of
the soil ~ we see it practised in our day,
and this is another proof of the univer-
sal rule that the benefits Of knowledge
and skill in whatever department of hu-
man effort are not confined TO that de-
partment alone, but are surely felt in a
greater or less degree, in every other hu-
man pursuit. Another difficulty with
the ancients was want of scientific
knowledge. The cultivatOr of the rich
valley of the Nile naturally felt con-
tempt for regions unfruitful when com
pared with his own, and without seeking
70 penetrate beyond the limits Of his
vision, was content with the knowledge
and skill that seemed all sufficient for
him. The cultiyator in less favored lands
also piled his art according to the local
traditionary precepts that had been
handed down to him from the fathers
little knowing and little caring what
knowledge had been acquired or what
modes were pursued in other parts Of
the earth. And when at length intel
hgent men began to observe and to
record and compare observations, the
field of their inquiries was generally very
limited, and their conclusions, however
valuable in their immediate localities
were often of little or no use elsewhere
and their reflections, however brilliant
acute, and profound, served to discover
and establish but few rules Of general
much less Of universal application. Coli
sion of mind with mind is one Of thu
most fruitful agencies in the acquisition
Of knowledge, and is indispensable 70
the correction of errors nto which tn
solitary thinker is so liable to fall. And
therefore, mode of life that tends +
Segregate men has been very general
considered serious obstacle to the pre-
RTess Of science. That this obstacle hs
been almost overcome in modern time
isa cause for profound congratulation, an
that one of the chief agents in overcOn
ing it are he agricultural and mechani
al,assoviationz ike that which ! now a,
dress is patent 10 even the most casu
observer. But no such associations, nj
anything like them, were known to ant
quity. In all that vast bod ! of writing
called ancient history and literatur
there cannot be fcund, | believe, a sing
trace Of such an institution. "War an
the chase" have been called "the tv
ancient and deadliest foes to agriculture
and, unfortunately, the history Of ma
kind fully justi6es the observation. ]
say nothing of those great wars Of co
quest in which whole countries we
ravaged and laid waste, and barbarisI
or semi-barbaTism, supplanted civiliz
ton; or Of civil wars that banished {
the time almost every security Of life
property, it would be sufficient to rehe
that waste is an attendant Of every W
however well and humanely conducte
that the rank and file Of every army a
able-bodied laborers withdrawn frC
productive industry and that every vi
however brief, involves increased ta1
ton. and every modern war an increi
49, ft<....I tr,sl a ~ a. .ran--fo 400 fhat "