to the growth or repair the waste of the body, is first converted into a fluid or to a state of solution in a fluid. This point once being understood and conceded, I think the question about watering sheep in winter can at once be decided as well as that of any other stock, especially if their feed be dry.

The earths, strictly so called, constitute but a small portion of the material of plants, the principal use of them being to give the plant a firm position, and to receive a portion of the material adapted to the growth, and the proper condition of the earth would seem to be that it be so mellow as to be easily penetrated by the roots of a plant, and at the same time sufficiently compact to hold the roots firmly in their place. The growth of vegetation is also affected by fluids both aqueous and aerial, and by substances in a state of solution in a fluid. The three fluids which mainly contribute to the growth of vegetation, are carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. The two last named composing water, and which is together with the materials held in solution by it, and necessary to its growth, taken up by the plant.

Carbon being the greater portion of the substance of every plant is derived from the atmosphere, it being rapidly absorbed by the leaves; and here we might stop and make a rational and practical conclusion about the injurious effects resulting from the close feeding of grass lands in the fall. The unfed field has all its leaves sound and vigorous, ready to imbibe the carbonic acid gas in the atmosphere at the first approach of warm weather, and a rapid growth is the consequence ; while the field that is close fed presents an appearance decidedly the reverse. The same injurious effects result from close feeding in the spring. The plant being deprived of the organs through which it should receive its food, it avails nothing to the plant that the atmosphere is full of the substance adapted to its growth. The true system would seem to be to cut and cure fodder enough to keep our stock until our pastures are nearly full grown, as an acre of well cured fodder will keep more stock than an acre of pasture under the best management.

And now, while upon the subject of feeding stock, I would like to say a few words on the kindred subject of shelter for stock in winter. A certain degree of heat is necessary in the animal body

to preserve life, and as it is like all other bodies subject to the loss of heat by contact with an atmosphere or any thing else colder than itself, death in cold weather would soon ensue from this cause if the material for the production of this element were not constantly supplied. This takes place in the lungs of animals by a process similar to that of combustion under any other circumstances, and the result is the same. Oxygen, a supporter of combustion, is inhaled from the atmosphere by the lungs, at the same time the blood is passing through them. The carbon of the blood is by contact with the oxygen consumed which generates heat, and the result is carbonic acid gas, which is expelled into the atmosphere and becomes a part of the food of the vegetable world. The amount of the carbon consumed in the production of animal heat is in proportion to the degree of exposure to cold, and as it is of the same chemical composition with the flesh and fat of animals, is so much subtracted from the material which would have contributed to the thrift of the animal. The inference derivable from the foregoing facts, that good shelter is to a great extent equivalent to food, I hardly need to state, as it will readily present itself to every mind; and here, if a farmer may be allowed to be curious as men of other professions may be, I might state that the cavities in the lungs of an animal, where the air and blood come in contact, are separated by a membrane of so close a texture that the blood cannot pass through it, yet at the same time is sufficiently open to admit of the passage of air, gas or any substance of equal tenuity.

Gentlemen, I am here in sight of institutions devoted to learning, endeavoring, in a limited way, to show the connexion between Sience and Agriculture; and for aught that I know have excited the risibility of those whose especial business it is to teach, by the broken and imperfect manner in which I have done it. We farmers have received but little aid from the fund at the disposal of the Regents of the University, or any other fund, except it be the Common School Fund, (and with this it is supposed our education must end;) but I submit it to the sober common sense of the farmers who hear me, if the knowledge I have here been endeavoring to communicate, or something like it, is not as practically useful and as likely to be remembered as some things that are now taught under the auspices of the Regents, such, for example, as the declen

sion of the latin word bonus, nominative, bonus arum; genitive bon orum, bon arum, bon orom: and other like sounds which had their use and meaning a thousand years ago.

The subjects of manure and the rotation of crops, are either of them sufficient to occupy the time of a whole address. I will barely state two or three general principles. Whatever has been a vegetable, can become a vegetable again. Manure lying for a long time in the field uncovered, is subject to a loss by evaporation; and manure lying in piles sufficient to produce fermentation and a degree of heat above one hundred by the thermometer, (as is frequently the case about horse stables,) becomes volatile, and the most valuable part of it escapes into the air; and the farmer who manages his manure in disregard of these principles, is guilty of the worst species of agrarianism, and loses more every year than the cost in time and money of a membership of this society. Plants differ somewhat in the amount of the several chemical constituents which they contain, as also does manure; and the period at which different portions of manure are brought in a state suitable for the nourishment of plants, is also various, and the successful application of the principle of rotation in crops, very much depends upon cultivating in succession the kind of plant which the manure and soil in their then condition are best adapted to sustain.

