IRLF

•'.

AGRIC.
UBRARV

sito of California.

Library.

ADDRESS

ON

PROGRESSIVE AGRICULTURE.

AND

INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION,

DELIVERED BEFORE THE

Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical Pair Association, at
Jackson, November 14th, 1872,

BY EUG, W. HILGARD,

JPROFKSSOR OF AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI,
AND STATE GEOLOGIST.

JACKSON, MISS.:

PRINTED AT THE CLARION BOOK AND JOB OFFICE.

1873.

A DDRESS.

I appear before you to-night with the view of presenting some con
siderations on Improvement in Agriculture, as connected with Indus
trial Education. If in so doing I confine myself to the subject of
Agriculture proper, it is not because I underrate the necessity and
importance of providing for the professional education of those pursu
ing the several branches of the Mechanic Arts ; but simply because with
us, at the present time, agriculture is the overshadowing interest, claiming
the first consideration; and because the vastness of the whole subject
would, were I to do it justice, impose ;oo severe a tax upon your
patience.

It might seem superflous to demonstrate the necessity of a serious
change in our agricultural habits and practices. Yet there are too
many who, though in general admitting this, fail to appreciate the

pressing necessity, and the extent of the change required.

I

In an agricultural commonwealth, the fundamental requirement of
continued prosperity is, beyond any possible cavil, that the fertility of
tfie soil must be maintained. Whenever this condition fails, wholly or in_J
part, of fulfilment, agriculture must, to a corresponding extent, cease
to be the occupation of its inhabitants, especially if other countries
compete with them in the same pursuit, under more favorable circum
stances. The population must, in that case, turn to other pursuits, if
the natural resources of their country permit them to do so while pur
chasing their supplies abroad — as happens, e. g., in mining regions.
But when there is no such choice of pursuits, the result of the exhaus
tion of the soil is simply depopulation-, the inhabitants seeking in emi
gration, or in conquest, the means of subsistence and comfort denied
them by a sterile soil at home.

THE LESSONS OF HISTORY.

History, both ancient and contemporary, furnishes abundant ex
amples of the working of these causes. The decline of empires and
the decay of nations have so often gone hand in hand with the decline

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of the soil's productiveness, that the coincidence cannot escape the eye
of any student of history. It was so in Greece and Rome; and
neither Greece nor Italy have recovered from the depopulation result
ing from the emigration of the most vigorous portion of their once
teeming population, to regions possessing soils unexhausted, and
offering a larger reward for their toil. What were once the most fertile
portions of ancient Latium, are now wastes of grass and thistles, sup
porting but a sparse pastoral population ; and the dreaded Pontine
swamps were, at that time, the site of numerous thriving villages. The
Georgics of Virgil, and the treatises of Columella, show that the same
difficulties we are now beginning to experience, were seriously felt in
their times ; and the desolation of the once fertile Roman Campagua
has its parallel in the gullied commons waving with broom-sedge, that
surround most of our older country-towns.

Spain is another case in point ; and as we are much in the habit of
sneering at the " decline and fall" which that once potent empire has
experienced, let us be sure to profit by the teachings of its history.
Hispania was esteemed the most fertile province of the Roman empire ;
and in the reign of Abd Errahman III. (A. D. 961), Mohametan
Spain alone counted some thirty millions of inhabitants.

Six centuries later, under the reign of Philip the Second, the
Spanish writer Herrera says, in his treatise on agriculture :

"What may be the cause that now-a-days the deficiency of food
makes itself felt in the whole land, and that now, in times of peace, a
pound of meat costs as much as, not long ago, a whole mutton in the
midst of war? Over-population cannot be the cause, for where a thou
sand Moors once found employment, there is now scarcely room for five
hundred Christians. Neither can it be the importation of gold from India.
Is it perhaps the soil which lies dormant f But the soil does not need any
other rest than the winter's sleep; and there was no lack of winter
rains to refresh it, and to provide it with force for the sprouting ot
seeds. What, then, is the cause that the soil will not nourish us any
more ?" And, like some of our modern believers in quack nostrums
and panaceas, he answers: "The mule is the cause. In the 13th cen
tury it gained ground, since which time dates the desolation of Spain.
It has not the strength to plow deep enough."

Doubtless, with deeper tillage, productiveness might have been
longer maintained ; even as with us, subsoiliug is the first step toward?"
the reclamation of worn soils. But the real fault lay in the idea, that
"the winter's sleep" was sufficient to restore the soil's loss from crop-

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ping. It is perhaps to this mistake, that we owe the discovery of
America, and of the sea-route to India ; for, failing to make their
living, much less their fortunes, at home, the enterprising part of the
population sought them in the discovery and conquest of distant lands.

HOW WE REPEAT HISTORY.

And our own population is once more repeating history, under the
influence of the same causes. Armed with better implements of tillage,
it takes them but a short time to " tire" the soil first taken into culti
vation; which is then turned out, while the fence is transferred to
another tract, newly cleared. This in its turn is exhausted by contin
uous cropping, year after year, with the same cotton and corn. By
this time, probably, our backwoodsman finds the neighbors getting too
close to him for comfort, and his land and "improvements" are for
sale at whatever price he can get for them ; and the next winter finds
him on his way to Texas or the territories— where, in time, he will re
peat the same cycle of operations.

It is to the roving propensities of these hardy pioneers, that we owe
the rapid development of the Far West, to whose conquest they are
steadily advancing. But we have long passed this stage of develop
ment, and it is high time fur us to be looking forward to a state of
things that can endure permanently.

HOME IMPROVEMENTS.

There is but little incentive to the improvement of our homes, so long
as there always lurks in the back-ground the probability of abandoning
them before long, or selling them at a mere fraction of their value. So
long as this feeling prevails, only what is most absolutely needful for
the moment, or the near future, and will bring ready cash in the event
of a sale, will be looked to by the settler. Thus is destroyed all home
feeling — all tendency to the establishment of a home ; that home which
is so powerful in its influence for good or evil on the young.

So long as our children learn from us to regard our homes merely as
the Indian or Arab does his temporary camping-ground — as a thing to
be abandoned so soon as we have succeeded in stripping it of its first
flush of fertility, by a rapid process of exhaustion by injudicious crop
ping, without even rest or rotation : so long will they fail to develop in
any high degree those social qualities which distinguish the peaceful
and civilized tiller of the soil from the nomad. There is in the very
plan of existence I have referred to, a degree of selfishness and reck-

[6]

lessness of consequences — a sort of " devil take the hindmost" prin
ciple, which cannot but leave its impress upon the moral and intellec
tual life of a community. It has been well and truly said of late by a
distinguished philosopher, that after all, our progress and civilization
has no more important result to show, nor any more faithful exponent,
than the improvement of our homes — including kitchen, pantry, dining
room, parlor and bed-room ; front and back yard, out-houses, orchards
and fields. The correctness of this remark may not strike every one
forcibly at first, but a little reflection will demonstrate its strict truth.
And, gentlemen, refined, cheerful and pleasant homes are everywhere
the marks of an intelligent, refined and moral community — they are
practically interdependent, even as, exceptional cases apart, we judge
of the faith by the ivorks which should be its outgrowth.

OUR OLD FIELDS.

