INDIANA FARMER
DEVOTED   TO   AGRICULTURE,     HORTICULTURE,   MECHANICS,   AND   TIIE    USEFUL   ARTS.
VOL.1.] RICHMOND,   IND.,  JULY  1,1852. [NO. 22
 COM MiJr"ix^^T2° N s-  | hope, founded upon a mistaken idea of the real
-^—^.-.^ ^_^_=__ | nature of th.ngs_    But th.g Js nQt a]1; who haa
SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE—No. 9.       \nai observed the superior dignity of the farmer
  {or mechanic, who understands the nature of the
by phofessorj. i.a-,viiE.vce. elements, or materials upon which he operates.
Intellectual Improvement. $ and him who, destitute of such knowledge, ex-
Ihave employed tho preceding numbers in Spends his strength merely in overcoming physi-
describing some of the elements of Agricultural (cal obstacles, like the horse or the ox, without
knowledge, or the sources from which plants I thought or reflection? The distinguishing char-
chiefly derive the organic portion of their nour-j acteristic between man and the lower creation
ishment. This is much the simplest part of the is his power of thought, of reflection, of stu-
subject, and most readily understood. And al-1 dy, and of consequent improvement. The idea
though the organic portion of plants constitutes'has been, and still is prevalent, that, he who is
not less than ninety-five or ninety-six per cent. I under the necessity of applying himself to per-
of the whole, on an average, yet the great se- ■ petual toil,is condemned to perpetual ignorance,
cret of successful farming consists chiefly in j supposing that knowledge can only be obtain-
knowing how to supply in the proper propor-jed from books, and in the midst of leisure.—
tions, and in an available form the four or five ■ But this is one of the mistakes of former ages,
per cent, of mineral matter which their healthy * which it is to be hoped that the superior and
developement requires. i increasing  light of the present age is destined
But while our attention is directed to the im- jt0 correct. A man's farm should be his book,
provement of the soil, I hope we shall bear in, and if he has anY ambition fo show himself a
mind that no small part of the real object of. workman that need not be ashamed of his work
connecting science with agriculture, is our own ) and the results of his labor, he should study it
personal and intellectual improvement. Tho j as the mechanic would study a difficult peice of
farmer who thinks of Agricultural Science in i mechanism, which he is about to construct or the
no other light than as a means of increasing! mathematician a difficult but important prob-
the amount of his farm's produce, has never jlem. If his land is poor, thero is the greater
yet had a just conception of the true dignity; need of study, that he may know what are its
which properly belongs to the enlightened cul-. defects, that he may remedy them. Many a
tivation of the soil. Tho true dignity of Agri- > farm that has been thought to be poor, almost
cultural pursuits has not been generally under-1 too poor, to be of any value, has been conver-
stood. lt has usually been thought, and is still ted into the best of land, by the application of
by a great majority, that it is the least intellec- scientific skill, with much less labor and ex-
tual of all the important pursuits of life. BuU pense than would be necessary to clear up a
nothing is wider from the truth than such a sup- j a new one. Besides what a laudable founda-
position. True a large amount of physical j tion for the exercise of of that innocent prido
force is indispensibly necessary to the carrying* and congratulation, which arises from the con-
on of much farming; but the result which shall j sciousness of having heroically overcome the
grow out of its employment, will depend great- 'obstacles which nature had placed in his path,
ly upon the intelligence and skill with which' and which hedged up his way to prosperity.—-
it is directed. Who has not seen and deplored I The fact is the very difficulty with which he has
the losses incident to misapplied labor? In or- \ successfully contended, has made him more of a
der that labor shall bo applied in the most effi-, man, both in his own estimation and in that of
cient manner, it is indespens'tbly necessary the world around him, than he otherwise would
that he who has the direction of it should un- have been. The very exercise of intellect and
dcrstand the principles, as well as the practice, of ingenuity necessary to metamorphose a poor
of the materials upon which he is engaged,— j soil into a good one, substantially elevates tho'
such knowledge, reduced to practice would \ character of the man, and raises him in the es-
save thc mortification of many a  disappointed i timatton of all who know him. How much rich-