bTATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 93 



determine. These and many other familiar but vaguely compre- 

 hended objects are governed by natural laws, and the earlier and the 

 more thoroughly the farmer understands these laws the more =5uccess- 

 ful he is likelv to be. 



Yes. you say, but doesn't the farmer learn all he need know of 

 these thiniis bv experience and isn't experience, after all. the best 

 teacher? Experience is a good teacher, but. you know, it has been 

 said for many a year she keeps a dear school, and this we have found 

 to our sorrow in all the walks of life. The lessons the farmer learns 

 there are not only expensive but often they have to be repeated sevt- ral 

 times over before their meaning; is heeded, and some, it seems, hardlv 

 learn their significance at all. but go on in the same old blundering 

 way. laying the blame of their want of success at the door of bad 

 luck or something other than the true cause of their ill fortune. Nor 

 is this strange. The person who ha? not been trained to habits of 

 observation and quick perception can hardly be expected to be an}'- 

 thing else than a slow scholar even in learning the habits and nature 

 of objects by which he is daily surrounded. While facts established 

 and theories and opinions advanced by scientists arc of great value 

 to the iaimcr, a spirit of inquiry and an observing, attentive eye are 

 likewise of inestimable worth to him who would have nature lend 

 him the assistance she is always ready to give ; and. to possess these 

 •qualities in their Ijest estate, he really needs an earlv training:. 

 But as it is never too late to learn, it is better to begin late than not 

 at all. 



Again, it may be said. Do not the fariners have an opportunity to 

 acquire all necessary information through the columns of the agri- 

 cultural papers and the bulletins and reports of agricultuial schools 

 iind experiment stations-'* There is an opportunity to learn much, 

 ver}' much, in this way. and I am truly thankful our State is so well 

 favored as it is in this regard. 1 have felt sometimes the past 

 few years as if such aids and the information and inspiration ema- 

 nating from well conducted agricultural societies, present company 

 oot excepted, were the chief povver which is preserving the life and 

 vigor of many a farm in Maine. The reports of the Government 

 Bureau, as well as of the State Board of Agriculture likewise, often 

 contain much of value and their leading is to be commended. But, 

 while I would do all I could to encourage the use of these and simi- 

 lar helps and believe that much may be gained thereby, the fact re- 

 mains, and I think all pi-e&en.t will agree, that much of the interest 