What do we see all over the State — what do strangers see in passing
along our great commercial highways, the Jackson and Mississippi
Central Railroads ? I will tell you the first impression of a gentleman
I lately met at Grand Junction, who came direct from Texas, via New
Orleans. Said he: "I don't see how you Mississippi people make a
living— either your land is miserably poor, or you have abused it
awfully. Why, the whole country along that railroad looks like a
turkey gobbler that has been pulled through a briar bush by the tail."

Now, I doubt whether on the whole they do things on a more rational
plan in Texas ; but then, their lands are fresh, their time has not come
yet. But, gentlemen, ours has — and it is time we were seeing about it.

Let me tell you another remark — it was made by a federal general,
whom we of North Mississippi have reason to remember, and to whom
I once applied for protection for the University buildings. He was in
a bad humor, having found the country rather too bare of supplies for
his men. So, hearing that I was che State Geologist, he inveighed
against the false reports that were current as to the productiveness of
the soil. Said he : "Talk about the fertile soil of Mississippi ! Why,
d — n it, it's all like tfiat!" and he kicked spitefully at a pile of red sand
dug from a cistern near by. You see, he and our friend, the Texan,
had quite the same impression on their minds. I leave you to say
whether, so far as the highways and older settlements of the State are
concerned, it is not fully justified.

From Ripley to Jackson Court House — from Holly Springs to Wood-
ville, do we not find many of our towns and county seats in danger of
going "down hill" from the encroachment of the red washes; and

[7]

their surroundings waving with broom sedge instead of bread crops ?
Have not whole plantations tumbled bodily into gullies, almost beyond
the reach of any practically possible reclamation? — the hills denuded
of soil and even subsoil, and the fertile valleys overrun with a flood of
arid sand, where but a few years ago we had lively streams running
between high banks all the year round — through fields waving with
corn and cotton.

THE SAND SCOURGE.

In those portions of the State which are comparatively exempt from
the sand scourge, the extent of injury inflicted by it on other districts
would hardly be believed. In some portions of Marshall and Benton
counties, lately visited by me, it has assumed the character of a public
calamity. The turning-out of worn hillside land during the war re
sulted in the formation of innumerable hillside gullies, which, so soon
as the quicksand is reached, at the depth of a few feet, widen with
fearful rapidity, not only by washing, but by caving. The hard, un
protected and untilled surface of the land sheds a much larger propor
tion of rain water than formerly, and much more rapidly, into these
gullies; from which, during heavy rains, a tumbling, gruel-like mass of
sand and water emerges upon the valleys.

Before the war, the then comparatively slight danger of inundation
by sand was averted by straightening the channels of the streams,
thus increasing their power of carrying off the sand poured into them
from hillside rills. But now, the quantity of sand has so greatly in
creased, that not only have the old valley ditches been filled up, but it
is extremely doubtful whether any amount of labor likely to be at the
command of private individuals, could have kept, or keep them open.
The huge volumes of sand carried down from the hills must lodge
somewhere, and ruin somebody's land. Each land owner blames his
neighbor above or below him, as the case may be ; and the law-suits
resulting therefrom would be legion, but for the fact that each one
being to blame himself, more or less, for precisely the same omissions,
all parties would in the end fare about alike.

There is not, probably, an upland county in the State where we may
not find abundant examples of the same general character; resulting
in the most serious injury to the uplands, and the same, or worse, to
the smaller valleys.

What we see in Marshall, Benton and Lafayette, we find repeated
with lamentable exactness in Winston, Lauderdale and Jasper, in

[8]

Marion and Wilkinson — wherever, in short, sand is found underlying
the subsoil at no great depth, which is the case of fully three-fourths
of the uplands in the State.

THE PRAIRIES.

As for the rest — look at the prairies of Northeast Mississippi — Mon
roe, Chickasaw and Lowndes — the garden spot of Mississippi. Is not
the soil, which for thirty or forty years has unremittingly yielded mag
nificent crops, rapidly giving out? Were not lands that twenty years
ago, could not have been bought at $20, offered at $5 per a<jre just be
fore the war, without finding purchasers? I will not argue about their
present market value — it is influenced by many outside circumstances ;
but through them all glare the stubborn fact, .that around the older
settlements — say Okolona — hundreds and even thousands of acres of
the richest looking prairie are thrown out of cultivation, because, not
withstanding their nearness to the market, the crops they yield have
ceased to be remunerative, both from their indifferent quantity and
quality, and from their liability to frequent failure.

THE "INEXHAUSTIBLE" BOTTOM.

From the growing infertility of the uplands, the large planters
especially have for years past sought refuge in the bottoms, particu
larly in that of the Mississippi. In these, indeed, many of them have
thought they had found that fabled soil that never wears out. They
pooh-pooh the idea of its ever becoming exhausted, and in some dark
corners, even now pitch their cotton-seed into the bayous, to get rid of
it. But the laws of nature are the same every where, and cannot long
be defied with impunity. It is true that the soil of the Mississippi bot
tom is very rich and very deep ; and that that of the Nile bottom is still
as fertile as it was three thousand years ago. But that is because of
the annual overflows, which continually bring down a fresh and very
rich soil from the table-lands of Abyssinia.

But as it now turns out, the best soil of the Mississippi bottom (the
"buckshot") is not an alluvial one, formed by the deposits of the
present river: but is analagous to the upland prairie soils. Moreover,
we are trying our best to shut out the annual overflows, and will doubt
less succeed in so doing. The time of exhaustion of the bottoms, then,
will surely come, and will be felt by some of the present generation *
the more, as one of the causes of the fertility of these lowlands is that
they now receive the cream of the soils of the uplands.

m

"WE MUST CHANGE ALL THAT/'

Can this state of things continue ? If it does, how long will it be
before the fairest portions of our uplands (which were of course picked
out by the first settlers) shall become a mere waste of red gullies and
broom-sedge ? If we do not use their heritage more rationally, well
might the Chickasaws and Choctaws question the moral right of the
act by which their beautiful, park-like hunting grounds were turned
over to another race, on the plea that they did not put them to the uses
for which the Creator intended them.

Under their system these lands would have lasted forever ; under
ours, as heretofore practiced, in less than a century more the State
would be reduced to the condition of the Roman Carapagna.

This will not and cannot be, in these times of rapid progress, inter
communication and hot competition. If we ourselves were to fail to
do by our lands as we ought, they would simply pass away from our
hands into others more willing to conform to the requirements of the
times, as dictated by prudence and common sense. The farmer who
raises a mere fraction of a bale of cotton upon an acre of land, cannot
long hold his ground alongside of him who, with little more labor and
expense, raises an entire bale, and that of a quality which in the
market will bring two or three cents more per pound.

It seems almost trite to say that it will not pay to cultivate poor land ;
and yet I dare say there are few among us who do not do so to a certain
extent. In this evidently our works are not up to our faith.

CULTIVATING TOO MUCH LAND.

What is worse, the poorer the land, the more of it we try to culti
vate ; vainly attempting to increase the effect of our labor by diffusing
it over a larger area.

There is not, probably, in all our practice, an error more widely dif
fused, and more fatal in its consequences, than this one of attempting
to cultivate too much land — tilling it badly of course, tiring the teams
by dint of just traveling over it, and manuring it not at all. The labor
and expense thus scattered over four acres of ground, to raise one bale
of cotton, would frequently, if bestowed on the improvement of half
the area, almost double the product ; and the staple raised on a more
generous soil would be of a much better quality than that gathered off
the half-starved stalks on the four poor acres.

