of research. It is exceedingly interesting to find theoretical results practically exemplified and tested by actual experiment, as in the case I have mentioned of the application of bones to the grass lands of Cheshire. But after all, the result to which it is necessary to look, in these days, is that which shall enlist the largest number in favor of these researches, viz: the result which puts the most money in the pocket of the farmer. This is the point with reference to which experiments must be carried on. This will be the object of the succeeding volume of my book, in which the results of succeeding experiments will be given, in improving the condition of the soil.

I must pass over the application of lime as a manure, and several other matters connected with this subject. It is an interesting department of study. The subject of lime alone, of which I intended to speak, might form the subject of two or three very interesting lectures, but I cannot go into it.

Now you cannot fail to see from this course of lectures, the strictly scientific part of which I bring to a close this evening, that there is an exceedingly wide and extended application of science to the farmers' art, and that this is not merely theoretical, but has a positive and practical bearing upon the method by which the farmer may increase his crops and his profits. The four last lectures are more or less connected together, as the same chemical principles are comprehended in them all. You must have seen how closely connected are the different departments of the farmers' art, and how many beautiful relations subsist between that art and the connection of man with the earth on which he lives the connection in fact, of all life, animal and vegetable, with the present state of things. You will recollect the interesting facts I have mentioned, showing the intimate connection between the circulation of the blood, and vegetable as well as animal life. You recollect the striking fact that the plant extracts the carbonic acid from the air and the animal destroys it, reconverting it into carbonic acid and water. Suppose this cycle should cease, and that either the plant or the animal should not perform these functions, it is obvious that all animal and vegetable life must cease. But in the larger cycle, viz: that subsisting between the soil, the plant and the animal, it will have been seen that the interruption of the functions of either would destroy all vegetable and animal life. There is a still larger view of this subject, which comprehends the contemplation of the earth as one of a system of bodies revolving around the sun; the sun traversing space and the earth, and all the planets accompanying it. As a member of the system, it is of no consequence whether its surface is covered with animal or vege.

table life. All animal and vegetable life might cease upon this earth, and yet the earth continue its revolutions unchanged, and the system of the universe would not be affected. Gentlemen, we are not essential parts of the universe, but mere accessories, placed here at the will of the Almighty for purposes of his own, which we can, perhaps, in some degree fathom, and so far, it is our duty to follow them out. If the Deity has made all these things which adorn the earth, animal as well as vegetable, and above all has placed man as part of the system, I cannot help thinking, that it is His will that we should investigate them, and see if we can, why he has put them before our eyes and under our feet. These investigations furnish congenial employment for intelligent man, and result in substantial rewards. But among them none yield more substantial returns than those which belong to the intellectual cultivator of the soil, who studies nature in order to render the soil more fertile, and contribute to the happinesss of the human family.

LECTURE NINTH.

MEANS BY WHICH GENERAL SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE MAY BE DIFFUSED, AND MADE AVAILABLE FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF PRACTICAL AGRIculture, AND THE GENERAL ELEVATION OF THE AGRICULTURAL CLASS.

GENTLEMEN -I take it for granted, that you are all satisfied of the importance of scientific research to practical Agriculture. If satisfied of this, you must be also of the importance of diffusing a knowledge of the results of such researches, especially among practical farmers.

There are two objects we may have in view, in our desire to shed such knowledge. 1st. The improvement of the Agriculture of the State, or along with this, the elevation, intellectually and socially, of the agricultural community. All members of the community are interested in the first of these objects or ends, viz: the general improvement of the Agriculture of the State, and a large class are especially interested in the second, which looks to the elevation morally, intellectually and socially, of the agricultural community. In regard to the first of these objects, the general improvement of the Agriculture of the State, before we form any idea of what should be done, it is desirable to know what is the actual condition of Agriculture now. I must ask you to judge of the condition of Agriculture by the tests which I shall name. By the state of the roads in the agricultural districts; the kind of rotation practised throughout the State; the kind of stock reared, and the mode of feeding them; the extent of land uncultivated, or poorly cultivated, compared with the density of the population.

