Year: 1868

better study Chinese chemistry than no
TO know these things at all.


IL WON'T 90 always to pride ourselves toe


mlch on experience. This is what some


times makes man set in his way, wber
owing 10 changed circumstances II is no long


er the best way, unless ii is inteigent-tba,


Is unless it is based on the thorough coeniz.


ance Of the immediate matter in hand and


surrounding circumstances which affect it,


too stiff reliance on experience may posi-


Dly mlslead. Experience is not mere exist


ehce In time and space-not merely the


lapse OF years on field of operation but


lhe actual and enlightened exercise OF the


aPPIppriate facilities upon our opportunities.


al that II tells us surely is what has been


we argue from it less surely as to what shall


be. And then we want to he certain that


we know all the necessary conditions; other


wise our conclusions may be false


In chemistry and the exact sciences one
experiment may be enough to infer rule


but we cannot so rigidly analyze all the


manifold constituents of human experience


in practical life. Here no two situations


are precisely alike; nor does the same sit.


uation remain wholly the same. Changes


are taking place OH our farms which we


are not apt t. discover. or take into ac.


count. AS general habit think we arc


farming on the system of our ancestors


anu taking the tradition of their expert


ence as our guide. But what was true for


them is not true for us. When the lands
| were new, and rich with all the nutriment
| that Nature had been providing for ages.
| it was well ana wise to take advantage of
| it. A change however has taken place
SINCE, which we ought to understand
But now when the land will no longer do
| OF itself what it used to. instead of under
standing it and helping it, we spread our
| labor over twice the surface and then find
fault with the whole and say farming will
not pay for the labor. It took twelve
starving horses onthe "Mud Marsh" TO
move gun that was an easy load for six


well fed When for any reason it is cheap
er now to clear new land than to ren0vate
old, that no doubt is the best way to do.
But one thing is sure, Old land must be re-
Juvenated, exhausted elements restored,
BY skill as well as labor; that is, by art,
which has its basis in science. rhat is
what meant by saying we want intelli-
gence by which to carry OH our experience,
and the knowledge which gives us the re-
suit of experiments by others, and saves
US the labor and loss.


We still hope that our Agricultural Col
lege will do something special for us
Yet we must not think it TOO exclusively
an Agricultural College. 1t will serve its
purpose and will aid our farmers quite as
eifectually, if its course of study embraces
all the mechanic and industrial arts What
a field for splendid achievement is there!
| really wish we could have such a school
and that everything local and personal and
petty might be laid aside. This, however,
Is too much to expect, and pre-supposes the
millennium to be pretty well advanced.
We must be content to pay the price of
those who will not learn from the expert
ence of others. Whatever may be the diff
ficulties of its beginning we must still look
to it with earnes' interest and expectation
as the Institution which in peculiar man
ner 'cOmes home to our business and bO-
SONS" and sheds its genial influence most
widely among the people Still they are
few who can be actually educated there.
and the place where most can be taught is
the Common School. There only can you
reach the mass of mind. There are few
competent teachers now, so we must look
to our Normal SchoOl-the teacher of
teachers-to set the thing in motion, by in
Producing into their course some practical
popular book on the Elements of Agricul-
ture.


Association too is great help to far
mers-thc mutual aid they may render by
L
experience. Here is the great benefit of
your Agricultural societies, exhibitions,
and fairs, instructing aud stimulating by
friendly r.valries. The Reports of your
State Board of Agriculture can hardly be
surpassed for interest and value. The
newspaper is great teacher nowadays
perhaps the great teacher. To be sure the
terrible '.we' will now and tiren sit like
the Grand invisible Lama, and d ,gmatize
and give his own private whim where you
had right to look for impartial, catholic
criticism, or fair statement of enlightened
public sentiment. But we must bear the
lesser evil for the sake of the greater good;
for the great ''Wen is a good fellow after
all, and knows vast deal, and will often
tell us some wholesome truths though they
cut close home. Moreover he gives his
best corner to the farmers of late, and
where he gives you all the corners, as your
Maine Farmer does, nothing could be
better. From all these means which are
now in active and increasing exercise. in
telligence must be largely deepened and
difflsed, and we shall soon have a tolerable
science of farming, enough acquaintance
with the nature and needs of soils to keep
US from wasting our materials and our Ia
Dor, and practical science enough at any
rate to keep us from blasting through gran
iJC W COdi, VI Iilg II WIuOW WIFI
hill full ofiron pyrites thinking it is gold.
"a little learning certainly isn't IA dan
gerous thing. BY these means too, the
farmer will hit upon some system of his
own by which he will make his vocation
profitable and pleasant. 1t will depend on
circumstances whether you can best culti-
vate large farm or Il small one; on the
locality, the age. the kind of soil the ma
ture and nearness of the market, or per-
haps on your physical disability; whether
for instance, you have bullet through
your breast, or a wooden leg, or are an old
bachelor. If your land will not pay for
keeping up, let good part of it go to
gI ass, or even to trees again. 1t isn't the
worst thing to have a lot of oak, or beech,
or sapling pine, or even white birch and
poplar growing. These last will do for
spools and bobbins at any rate, and we are
going to have a demand for these things
pretty soon. / noticed on our marches
through the magnificent oaks and chest
nuts of Virginia, that in the midst of those
immense forests wherever tree had heen
cut out, the stump was fenced around with
tender care to protect the little shoot spring.
ing up to replace the old. don't call that
bad Agriculture.


If you can't do one thing you can do
another. your land is impracticable in
other respects, TRY Sneep raising. III trav-
elling in our South East counties few


weeks since, the aspect of the country be-
ing rather suggestive of this branch OF in
dustry, asked my friends why they didn't
raise more sheep? I'VE are afraid of the
dogs'', was the answer. And have since
learned that in the eight counties along
our coast, more than two thousand sheep
a year are actually killed by dogs, to say
nothing of the number injured. There is a
dead loss of ten or twelve thousand dollars
a year in those counties alone. Our hum
CRY boys were not afraid of Rebel sheep,
noticed, during the war, nor of Rebels
either as TO that matter, and TO be kept out
of profitable business for any such paltry
| fear as this, shows that our friends there
are more tender towards Yankee dogs than
they used to be TO Rebel sheep. 1t seems
| to me | would lind way to clear that
track. If common sense didn't help me
out, a little applied chemistry might do
But seriously. the low price of wool just
now ought not to discourage sheep raising.
Ii we attend to the mutton qualities as
well as to the fleece. the farmer would
| find this highly profitable business, and
| the farm would constantly improve under
| it. The readiness of the market would en-
ahla tha farmar tO mako mora money from