One cause of this persistence in the cultivation of poor land probably
is, that opinions differ greatly as to what is " poor" laud ; and where
no farm accounts are kept, it is not always easy to judge when culture

[ 10]

ceases to be profitable. Then, too, our farmers are too much in the
habit of considering all lands as " poor," that will not produce profita
ble crops of cotton or corn.

"COTTON OR NOTHING!"

" A cotton raiser has no time to plow under peas." That is the doc
trine promulgated, not many months ago, in one of our agricultural
journals, by a disconsolate owner of poor sandy land ; who found he
could make nothing at raising cotton, yet evidently was determined to
raise nothing else — "let justice be done, though the heavens fall."

Fellow-citizens, this " cotton ©r nothing" idea has been the bane of
our system of agriculture. It has aggravated beyond measure those
evil effects on the soil which seem everywhere to have attended the
labor system to which we were committed before the war. The unceas
ing repetition of cotton cropping on the same soil, without rotation,
return or rest, has exhausted in the course of twenty years, lands that
with anything like a rational system of culture, and without any pur
chase of manure, should have lasted a century.

When I say exhausted, I do not mean to say that no crop could be
profitably raised on the soil. By no means. Clover, the grasses and
Other forage, bread and market crops, will still flourish on many a soil,
that will refuse to yield even a fifth of a bale of cotton per acre. But
these did not enter into our calculations. It had become traditional
that the Northwest was to feed us, the Northeast to supply almost
everything else— and it was only when these supplies were forcibly cut
off, that we began to realize the folly of the system, and found our
selves somewhat like King Midas before his golden viands: with lots of
cotton but nothing to eat !

WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

What then must we do to avoid all these evils ? We cannot all go
to the "bottom" if we would — we do not want to move West. We
have but little capital to invest. How shall we invest what we have?

Well, there is no royal road to the solution of the question, and quack
medicines will not help us here.

Keep up your land I That is really tlw great problem, before whose
importance all questions of detail sink into comparative insignificance.
A generous soil will produce almost anywhere, any crop adapted to the
climate. It will repay your labor bountifully even when not bestowed
to the best advantage, because of the wide margin it leaves for profit
and loss. It will carry your crops safely over a spell of drouth that

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will singe out of existence those on "poor" land; and if full justice
is done to it by deep tillage, it will equally secure them against such
excess of wet weather as would be fatal to poor and stunted seedlings,
grown on " worn" soil. And last, but not least, this comparative cer
tainty with which the farmer can count upon remunerative crops, enables
him to forecast his resources to vastly greater advantage, and with little
risk of serious mistakes. He knows what purchases he is justified in
making at the time when they will be most advantageous to him ; secur
ing him those advantages so highly prized in all other pursuits, of
steady and certain profits, with little or no risk; save from extraordinary
events not susceptible of being included in forecasts, by either the
farmer or any other business man.

FAT YEARS AND LEAN YEARS.

From providential causes, there will always be "fat years" and "lean
years," comparatively speaking. But, extraordinary cases exempted, it
is our own fault if we have what may properly be called years of
famine, as contra-distinguished from those of average harvests. The
terrific famines which even in our times ravage oriental countries,
result mainly from the fact that in consequence of the very rude and
imperfect mode of cultivation practised there, the issue of the harvest
depends almost wholly upon the seasons. With improved methods of
agriculture, no such total failures can happen to entire States in the
Occident; any more than to China or Japan, where the principle of the
maintenance of fertility alone, even with the rudest implements of till
age, prevents such disastrous events from assuming a general character.

How much more ought we to do, with the additional advantages given
us by the gigantic progress of the arts and sciences, advancing hand in
hand so fast that but few of us are able to fully keep up with their pro
gress! And if our advantages are so much greater, how much greater
are also our responsibilities for their proper use !

Yet if we, on this side of the Atlantic, and especially south of the
Ohio, have thus far remained exempt from the scourge of famine, it is
more owing to the high native fertility of our yet unexhausted soils,
than to our own foresight. Improved implements, too, have been so
temptingly set before us, that unwittingly and sometimes almost un
willingly, we have in practice adopted some of the principles of .Pro
gressive Agriculture, in our Briuly Plows, our cultivators, our cotton
gins and presses, our improved varieties of crops and stock. But all
the while we have been slow to accept, and slower still to carry into
practice, those fundamental principles upon which depends our con-

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tinued prosperity as an agricultural people, and to the faithful practice
of which all other improvements are but auxiliaries.

Taking it for granted on all hands, that the maintenance of the fer
tility of our fields is the fundamental condition of all agricultural im
provement : let us briefly consider what are the principles upon which
we must work to accomplish that end, and the means at our command.

THE CAUSES OF EXHAUSTION.

It is now known to all of you, that the exhaustion of soils is owing
to the withdrawal from them of the ash ingredients of the crops. If,
instead of removing the crops from the fields, we were to turn them
under with the plow every year, the productiveness of the soil would
continually increase by cultivation ; because the soil ingredients taken
up by the crops would be returned to the soil in a more available con
dition, while a partially fresh supply would, besides, be taken in by
every successive crop.

If, however, we fail to return a portion of the crop, the soil ingredi
ents of that portion must be returned to the land in some other form
(i. e. that of manures), if fertility is to be maintained.

Practically, there are crops which, so long as only the portion actu
ally sold is removed from the land, while the rest is at once returned,
will not sensibly diminish the productiveness of a strong soil, for a
great length of time. Pre-eminent among these stands our great staple
cotton. Here are the data :

SOIL INGREDIENTS REQUIRED FOR A BALE OF COTTON.

Pounds Ash.

j c o i /-i x ( 400 Ibs. Lint contain ............... 4

l,3oO pounds of Seed Cotton, j 95Q ^ geed ^^ ............ 41

45
Of the 41 pounds contained in the Seed alone :

475 pounds of Hulls contain ......................................... 9J

368 pounds of Cake contain .................... ................... 31

107 pounds of Oil contain about ................................. -J

950 41

A corresponding crop of
35 bushels of Corn contains ....................................... 25

15 bushels of Wheat contains ...................................... 18

This shows what might have been done with our cotton lands, had a
rational system of culture prevailed from the beginning. It shows
what we may still do with our newly opened lands, and with our old
ones after they are reclaimed from their present dormant condition.

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THE COTTONSEED-OIL MANUFACTURE.

And what are we now doing? Instead of returning the cotton-seed
to the soil, we now, to a large extent, sell it to the oil manufacturer —
getting in return for ten times the amount of soil ingredients removed
by the bale of lint, about one-tenth of what the lint sold for; or about
one hundred times less, weight for weight. Now when it is considered
that the soil ingredients so sold could actually, within ten years, have
been converted into ten crops of cotton : the operation, in a business
point of view, appears simply preposterous.

The soil ingredients are our capital, and it is this we sell, at a mere
nominal value, in selling our cotton-seed.

Should we, therefore, discourage the cottonseed-oil manufacture?