You can only obtain accurate notions on this subject, by actual observation. I have not seen enough of your State, to form an opinion of its agricultural character; nor have I any data from which to form an opinion, though I have heard and read much on the subject. But there is one mode we have within our reach, and of which I propose to speak, and that is, the average produce of the land. To a person unacquainted with the country, from personal observation, such data are generally very decisive indications of the state of its practical Agriculture; at the same time, it is necessary to take into consideration with the average product, the physical geography of a country, its geological structure,

its climate, &c.; but supposing him to know all this, he could form an accurate notion of the agricultural condition of a country from its products, and by comparing these with those of other countries. I have the average product of New-York, as shown by the last census, which is the best data I have. The average product per acre of this State, as so shown, is of wheat, 14 bushels; of oats, 26 bushels; of barley, 11 bushels; of rye, 9 bushels, and of Indian corn, 25 bushels per acre. These results are given as the average product of the State, in one of the volumes of your Transactions. In one of the volumes of Prof. Emmons' Natural History of this State, I find another series of averages, a little less than these; but I adopt the larger ones. Now, I believe there are few persons, acquainted with the early history of this State, who will not tell you that the average returns were formerly far greater than now. In fact, you may judge what the product of NewYork once was, from the present product of New-Brunswick. According to returns, the average product of that country is of wheat, 19 bushels per acre; of oats, 34 bushels; of barley, 29 bushels; of rye, 20 bushels; of Indian corn, 41 bushels per acre.

Now, I can very well judge of the former product of New-York from these results obtained in New-Brunswick; for, when I discoursed on the relations of Geology to Agriculture, I demonstrated, from the character of the soil of the two countries, as shown by the Geological Map, that, generally speaking, the western portion of New-York was naturally more fertile than a large portion of New-Brunswick, and therefore I conclude that the average product of New-Brunswick is far below what was formerly the case in New-York.

It may be interesting to you to present to you the average product of Ohio. In the northern part of Ohio, after a cultivation of 20 years, the average returns are scarcely half what they were when first settled, showing that the soil there is in the course of gradual exhaustion. The averages for the year 1848, which I find in the Transactions of the Agricultural Society of that State, are as follows: Of wheat, 15 bushels per acre; barley, 24; oats, 33; rye, 16; Indian corn, 41.

You see, therefore, that in Ohio the condition of things is nearly the same, so far as wheat and oats are concerned, as in New-York; barley and rye are greater, and corn much greater-many parts of that State being peculiarly favorable to the growth of Indian corn.

I have also here the average products of all the States; but I see I have not put down the general average for the whole. It is enough, however, for our purpose to say, that the average product of this State [Assembly No. 175.] 17

is about the average of Ohio, and that both States are sailing in the same boat; and that if you go on here in the same process of exhaustion, you will soon compete with that State.

Compare, for a moment, with these statistics, the crops in England. The average product there is, of wheat, 21 bushels. It is proper, however, to say here, that we have no statistics, and that this is altogether guess work. Our censuses give us no statistics of agricultural products; our farmers, also, are very jealous about giving information on these points; they have rents to pay, and they naturally think that if they give in large returns, they will have to pay larger rents; and that is one reason why we never have this data. Hence, the results I give you are but approximations. From the best information, the results are these of wheat, 21 bushels per acre; oats, 35; barley, 32. That is all I can give you of the product of England. The averages of Scotland are these: wheat, 30 bushels per acre; oats, 46; barley, 40. These results are on the best quality of land.

I believe there is no reason to doubt that what has been produced in England and Scotland might be produced in New-York. I infer this, not only from comparing the character of both countries, but from the fact that the prize crops, annually competed for in your State, are larger than those given as the averages in England and Scotland. I have a table of the amount of premium crops in '46, and they range thus: wheat, 56 bushels an acre-that is the highest; Indian corn, 142 bushels the average is only 25; oats, 106 bushels. This is all I have of the premium crops. Now, these are maximum results. I may state that in England we have crops of wheat as high as 88 bushels; of barley, 80 bushels; and of oats, 108. Indian corn we do not grow.

I regard this as certain, that if the climate and local circumstances are the same, what one soil will produce, science may enable another soil to produce; and that it is reasonable that the farmer who exercises a proper degree of skill in the culture of the soil, has a right to anticipate the same degree of success as has attended like efforts in other countries, having similar advantages of soil and climate. If certain parts of your country, which have a given geological character, will produce these large premium crops which I have mentioned, it is fair to presume that other parts of the State, having the same advantages of soil and climate, should produce the same results. This is the point which all interested in Agriculture hope for and desire, and wish you to aid them in attaining.

One point of view I might have pressed on you in regard to our Agriculture in Great Britain, and that is, that our farmers fancy they