EXTRACTS FROM A LECTURE ON AGRICULTURE. By W.Hart, Esquire.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 1, Issue 12, 7 June 1849, Page 2

EXTRACTS FROM A LECTURE ON AGRICULTURE. By W.Hart, Esquire.

(Continued from our last.) Then in laying out the ground for different crops—for planting or for spreading manure—care should be taken in determining the points, in drawing the lines parallel, in measuring the distances and the intervals of the plants by the eye or by paces. The number of plants or heaps of manure is calculated, and the whole is a lesson in geometry and arithmetic, ns well as an exercise of accuracy and foresight. In cutting the trenches for watering nn artificial meadow, the level of diflereut portions might be observed by some; others might trace the lines in such a manner, that the water shall perform the circuitous route necessary to supply the whole of a given space without' descending below its level; and others still place the sluices necessary to prevent an excess in one part or deficiency in another. All these operations are practical lessons upon the laws of gravitation, and might be employed in the most striking manner to lead the' native pupil to the existence and influence of this universal agent. The instructions thus received are recalled almost involuntarily at every fresh operation of the same sort, and such associations serve to divest this lowest of agricultural operations of its purely mechanical character. II they are clearing the ground of weeds, the nnme, characteristics, mid qualities of each might be the subject of remark. The relative eflcot of sun, and air, and moisture, and cultivation, upon these plants and those of a useful nature, is necessarily brought in view by the observation of the pupil, anil by the instruction given him, and inferences are drawn as to the best mode of exterminating them.

Mv great object is to show how easily—at what little cost anil labour —such ail establishment might be Council for the nboriginaj population, and how exceedingly beneficial it would be, not only to themselves, but to Ihe Jiuronean population. A little exertion is all that is necessary to establish schools ; mid as n beginning one only might be established for the native population, nnd one for the Europeans, As the course of instruction in the one would hardly be fitting for the oilier, es an example of "hat 111 iy be done by a feiv ardent friends of the farmer, without legislative aid, I would refer you to the institution at Templemoyle, situated about six miles from Londonderry. On a farm of 150 acres, nnd with a system whose details arc marked by the greatest simplicity, an institution has been formed of the highest practical benefit. The derived during the twenty-nine j'ears of its existence have enlisted the entire community in its favour; and seldom have I been more gratified than in hearing the encomiums passed upon both school and pupils by former residents in that neighbourhood (now in} the Colonies); a gratification, of course, mainly derived from the anticipation that, thus encouraged the farmers of this our adopted country will be quick to furnish themselves and their sons with similar instruction here. The paramount importance of these establishments cannot be too often and too energetically pressed upon public attention. I dwell the longer upon this part of my subject, from a sincere conviction, that upon the successful progress of agriculture the prosperity of this colony mainly rest". It must lie borne in mind that agriculture the art on which all other arts depend, and the profession in which the gieater part of our population ought to be engaged in. Its improvement and success is u subject of the very highest importance, and the rising: generation would be better men and more fflisient colonists, «vere the elements and sciculic principles of agriculture made a prominent feature in the system of the education tiu;.'ht in all our colonial schools, private or public. The very circumstance that such rapid progressing been made in those parts where 1 thn discoveries of science have been brought to hear 011 the improvement of agriculture, is the strongest evidence that can be offered of its importance. What can lie a more interesting or intellectual subject for the improvement of the mind, than the study of the instinct of plants and their discriminating power. Hoare, in his treatise on the vine, gives a striking exemplification of the instinct of plants. A bone was placed on the strong but dry clay of a vine border. The vine sent put a leading or tap root directly through the clay to the bone. In its passage through the clay, the main root threw out no fibres, but when it reached the bone it entirely covered it, by degrees, with the most delicate and minute fibres, like lace, each one sucking at a pore in the bone. On this luscious morsel of a marrow-bone would the vine continue to feed, as long as any nutriment remained to he extracted. What wonderful analogies there are running through the various form of animal nnd vegetable creation, to stimulate curiosity, to gratify research, and finally to lead our contemplations from nature, in n feeling of reverence, " up to nature's God." As to the vine spoken of by Hoare, it is worttiy of remark that the root went 110 further than the bone, which it seemed to have literally smelt out, ns would a hungry dog in passing. Researches in vegc table physiology, such ni the mere piactical man would not know how to begin to prosecute, have left no doubt with the curious enquirer that plants possess the faculty of breathing through their leaves, these being to them what lunus are tu animals. Tlicy search, 100, industriously for their food, where the is sufficiently porous and permeable. Admonishing the farmer and g.irdeuer to keep the soil, by all the means in their power, free from stagnant water, which reducej its temperature mid excludes the air, with till the nutriment which it contains, and to keep it in that open and accessible condition, which leaves tho food it contains most easily to be found and consumed by the root*, sent out in pursuit of it: and here lies the philosophy of thorough draining nnd thorough tillage. Do you ask if I would make the farmer a learned man? I answer yes, in all that rolales to his business, and the processes by which it is carried forward. In this sense I would li.ive him learned as the councillor is in the principles of the law, the divine in theology, and the physician in anatomy and the materin medica. Will his arin Ice its strength because his intellect is strong t or his granaries ba empty because his mind is stored with knowledge ? The contrary rather 1 And then, as nny human employment becomes intellectual, it encreascs in honour. It becomes appropriate to man reasoning, thinking man. it loses thnt wh.ch is peculiar to the brute or the slave, and acquires a character which is noble and dignified- In this

I way agriculture is to become the most honourable of human pursuits. The independence of a f.irmer's life has become proverbial. His, of all others, ii least dependent on commercial or manufactuiing industry. His /locks and Ilia herds yield him the necessaries of life, and the rural simplicity of his habits make him require but few of its luxuries. Let me impress Upon your minds, that the agricultural life is one eminently calculated for human happiness nnd human virtue. The situation of an independent farmer stands amongst the fir-it for happiness a'td virtue; It is the one to which statesmen and warriors have retired, to find, in the contemplation nf the works of nature, that serenity which more conspicuous situations could not impart. It is the situation in which God placed his peculiar people in the land of Juilea, and to which all the laws and institutions of his jrreat Law yiver had immediate reference. And when, in fulness of time, the privileges of the chosen ssed were to be extended to all his children, it was to shepherds abiding in the field that the glad tidings of great joy were first announced. Health ol body, serenity of min'l, and competence ol estate, wait upon this honourable calling; and in giving these it aivus all that the present life c.in bestow, while it opens, through its influence, the path to heaven.