Yes, if we continue (as is the case now) to export the cake, and with
it the essence of the soil's fertility, to New and Old England. No, if
we get back the cottonseed cake, leaving the oil as toll to the manufac
turer. Seed cake is worth more to us than the raw seed to which it
corresponds. But in order to carry out this programme effectually, it
would be necessary to have oil presses scattered broadcast through the
country. I believe the time will come when our cotton-seed will be car
ried to the press as naturally as we now carry our grist to mill. But
for the present it will be most advisable for farmers to return their
cotton-seed religiously to the soil on which it grew.

And this is the first and foremost rule to prevent exhaustion : Return
faithfully to the soil (whether directly, or through cattle fed with them,}
all those portions of crops whose selling price would not enable you to buy
back the manurial ingredients it contains, besides yielding you a full and
fair remuneration for the labor of production. And least of all let
any portion of such crop go to waste, or be burnt.

MANURE-MAKING.

The utilization of the offal (so to speak) of our crops is most inti
mately connected with that of the preservation and collection of
manure. It seems incredible to those who have never tried it, what a
large amount of fertilizing material can be accumulated in the course
of a year, when we stop the thousand-and-one leaks through which
the greater portion of these ingredients now escapes ; when in short
manure-making is regarded as a business, second in importance only to
crop-making, of which it is one of the chief conditions of success.

In this we must follow the example of all the older communities in
the world, and the sooner the better. Unfortunately, many of those

[14]

who attempt to enter upon this measure of reform, too frequently sto
half way — allowing, e. g., their cattle to run at large, after having fe
them on the produce of the farm ; and thus scatter abroad on a mise:
able woods pasture, the manure that should have been faithfully r(
turned to the cultivated soil. We cling tenaciously to the habit c
letting our cattle range in the woods, when what they actually get in
the way of pasture is not worth half the annual cost of keeping up
fences, in the greater portion of the State. The abatement of the
fence nuisance is one of the most pressing measures of reform in the
more thickly settled portions of the State ; yet while many a farmer
pays his State tax several times over in fence repairs, he will protest
loudly against the infringement upon his rights, that would exclude
his cattle from trespassing upon the land of others, or upon the public
domain.

Few are aware how small an area, well cultivated, will green-soil
stock ; saving their manure, and improving their condition in every
way. Again, how can improved breeds of cattle be maintained, if
allowed to range all the year with all manner of scrub-stock?

OUR MARLS AND GREENSANDS.

Next in importance to the preservation and use of manure, is the
utilization of the natural manures found in the State. Of these we
have a great abundance, and they will greatly help us to redeem our
lands from the consequences of maltreatment it has undergone hereto
fore.

(Here the speaker exhibited a map showing the marl and greensand
regions of the State.)

Here, in the north-eastern portion of the State, is the Pontotoe
Ilidge, extending from the Tennessee line to Houston, with an average
width of twelve miles. The body of its hills consists largely of green-
yand marls, at many points fully equal to those of New Jersey ; alter
nating with strata of limestone which will, on burning, yield an article
of lime worth twice as much for agricultural purposes, as any of the
imported article.

Alongside is the prairie region proper, which the Rotten Limestone
underlies everywhere. While not equal to the rock of the Pontotoe
Ridge for agricultural use, it will nevertheless, when burnt, be still
more valuable as a fertilizer than imported lime; and where it will
crumble rendily, produces a fine effect even in the raw condition, as a
marl. It offers a most ready means of rendering available for profita-

[15]

ble cultivation, the intractable soils of the adjoining Flat- Woods,
whenever railroads shall make cheap transportation available.

In Central Mississippi, we have a marl belt traversing the State,
from Vicksburg to Winchester, with an average width of about 36
miles northward of that line. The quality of these marls is, on the
whole, superior to that of the Pontotoc Ridge marls ; as they contain
less inert matter, and almost always a considerable amount of green-
sand. Within a few miles of where we stand, there are beds of marl
whose manurial value is sufficiently great to pay for shipment by rail
to a considerable distance ; and they might readily be concentrated
(as are the New Jersey greensands) to increase their value, weight for
weight.

These marls, in most cases, are not mere stimulants, but true ma
nures; worth more per ton, in some localities, than several of the man
ufactured fertilizers in the market.

Northward of the marl region, and southward of a line drawn from
near Carrollton to Marion Station, we find numerous beds of greensand,
of high manurial value as sources of potash ; of which substance the
deposits near Vaiden and Winona contain from one-and-a-half to two
per cent. These materials could readily be concentrated, so as to bear
shipment by rail all over the State.

The greater part of these facts are stated in detail in my report of
1860; some of them have been developed by researches made since
then. As yet, they have attracted but little attention — in part, no
doubt, from a perverse disposition in human nature to depreciate home
resources ; in part, also, because the manure question is but noiv assum
ing that threatening aspect which, before long, must rouse up the most
indifferent to a sense of the absolute necessity of adopting a more
rational practice.

These marl beds can do for us all, and a great deal more than that
which marls have done for Virginia and parts of the Carolinas ; for the
reason that they are more complete fertilizers, and more widely dis
tributed. Good marls and green-sands do not, it is true, exist in every
locality within the areas above described ; but with improved means of
communication and preparation, they can be made very generally
available, even beyond the limits of their region of occurrence.

I am glad to see that of late, especially in the neighborhood of Jack
son, experiments in the use of marls are becoming more frequent.

[16]

COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS.

As for commercial fertilizers, their most proper use applies to two or
three cases. First, to make up the deficiency in the annual returns to
the soil, arising from the sale of our products. This is in the nature
of a common credit and debit account, which should be kept by
every farmer ; for on the regular balancing of this account depends
the maintenance of profitable productiveness.

Secondly, they are profitably used in making up for the one-sided
wear, so to speak, of our lands; whose wearing-out is frequently de
pendant merely upon the drain of phosphates ; in which case the appli
cation of commercial super-phosphates will be followed by a surprising
effect. They are therefore highly valuable adjuncts in the reclama
tion of worn lands, enabling us to make crops while the soil is being
rehabitated by subsoiling, fallowing, green-cropping and marling.

But in order to perform these services, they must be what they claim
to be ; which, as we all know to our cost, is too frequently not the case.
I am satisfied that we ought to adopt the same remedy as other States,
allowing no fertilizers to be sold, that have not been sampled, and their
per centage of active ingredients ascertained and certified to, by a State
Inspector.

As a rule, we pay by far too much for them. And in any case, they
will not do to rely on, as they supply but one, or a few of the ingredi
ents required by plants. The main return should, as a rule, come
from the farm itself.

ROTATION OF CROPS.

Among the most essential points in the treatment of all lauds, both
manured and unmanured, is rotation — an annual change of crups in
proper succession.

Without this, the land ceases to produce much sooner, if left un
manured ; and manure used is less profitable.

We have sinned greatly against this important principle in our inces
sant cropping with cotton; and if there were no other reasons why we
should diversify crops more than has been done, this one would be suf
ficient to condemn our system. I remark that the proper succession
for some of our important crops is far from being well settled ; and that
the question, if settled for one class of soils, frequently arises anew
with reference to other classes, and will require numerous and well
devised experiments for its settlement.

