gation enjoined upon us than there is upon the red man. The full development of all our faculties which the Creator has bestowed upon us will be demanded at our hands, and until we have arrived at the ultimatum of all human knowledge and improvement, we, as a race or people, will not be released from this obligation. But there is an absolute necessity at the present time for agricultural improvement, and no other argument is required to convince any reflecting mind than the fact that the soil m Ohio does not produce as much per acre as it did forty years ago; neither does it produce as much as the virgin soils of the West. Hence we find many good farmers selling their farms in Ohio and removing to the West In 1860 there were 4,690 farmers less in Ohio than in 1850. This is a rela tive loss of 54,513, according to the increase of population.

"The improvement in agricultural implements and machinery, and the introduction of entirely new machinery and implements, are exercising a great influence upon the agricultural condition of the State.

In 1840 there were 272,579 farmers in the state to 17.9 per cent. of adult male population

269,690
265,000

66

"

"

13.6

11.3

66

66

1850 1860 Between 1850 and 1860 the Grain Drill, Reaping and Mowing Machine, Combined Thresher and Cleaner, were generally introduced throughout the State. From 1850 to 1860 many improved implements, which considerably reduced manual labor, were intro duced. If the farmers had increased in numbers in proportion to the aggregate popula tion from 1840 to 1850, then in 1850 there should have been 365,258 farmers; but instead of this actual increase of 92,679, there was an absolute decrease of 2,889. Again, if farmers had increased in the same relative ratio as the aggregate population from 1840 to 1860, then in 1860 there should have been 419,771 farmers in the State. The introduo tion of improved and new implements and machinery, since 1840, is then, according to this calculation, equivalent to the labor of 154,771 men; since we have just this number of farmers less than the ratio of farmers to the increase of population. In other words, the labor-saving machinery in the State takes the place of 154,771 laborers, and allows them to go to the battle field without disturbing the agricultural interests of the State, and the only extent to which agriculture suffers, in this respect, is the difference be tween the number relieved by machinery and the number actually sent, viz, 175,000— being a draft on the farming population of about 20,000."

We have commercial facilities, as a State, unparalleled by any State in the West! We have a more thoroughly efficient system of common schools-nay, we are not surpassed in this respect by any State in the Union. Would it not be better for the State and for society in general, and would not more rapid strides be made in agriculture, if these farmers had remained within the State and improved their farms, thus rendering them more productive, even, than the virgin soils of the West now are? "The truth is, that there are very few farmers in the State who are unwil ling to sell their farms at the first opportunity which presents itself, when a fair price is offered. And it is no departure from the truth to state, that not one farmer in fifty intends to remain permanently on the farm he now occupies, provided he can make an advantageous sale of it. So long as

farms are bought and sold with as much facility as horses are, just so long may we expect the fertility of the soil to decrease. Another reason is that intimated before, namely, that agriculture is pursued as an ART, in which an appropriate apprenticeship has possibly been served, and the proper use of the tools acquired by the operator, but the elements, principles and rationale are as little understood as the photographer understands the laws and combinations of chemistry.

If the principles of agricultural improvement were as well understood and practiced as the principles of commerce or mercantile conduct are, then not one farmer in fifty could be found willing to dispose of his farm, even at a greatly increased price. In commercial or mercantile life, every improvement is eagerly seized, every new principle readily reduced to practice; vast sums of money invested, which, to the uninitiated appears almost as reckless as to stake it upon the cast of a die. Yet the trader or commercial man is governed in his actions by well established rules, and acts in conformity to the best established usages in his avocation. Hence, men brought up to commercial or mercantile life, as a general rule, make far more enterprising and successful farmers than those who have been reared on the farm itself. The commercial man has learned by experience that every judicious investment for improvement enhances the value of the property; and when such investments are applied to the improvement of the soil, he is well convinced that they will pay as well in the shape of increased crops as if invested in bank stock or U. S. 7-30 bonds. It is therefore very necessary that the young farmer be taught FARM MANAGEMENT, or the business part of farming, as well as the mere mechanical part of it-the same as the commercial man is taught the management of an extensive and heavy business house, as well as how to sell goods; for after all, much of the success in farming depends upon the management, or "financiering," as it is generally termed.

As moisture is evaporated from the earth's surface and drawn up into the atmosphere, there forming clouds to decend in the fullness of time to the earth, to renew the fertility and arouse the vital principle of plants, so agriculture has been sending forth, silently and unobserved, the elements and principles of the greater part of the natural sciences; these elements and principles have, in the hands of learned men, been reduced to such a form that they may now be applied to practical agriculture. There is no doubt in the minds of men properly informed upon this subject, that when these sciences are properly applied to practical agriculture, that the result will be as salutary to agriculture as the spring showers are to vegetation. But here, at the very threshold, is where the greatest difficulty presents itself to us. How shall the practical farmer obtain such a knowledge of these sciences as to be of any practical value to him? Germany was the first to feel the absolute necessity of a better system of farming; was the first to inaugurate a system of agricultural education.

Although, towards the close of the last century she had many able agricultural writers, prominent among whom was Von Thaer, yet it was not until 1806 that the first Agricultural College was inaugurated by Von Fellenberg. In his, as well as in many subsequently inaugurated ones, many purely speculative doctrines were taught, which were not corroborated by practice; at the same time many new and important truths were disseminated, and on the whole, great progress was made in agriculture. The doctrines of Humphrey Davey, Chaptal, Schuebler, and others, were finding a practical response in England, France and Germany, and contributed in no slight degree to the abolition of many time-honored but unproductive practices. The advent of Leibig's Agricultural Chemistry, in 1840, produced almost a complete revolution in the system of continental farming; and what is especially worthy of consideration is, that it was a revolution which did not go backward, aud to-day Prussia and her dependencies number sixty-nine agricultural colleges, with experimental farms attached, together with quite a number of special experimental stations.