OSWEGO.

Owing to an omission, no report was made by the proper officers of our society last year to the State society of the doings in this county. It is but proper now to say that it was not deficient in its duty to the agricultural cause. A very spirited fair was held in the city of Oswego, on the 10th and 11th of September, 1851, which, considering the almost unprecedented heat of the weather at the time, deterring the driving of stock from any great distance, was every way creditable. The usual amount of premiums were awarded in books solely, which, however, was found to work unfavorably, as well as unsatisfactorily.

The Annual fair for the year 1852, was held on Wednesday and Thursday, the 29th and 30th of September, on the east bank of

the Oswego river, opposite the village of Fulton, on grounds not only well suited to the purpose, but admirably arranged by the Executive committee. They were enclosed by a board fence, on three sides, with the rapid stream on the fourth. The stock were well shaded, well watered, and well provendered, three important considerations in the fitting up for such gatherings.

The charge of one shilling admission was made on the first day this year, as also last year, to such as were not members of the society, and found to work well; nor should there be any doubt either of the expediency or the propriety of making such charge, for surely, those who will not cheerfully contribute that small amount towards the expenses of this object, had better refrain from being present.

In proof of its popularity, independent of nearly two hundred members, who, with their families, without minute investigation as to consanguinity, were freely admitted, the receipts at the gate show that the single admissions reached 1,200 on the first day, and the whole number present on both days, is estimated at nearly 5,000. It is desirable to state this, that our sister counties may understand the onward progress of the cause in this northern section of our State.

Nor was the exhibition of itself any less indicative of a growing interest in the subject of stock-raising, crop-growing, or manufacturing, in our section. Of horses, there were 75, against 47 last year. Of horned cattle, 66, against 43. Entries of all sorts, as compared with last season, 497 against 358. As to the character of the stock on exhibition, it manifested a corresponding improvement; nor can there be any doubt of the lively interest felt by our farmers in this regard.

The plowing match on the second day of the fair, was altogether the most animated scene of the occasion, and beyond compare, the best of any that has preceded it in this county. Not less than two thousand spectators were present; six "yeomen," (the youngest sixteen,) entered the lists. The competition was of the closest character, and the judges found it difficult to decide on the best workman.

The Address was delivered in the afternoon by the President. The subject was "The enobling and compensating properties of the pursuits of husbandry;" the point being to show that the farmer who is educated as such, is elevated by his pursuit, in proportion as he traces effects to their causes, and realizes the wonder-working influences of those chemical combinations that serve to produce the plant and resuscitate the soil; and that, however moderately compensated, as compared with other walks of life, his is a mine of wealth and security against adversity possessed by no other class.

Much stress was laid upon the importance of incorporating agricultural chemistry into our common school education, urging, also, that legislative action should be had in favor of establishing an agricultural school. That the farmers, as a body, should demand this if they are true to themselves, irrespective of political biases. It was shown that every President of this country, from Washington down to the present incumbent, has called the attention of Congress to the organization of an Agricultural Bureau, but called in vain; and that since our existence as a nation, only $29,000 has been appropriated to promote this interest; and that the same result had followed like appeals from successive chief magistrates in this State. He urged the call of a State agricultural convention, to digest and carry out some plan for the accomplishment of this very important means of retaining to this State the value of her farming lands.

According to the provisions of the new constitution of the society, the annual meeting was held on the third Wednesday in October, and the following persons elected as officers for the ensuing year:

Hamilton Murray, of Oswego, President; John N. Holmes, of Hastings, 1st Vice-President; Samuel Lewis, of Hannibal, 2d Vice-President; I. A. Place, Fulton, Recording secretary; N. Goodsell, New-Haven, Corresponding secretary; J. I. Wolcott, Fulton, Treasurer; William Schenck, I. E. Dutton, and Amory Howe, Executive committee.

It was decided to hold the fair of 1853 in the town of Granby. The society resolved that the State Society be memorialized to call a State Agricultural Convention, for the purposes before alluded HAMILTON MURRAY, President.

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