[17]

Apart from manuring proper, and rotation, there are a number of
expedients for improving and stimulating the production of soils; such
as subsoiling, thorough-drainage, the fallow, and turning-in of green, crops.
These are of especial importance to us in the reclamation of our worn
lands, since they enable us to dispense, for the time being, with much
of the heavy cash outlay otherwise required for the purchase of
manures.

SUBSOILING.

As for subsoiling, its great effectiveness with us depends largely
upon the lamentably shallow tillage that has mostly been bestowed
upon our lands. We have cultivated large areas badly, scratching, on
an average, three to four inches deep ; and it is mainly this shallow
surface layer that has been worn out, while the greater part of the
properly arable soil lies untouched beneath. True, it is not in a con
dition to bear heavy crops at once ; but by the aid of deep and frequent
tillage, the fallow, aad turning-in of green crops, as well as, wherever
accessible, our excellent marls : most of these worn soils, which were
originally "strong," and have not been devastated by washing, can
readily be brought back to very nearly their original productiveness.
They would, of course, have lasted much longer, had deeper tillage
been practised from the outset. For, after all, what we call subsoiling
is only deep tillage, without, however, necessarily turning up the
deeper portions. When, where, and to what extent the actual turning up
may be practised, depends materially upon circumstances; such as the
original and actual depth of the arable soil, its quality, the nature and
quality of the subsoil, the conditions of drainage, the crops intended
to be raised, etc. It often involves questions of no slight difficulty
and complication, which can only be answered either bj analysis, or
else by long and costly experimenting. Indiscriminate subsoiling has
in numerous cases in this State proved the very reverse of beneficial ;
although much more often, it has resulted in very great improvement

THOROUGH-DRAINAGE.

Thorough-drainage, or under-draining, is very similar in its effects to
to subsoiling, but it goes farther in its benefits. It renders the Jand
easier to cultivate; allows the ground to be worked at all times, within
a few hours after a rain ; secures to crops the advantages of an early
start, of a deep soil well aerated, and therefore protects them against
either excessive wet or drouth. Hence it renders a fair crop almost a
a certainty, every year, even in very extreme seasons, when all else is

a total failure.

2

[18]

Thorough-drainage is a costly improvement, and with us will, for
some time to come, be confined to the market garden and truck farm ;
many of which would do far better to invest more in drain tiles and
less in commercial fertilizers. Yet there are thousands of cases in
which a few or even a single tile drain, well laid, would in a few years
pay for itself, by the prevention of washing, the rapid removal of water
from large areas now remaining water-soaked for many days ofter
rain, and the facilities afforded in cultivation by doing away with open
drains, — so troublesome in cutting up fields, and after all, so poorly
fulfilling their intended purpose. Brush and log under-drains, if they
are to be effectual, require such frequent renewal, that in the end they
prove more expensive than tiles.

THE FALLOW.

As for fallowing, or as it is usually termed with us, "resting" the
land, it is so effectual in restoring soils, not originally poor, to produc
tiveness after severe cropping, that it has, time and again, been claimed
as the panacea for the maintenance of fertility. But to be effectual, it
must not be practised as is frequently done now, viz : simply throwing
the land out of cultivation; for it means tillage without cropping, and
very thorough tillage, too.

"GREEN-CROPPING."

• It is most advantageously connected with the turning-in of green crops,
raised on it for the purpose of soil-improvement. And with our long
growing season of eight or nine months, this excellent improvement
might be very extensively carried out, without losing a year's crop; by
simply removing crops from the field so soon as they can be harvested,
and immediately occupying the soil with another crop, even though it
be one of weeds — to be turned under either late in autumn, or (as in
the case of rye or oats) early enough in the next season to allow time
for a feed or forage crop afterwards.

Of all the crops adapted to this climate, none is so effectual in re
storing worn lands as Red Clover, whose deep roots draw up nourish
ment from the subsoil. Hence, in turning it under, we give the surface
soil a fresh supply of nourishment available to shallower- rooted crops,
which would not, themselves, have gone so deep.

WHERE, WHEN, AND HOW?

Such are the means by the aid of which we may not only increase
greatly the fertility of all our lands, but restore to profitable produc
tiveness most of those " worn" soils whose original thriftiness has been

destroyed by cropping without return. But like other remedies and
appliances, they must not be used indiscriminately ; for then disap
pointment is sure to follow in many cases.

Manures must be of the right kind, selected not only with reference
to the requirements of the soil, but also with due regard to the facili
ties for collecting, using and procuring, by purchase or otherwise, the
different materials applicable to the purpose.

Rotation, must be properly adapted, both as to the kind and number
of succession, not only to the soil, but also to the requirements of the
market.

Subsoiling must be practised judiciously, with a due regard to the
nature and condition of the soil and subsoil. Otherwise, so far from
being a benefit, it may, for the time being at least, become a serious
injury.

Under-draining is rarely amiss, yet there are extensive tracts of land
in the State on which it would be at least an unnecessary expense at
the present time.

There are soils on which the fallow can have little or no effect, and
would be, practically, a waste of time and labor.

The turning-in of green crops can rarely come amiss ; yet there are
cases in which it will not pay, unless the crop selected for the purpose
is of the proper kind.

To determine all these things properly, judiciously, and to the best
advantage, in the immense variety of cases which present themselves,
requires not only natural intellect, but an educated judgment. I cast
no slur upon our farmers when I say, that were it not for the wide mar
gin left them for profit and loss on our virgin soils, the egregious mis
takes constantly committed by them even in their attempts at improve
ment, would often prove very disastrous ; as is the case in older com
munities.

The knowledge required cannot be the gift of nature ; it must be
attained, both by the study of past experience, which has been con
densed into principles, and, very often, by experiments adapted to each
particular case. The latter is the method very commonly resorted to
by those who distrust " book-farming." Let us consider how far, by
itself alone, it is likely to lead to beneficial results.

EXPERIMENTING, AND "STUBBORN FACTS."
The readers of our agricultural journals cannot fail to have noticed
how very contradictory are the reported results of experiments made
by individuals. No matter how well settled may appear to be some

[20]

question raised, by an experiment devised* for the purpose: we will
shortly find some one else coming forward who has likewise tried the
thing, and reached precisely the opposite result.

Why is this ? — Simply because experiments are questions asked of
nature, that must be properly put, in order to receive a rational answer.
When this is not done, the old adage, that a fool is answered according
to his folly, applies here as elsewhere.

In experimenting we attempt to bring about some natural result
under known circumstances and conditions. Now, if we fail to take
into account any one of the influencing facts or conditions, our ques
tions are foolishly asked, and will be answered accordingly. As it
happens, the conditions controlling the results of agricultural experi
ments are oftentimes so exceedingly complex, that even in the most
experienced hands, and with the best resources of science, correct and
decisive results can be attained only by long series of trials, executed
with the most scrupulous care.

No wonder, then, that such great diversity of opinion prevails among
farmers, even upon the most vitally important questions. Let me ad
duce one as an illustration :

" Will commercial fertilizers pay ? "

In a general way, some will ; and some will not, for the simple reason
that they are utterly worthless intrinsically. The farmer who tries
them must with us, as a general thing rely on the manufacturer's cer
tificate and honesty; and some of us know, to our cost, how frail a
reed this is in many cases. However much opposed to anything re
sembling sumptuary laws, we shall in this matter, I think, have to
follow the example of other States ; in the establishment of an obliga
tory inspection, by State authority, of this very tricky class of mer
chandize.