The influence and result of these colleges and experimental farms, may be viewed from several stand-points; and viewed from whatever point, they nowhere appear in an unfavorable light. They have disseminated a higher order of practical knowledge, both in agriculture and the various. technological departments; they have recreated and entirely reformed the veterinary science, and developed much, very much otherwise dormant talent and ability. They have elevated the moral standard of the nation, for they have made labor respectable; and if an Agricultural College in Ohio should produce this one result, without any other, it would amply repay the investment. If it is urged that these colleges have exerted no practical influence upon agriculture, I can only cite a few "figures" as my reply:

"Those who are of opinion that science properly applied, or special education for that purpose, can be of no benefit to agriculture, can not certainly be familiar with the history of agriculture during the past century in Europe. A few facts and figures in relation to this point may not be out of place here. In Prussia the area cultivated at present is the same that it was a hundred years ago. Annexed is a tabular statement of the product per square (Prussian) mile, together with the product per capita of the population in 1755, 1800, and 1854:

Bushels. Per capita. Bushels. Per capita. Bushels. Per capita.

"From this statement it will be seen that in 1755 the population was 2,641 per square (Prussian) mile-equal to 224 of our square miles-and that the entire product per square mile of all the crops used as food for the inhabitants, amounted to ten and onefifth bushels for every individual. About 1780, considerable attention was directed to improvement in agriculture in that country, and by the year 1800 the aggregate of cereal crops was almost doubled, or would have given every individual, if the population of 1755 had not increased, seventeen and three-fourth bushels; but as the population did increase somewhat, the average per capita was a little over fifteen and three-fourth bushels. About 1800 the doctrines of Thaer and Von Fellenberg were finding a practical response in the improvement of almost all departments of agriculture. Agricultural schools, colleges, universities, and experimental farms sprang up in many places in Prus sia. The result of this agricultural education is that in 1854, when the population amounted to 7,310 per square mile, the aggregate production amounted to 244,635 bushels, or about nine times the amount produced on the same area one hundred years previous, and gave an average of thirty-three and one-half bushels to every individual of a popu lation which had almost tripled during the century.

"The population per square mile of 1854 could not have been subsisted on the product of a square mile in 1755, whilst the population of 1755 would have had more than nine times the amount in 1854 than they had in 1755. No one will argue that the soil of its own accord really became more productive by reaping a hundred crops from it. The in creased productiveness then must be attributed to an improved system of culture, and this improved system could have had no other origin than intelligence, or, in other words, APPLIED SCIENCE. The figures just quoted are a much stronger argument in favor of agricultural education than the most rhetorical essay could possibly make."

And this increase of produce has neither attained its highest point, nor is it confined to the cereal crops; it extends to the production of meat, wool, and commercial plants. The improvement in veterinary science alone, has more than remunerated the entire expense of these colleges on the continent. Before the inauguration of these colleges, a sick animal was generally destroyed at once, or it eventually died of the disease, producing no return to the owner, nor yielding any revenue to the Government. Now, however, more than nine-tenths of the number which formerly were destroyed or died of disease, are placed in the hands of skillful veterinarians, and their cure is almost invariably certain.

England has no public agricultural colleges; the one at Cirencester, I am led to believe, is practically a failure, and this is the only one which is claimed as being in any degree a public institution of this kind in England. In the first place it was intended to impart scientific agricultural knowledge to the sons of tenants or practical farmers, but it was soon discovered that this class of pupils were deficient in the preparatory courses of education. Next, an endeavor was made to impart this scientific knowledge, in connection with practical operations, to the landlords' sons; but here it was found that the "sprigs of nobility "would not condescend to perform any kind of manual labor; and now, if my information is correct, this college is devoted to instructing the sons of landholders in the business of farm management. But there are many private agricultural schools in England, and to these more than to anything else, except the cash capital necessary to put the science into practice, is England really indebted for her excellent and productive system of agriculture. Fifty years ago a farm in Essex county, England, produced eight bushels of wheat only per acre; at present Mr. Mechi harvests five quarters or forty bushels per acre from the same farm.

How shall we teach agriculture in Ohio? If we teach it at all, we must teach it as a practical science. I am well aware that a great majority of farmers have not the slightest confidence in "book" knowledge as applied to agriculture-or that farming can be taught anywhere else than on the farm itself. Agricultural writers themselves are to blame for this loss of confidence; just as, several centuries ago, medical writers were to blame for loss of confidence in their profession. A man had died from loss of blood; thereupon the medical world proclaimed that the blood was the seat of life: another died from the fracture of the skull; then it was asserted that the head was the seat of life: another died of consumption; they then believed that the lungs were the seat of life; and so on throughout the entire viscera, every part of which was in turn declared to be the seat of life. So with agricultural writers; one declares that plaster is the best manure; another asserts that lime is; then a more expensive school of writers declare in favor of guano; and last of all came the writers on the superphosphates. Then there is a class of writers of an entirely different school, who have the utmost confidence in electricity, heat or light; another set who advcoate underdraining subsoil and deep plowing. Then again, there are those who must have some chemistry connected with it. Now, there is no one of these doctrines which embraces the entire scheme of agriculture any more than that the seat of life is restricted to any one portion of the body. All are necessary to make a complete whole. There was a time when a great furore prevailed with regard to analysis of soils as the great panacea for the cure of agricultural infertility. Now, an analysis of the soil is most assuredly a rational step in the right direction, but it is nothing more than a mere step; because, without a correct and