But let us suppose that we have the right thing — say a superphos
phate. One man applies it to his worn-out pasture, and finds a won
derful effect — say 300 per cent, clear profit on his investment. He
becomes excited, and proclaims far and wide: " Mr. N's superphos
phate is the thing for 300 per cent, profit ! "

His neighbor tries it for corn or cotton on /iw soil, and barely gets
back his money. Natun lly, he also gets excited — cries humbug — im*
position — collusion, etc. Then there ensues a fight — on paper at least.
Each one pitches a " stubborn fact" at the other; and each one is
right so far as the facts go, while both are equally wrong as to the con
clusions they respectively drew therefrom.

[21 ]

Let me cite an example from my own exptrience : At Byram station,
below this, we have in the banks of Pearl river two thick strata of ex-
celknt marl, separated by a 10 inch band of gray clay. Finding that
the bank had been dug into, I was told, on inquiry, that "a foolish
fellow" had thought the "stuff" good for manure, and hauled off
several loads of it. Unfortunately, he had chosen the gray clay, to
get at which he had shoveled six feet of excellent marl into the river !

There was an experiment — and I dare say that whosoever perpetrated
it, thinks "marl" a great humbug !

A WORD ABOUT "THEORIES."

And here let me say— farmers talk a good deal against " theories, "
as connected with "book farming." Yet such experimenters — and
their number is large among them — are the most arrant theorizers, if
they only knew it. From their extremely limited experience, they
jump to the boldest conclusions, and stand up for them like a stone
wall ; the more obstinately the less they know about the matter.

Take, for example, the old popular superstition regarding the trans
formation of wheat into cheat, and vice versa; which contradicts alike
the experience of the farmer with all other plants, and the concurrent
results of all accurate observation. How, then, has the idea arisen?
Simply thus: When (as is but too frequently the case) the feed of
wheat and cheat are sown together, both will come up ; but ordinarily
the wheat will grow much the faster, and in a great measure " choke
off" the cheat before blooming time. But if in winter or early spring
the field is subjected to close grazing or cutting, the wheat suffers much
more thin the cheat, which will bear repeated cutting without injury.
In consequence, the cheat gets an advantage, the wheat is set back and
mostly "choked off" in. its turn before it can recover ; and thus a crop
chiefly of cheat is obtained. Nevertheless, if the same mixed seed be
sown the next season, and the cutting or grazing omitted : the wheat
may prevail in the fight for existence. Then, old farmers say that the
cheat has reverted back to wheat !

Again : In the good old times when all our corn and bacon came
from the Northwest, it was a settled opinion that forage crops, grasses,
clover, etc., would not succeed in our climate. It had been tried, and
they could not get a stand, and the summers killed it all.

My friend Philips then, as now, proclaimed, but in vain, that this
was an error; that with proper treatment, not only could a stand be
obtained, but the summer heat would be successfully resisted. Nobody
heeded him — he was a book-farmer, a theorizer, and so forth; "stub-

[ 22]

born facts" proved him to be wrong. Now you all know that he wa»
right; and that all the stubborn facts amounted to, was — mismanage
ment. Yet they had settled the point in popular belief.

We must change all that. If the labor, pains, and expense be
stowed by scattered individuals on limited experiments leading to unsafe
and contradictory conclusions, were combined so as to be judiciously
directed to well defined objects, a vnst amount of important knowledge
would be elicited.

Experimenting is a science and art — a most difficult one to carrv out
correctly in all cases. It is no disparagement to our farmers to say,
that in a great number of rases, they are unable to say exactly where
the shoe pinches, and what experiments should be made ; above all, un
able to judge of all the precautions required to carry them to a success
ful issue.

Much of the reproach that has been cast upon science as disagreeing
with the results of practice, is owing simply to this want of proper
qualifications on the part of experimenters, supposed to be, and esteem
ing themselves " highly scientific men," yet lacking the comprehensive
and well digested knowledge, which alone insures correct results, and
above all, correct conclusions.

THE GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL SURVEY.

A most important step toward this object was the Geological and
Agricultural Survey of the State. Its objects are, to acquire, through
compttent observers, a knowledge of all the natural facts concerning
the agricultural and industrial resources of the State; and also to
gather for the general benefit all the experience already acquired by
farmers concerning the peculiarities and character of soils. These
carefully collated and compared with the results of scientific investiga
tion of the soils, will in many cases at once lead to the most important
practical conclusions.

Here is a most important function to be fulfilled by our agricultural
societies, lodges of Patrons of Husbandry, etc. Experiments are
rarely lucrative: individuals cannot afford them. Societies can, for the
common benefit.

EXPERIMENTAL FARMS.

* Fellow-citizens — I would have, with this view, not one experimental
farm at Oxford or Jackson, but at least half a dozen of them scattered
over the State, in the chief agricultural divisions ; as many as possible —
one to each agricultural society !

[23]

The kind of experiments should be based upon the experience ac
quired by farmers in the region ; discussed with reference to the scien
tific examination of the region, its soils and other resources, by the
State Survey; and the mode of conducting them, the special precau
tions to be observed, etc., should be carefully considered beforehand
with the aid of all the light that science and practice can throw upon
the subject.

CONDITION OF THE STATE SURVEY.

I am often asked : Is the Agricultural Survey completed ; if not,
when will it be ?

That depends altogether upon what it is expected to do for the de
velopment of the natural resources of the State. I can now tell you,
or any stranger wanting to settle, what minerals or other useful mate
rials can, and cannot, be found in the State, and ivhere. I can give him
a general idea of every county, or part of a county, he may ask for, as
to kind and quality of soil, timber, water, etc., so far as traveling the
usual routes, and visiting all the chief settlements and other points of
interest indicated by inquiries along the routes, will give such knowl-

The gaps existing when my report of 1860 was published, have, in a
great measure, been filled up by the gentlemen who have since carried
on the work; and a report supplementary to, or comprehending the
former one, should be published as soon as all the office work is com
pleted.

(Here the speaker exhibited and explained a map of the State,
colored so as to show the geological and agricultural divisions.)

But while while I am able to give all this general information, I am
still in a great degree unable to answer vitally important questions of
detail. Without the information given by the work of the survey, we
should be altogether in the dark, even as to the questions to be settled
and the experiments required for that purpose. As it is, we are able
to ask questions intelligently, and with reference to the actually exist
ing state of things in each section of the State. But the practical
answers to these questions, while foreshadowed by the scientific work
done, still require the test of practice, and this test I propose to make
by the co-operation of the Agricultural Societies with the State College
of Agriculture, where instruction is based upon the extensive collection
representing the geological, agricultural and industrial features of the
State— as they ARE, and not as they might be supposed to be, from an
outside point of view !

[24]

For years this has been my pet scheme. A chair of In
struction in Agriculture was the starting point ot the Agri
cultural Survey ; for it is obvious that a knowledge of the actual fea
tures of the State was absolutely essential to truly practical instruction
of youth. In the absence of a pressing call for such instruction on the
part of the people, at that time, the original character of the depart
ment was gradually lost sight of; and until recently, when the Con
gressional donation for the purpose of industrial education has revived
the interest in this matter all over the United States, though residing
at the University, I have had no opportunity of communicating, as a
teacher, the results of the State Survey. The publication of my re
port of 1860, it is true, made the facts accessible ; but I mean no dis
paragement to the older generation, when I avow my conviction, that
it is mainly through the young men, and through the medium of direct
verbal instruction, and not through printed reports carefully put away
on their fathers' shelves, that the results of the Survey, and the logical
consequences flowing therefrom as regards agricultural practice, will
ever become incorporated into popular consciousness.

THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES.

Second in importance in this respect only to the education of youth,
is the social and intellectual influence exerted by the Agricultural
Societies.

It is there that not only the fathers are brought in direct contact with
the progress of the science and art of Agriculture ; but there also the
sons find the opportunity for applying, for their own benefit as well as
that of others, the principles and facts they may have received at the
Agricultural College ; and for continuing their own studies.

Here are the centers from which correct agricultural practice will
spread most readily, the precepts being enforced by example ; and the
example given by men against whom the mad-dog-cry oi: * ' book-farm
ing" cannot be raised.

It is strange and sad, but nevertheless true, that in too many cases,
a kind of jealousy has arisen between the Agricultural Colleges and Soci
eties. Since both have in view the same ultimate object — the improvement
of agriculture — the antagonism referred to can but be the outgrowth of
misapprehension (on one or both sides, as the case may be) of their
respective objects, and proper sphere of action. Neither can replace
the other, but each is the complement of the other.

[25]
INSTRUCTION, AND EXPERIMENTING.

Two entirely distinct functions have generally been attributed to
Agricultural Colleges in this country, namely : Instruction in the prin
ciples and practice of Agriculture ; and simultaneously the performance
of agricultural experiments. There is not really any necessary connec
tion between the two functions; and the question arises whether they
can without detriment be conjoined. It is my opinion that in not a few
instances, the educational interests have suffered by being subordinated,
or even too strictly co-ordinated, to the experimental work ; and that
to this circumstance is owing some of the dissatisfaction with which the
results cf that education have occasionally met at the hands of the
agricultural public.

Experimenting is, in general, the reverse of lucrative, unless con- |
ducted on a very limited scale, and with great judgment. An ezpert- I
mental larm cannot properly serve as a model to be followed, either as
to the kind of operations, or their lucrativeness.

It is not, therefore, the best example or field of action for learner*?,
who are of necessity unable to make the proper allowances, and are too
apt to carry with them into their home practice, an unwholesome predi
lection for experimenting. The experimental portion of a College
farm can therefore serve for general instruction to a limited extent
only, and is rather an expensive institution ; nor, in very many case?,
can experiments be properly carried out, if hampered by the require
ments of instruction.

EXPERIMENTAL STATIONS.

These difficulties have been so well recognized, for some time past, i"A\
Germany, and the importance of performing the same experiments in' 1
localities differing in soil, climate, etc., is so obvious : that experimental
stations, devoted exclusively to experiments of general and local inter
est, and quite disconnected from airy educational functions, have now
become numerous all over that country. Their operations are under
the same general control as the Agricultural Colleges themselves ; and
the latter frequently furnish from their advanced classes or graduate?,
competent men as directors and assistants.

Some of the men most distinguished in agricultural science, occupy
positions at the head of such establishments.

So well has the distinction between the educational and experimental
functions attributed by the act of Congress to our colleges, been
recognized, even in this country, that at the first general convention of I

[26]

ft Agricultural Colleges, at Chicago, in 1871, a special committee was
appointed to memorialize Congress and the State Legislatures on the
importance of establishing numerous separate experimental stations
in the United States.

In this very direction, a wide field of usefulness is open to our agri
cultural associations. Even with means much more ample than are
likely to be at the command of our State Agricultural College, it can
perform the duties of an experimental station to a limited extent only,
because it -is in but one place. Its proper province is mainly, in my view,
to determine questions of a general character, and also such local ones
as its location enables it to act on intelligently and successfully. But
wherever located, it cannot possibly test experimentally, questions de
pendent upon local peculiarities of soil and climate other than its own ;
nor even, without great expense, such questions as those concerning the
practical value of our natural fertilizers, marls, greensands, limestones,
etc.; whose transportation in adequate quantities would be cumhroni.
And then their efficacy would not, after all, be validiy tested, since the
experience gained might, in many cases, not be at all applicable to the
soils of the districts chiefly interested.

CO-OPERATION BETWEEN THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES AND

SOCIETIES.

Now, it would be perfectly easy for local agricultural associations to
carry out such experiments as these, for which the data, suggestions as
to the mode of conducting, and analyses or other scientific work re
quired in their course, would be furnished by the central establishment
Oxford ; which is in possession of the specimens and field notes
ving minute details as to every portion of the State visited. And
.where examinations had not, in the first instance, been sufficiently
minute, or new questions had turned up: it would be the business of
the same office to have such supplementary examination made, at the
suggestion of agricultural societies. On the other hand, the pupils of
the agricultural department would carry with them to all portions of
the State, and to the societies of which they would become leading
members, a detailed knowledge of the results obtained by the Agri
cultural Survey regarding the resources of their section — suggestions as
to important experiments based on such results ; and would be fore
most in detecting errors or omissions. They would be pre-eminently
qualified to conduct or direct experiments, and report the results for
discussion to the society as well as to the central office at the State
University.

[27]

It is in this way, gentlemen, that we propose, by a close, constant
and cordial co-operation with the agricultural organizations of the
State, to diffuse what knowledge we already possess, both of principles
and facts ; to increase that knowledge by experiments and observations
furnished by all those interested in progressive agriculture ; and in the
end to obtain a complete knowledge of the State, its capabilities, and
resources, at the command of a community of educated agriculturists,
able and willing to use to the best advantage, according to the lights of
science (which is but accumulated experience), the gifts bestowed by
nature upon our favored State.

THE COURSE OF STUDY.

There is a prejudice, prevalent to some extent, attributing to Agri
cultural Colleges a vicious tendency to turn away the minds and tastes
of students from agricultural pursuits. How far this objection may
apply in our case, you will judge for yourselves, by a perusal of our
proposed course of study.

(Here the speaker exhibited a synopsis of the Agricultural course,
as prescribed at the University of Mississippi.)

This, observe, is the least we think an educated farmer ought to
study, by way of preparation for his profession. He can study as
much more as he pleases, or his time may permit. For instance, he
should be thoroughly master of his own language, and hence the study
of English branches goes through the entire course. But we do not
impose upon him any other language, ancient or modern, since, although
useful, they are not essential to him in his pursuit.

Mathematics is pursued to the extent necessary to enable the farmer
to do his own surveying, leveling, etc.; to insure correct practice in
laying off, and building; and to understand the principles of Physics
and Chemistry.

A knowledge of Botany should be possessed by every one whose bus
iness of life it is to make plants grow. It is among the first subjects
taught, embracing, of course, a special course on plants important to
Agriculture.

Zoology, embracing also a special course on the animals useful and
injurious to Agriculture, succeeds botany in the second year. The pro
priety of this study is self-evident.

A course of general Physics, during the first term of the second
5 ear, prepares the student for that of General Chemistry. The latter
dove-tails with a special course of Agricultural and Economic Chemistry,

[28]

during the third or junior year. The latter course embraces, beside*
the application of chemistry to agriculture, the principles of the arts
directly relating to domestic operations; and would be equally useful
to students of the softer sex, whose influence on their male competitors
is everywhere acknowledged to be extremely desirable. We shall
always be glad to see them.

Mineralogy and Geology — the sciences treating of the immediate in
gredients and mode of formation of soils, can nowise be omitted ; they
are taught during the third year. So also is Meteorology, or "What
we Know about the Weather."

The fourth year is, of course, devoted to the higher branches and
finishing touches of the several subjects. Of non-agricultural subjects,
we have here, besides the English Literature course, that of Etidcs or
Moral Science, which is as necessary to the farmer as to any other pro
fession ; and that of Political Economy and Governmental Science, whose
importance is manifest.

Throughout the four years, we have daily lectures in General and
Special Agriculture ; embracing, successively, a General Compend (based
on Allen's Farm Book); then the details of Tillage, Subsoiling, Drain
age, Preparation of Land, Seeding, Cultivation, Harvesting, Storing of
Crops, in general. Details of the Culture of the Several Crops ; Horticul
ture, Truck Farming, Stock and Dairy Farming. Finally, during the
last or senior year, Rural Engineering and Architecture, Landscape
Gardening, Rural Economy, the General Policy of Culture, and a Sum
mary of the Course. Last, but not least, the Special Geology and Agri
culture of tlie State, illustrated by the extensive collections of the Geo
logical and Agricultural Survey, will show in detail, the application of
the facts and principles studied before, in each particular portion of
the State.

When you consider that, besides all this, the student will almost
daily witness the actual performance of farm operations, and take part
in them to the extent presently to be explained : I do not see how a
tendency to wean him from agricultural pursuits, can possibly be at
tributed to our course. We shall put the pursuit of agriculture before
him in all its manifold bearings aud connections, as a profession of a
high order, involving no little intellectual capacity and culture, and
dignified far above many of those that are now so often resorted to by
our youth.

PRACTICAL EXERCISES, AND FARM LABOR.

Now as regards the practical exercises in agricultural operations,
there has been a great diversity of opinion as to the extent to which

[29]

they should occupy the students' time. In the early times of Agricul
tural Colleges, it was thought that large "model farms," whose labor
should be performed by students, were the best means of imparting
truly practical knowledge. The first attempts of this kind, probably,
were made in Germany; and it was there, too, that the system was first
found to be a failure. Since then, the same experience has been gone
over in England, France, and in this country.

The result substantially was, first, that the graduates from model
farms too frequently failed as farm managers elsewhere ; second, that
the patronage of these institutions, large at first, rapidly diminished
after the first few years, and in some cases was almost reduced to zero.

It is not difficult, at this time, to see the causes of these failures.
The performance of so large an amount of physical labor left the stu
dents too little time, and still less of the needful mental freshness, to
acquire that knowledge of the natural causes governing success or
failure in agricultural pursuits, which alone can lead to the correct ap
plication of general principles.

They therefore became mere apprentices to the art of agriculture —
mere routine men, who could do admirably on the spot, and under the
same circumstances, under which they had learned their lessons ; but
were apt to fail so soon as removed from that narrow circle. No wonder
then that they themselves, as well as their parents, should come to the
conclusion, that after all the home farm was about as good as the model
farm ; especially considering that the work done at home paid the
laborer himself, while that done at the " College," seemingly at least,
served mainly to defray the expenses of that establishment.

There is another and often well-grounded cause of failure, and of
distrust on the part of agriculturists, of the efficac) of "model
farm" teaching. A truly model farm must be lucrative in its financial
results; for that, after all, is " what we are after." If not lucrative,
it is not, as a ivhole, a model to be followed ; and it is clear that to be
lucrative, all considerations of an educational character must be subor.
d mated to the business requirements. That is, the interests of the
farm, and not those of the student, must be mainly kept in view.

Now, this is not flattering news to those who, in depriving themselves
of their sons' labor tou the home farm, often do so at a considerable
sacrifice. Moreover, should the model farm be a financial success, it
will always labor under the suspicion, that this measure of success is
largely owing to its being backed by outside advantages and capital,
which would not be at the command of a private farm similarly man-

[30]

aged. And the truth is, that this is really the case in most instance*,
and must be so if it is to be of any use as an educational institution.

Under the pressure of these objections, and resulting failures, the
" model farm" system on the old plan is rapidly giving way everywhere
before that system which, while affording abundant opportunity to the
student to become an expert in all kinds of agricultural operations,
directs his attention chiefly to the principles upon which a successful
practice must be based, and which are applicable everywhere and
always.

We intend that, so far as our resources go, our college farm shall be
a model as to the manner of doing things. We intend to have the best
of its kind, of every implement, crop, or breed of cattle ; so that
the student may find all that he is taught in the lecture room, exempli,
fied in practice in the best manner, so far as kind and details are con
cerned. But we shall make him distinctly understand, that he is not
to copy stupidly the whole of what we have and show him ; any more
than a student of medicine should four down the throat of his patient*
the whole matcria medica of a drug store. We shall educate his judg
ment as to when, where and how to apply the improvements we ex
emplify in order to illustrate the principles we teach ; and thus, and
thus only, shall we fulfil both the letter and the spirit of the agricul
tural grant, intended to "promote the liberal and practical education
of the industrial classes, in the several pursuits and professions of life."

Neither the letter nor the spirit of that law would be satisfied, were
we to return to you your children as mere skilled apprentices to the art
of agriculture. It is not, and never can be, the object of such institu
tions to teach the millions their trades ; and if they were to attempt
such a thing, the millions would not patronize them. They will not
pay board for their children for the sake of such instruction as they
can obtain by merely imitating the practice of skilled mechanics; be
cause they can do better by apprenticing them to the latter, with little
or no expense to themselves.

It is only those who look higher, namely, for an education for their
children, that will impose upon themselves such sacrifices; and it is for
the benefit of such that the donation can mainly serve directly. Indi
rectly, all classes will be benefitted by it; for even those who do not go
beyond the imitative process of apprenticeship, will soon fall into the
more correct practice of their more successful neighbors.

A few thoroughly educated farmers in each neighborhood or county,
will very soon leaven the entire farming community, and to a much

[31 ]

more beneficial degree than a more diffusive, but less thorough, instruc
tion to a larger number could attain. And this is especially true where,
as I hope will soon be the case all over this Rt.-ite, the agricultural
societies form a network of arteries, through \vhich all improvement
and useful information can be most rapidly and efK dually conveyed to
the whole body of agriculturists.

MORE ASSISTANCE NEEDED.

To carry all these things into effect, we, of cou
from the State, such as has been given by all other
Congressional donation. The latter is expressly P<>
that the plant of the institution must be provi<
sources. We shall soon have under fence about,
the University section, affording a variety of soil,
buil .ings of the farm, and for the botanical dep.u i
buil'.iings and their contents, we need further
have no doubt that it will be given.

But, above all, we need the co-operation of th
ing population ; and we believe that great gOM<s
that it will serve to establish, on a lasting ba.si.-,
- trial prosperity of the State.

-e, need assistance

^tates accepting the

n-stricted in its use,

•>d for from other

hundred acres on

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nt. Butforthege

i >tunce. And we

''(>ple — of the farm-

11 come of it, and

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