THE PRACTICAL FARMER. 101 



quality of the seed should be stated, the previous treatment and 

 nature of the land on which it grows, its composition, its 

 mechanical condition, its exposure to the sim, its depth, the 

 manner and depth of ploughing, the true character and the 

 quantity of the manures used, the manner and time of apply- 

 ing them, the time of planting the seed, and the minute details 

 of the cultivation through the year, the expense of lahor, the 

 changes of the weather and its effects on the result, the harvest- 

 ing and disposition and profits of the crop should all l)e set forth 

 with a rigid exactness, for without all these particulars, and 

 even more, the experiment is comparatively worthless. But to 

 observe all these items, and to make a clear and faithful state- 

 ment of them, requires much time, and few farmers can afford 

 time at the busiest season of the year. Hence, while we have 

 many experiments and accounts of experiments, in a scientific 

 point of view, they arc of no value, though made in good faith, 

 and perhaps with even more care and expense than the farmer 

 can afford to bestow upon them. Now here we want the coope- 

 ration of the intelligent farmer and the man of science, the 

 farmer to oliserve and make sure of his facts, the man of science 

 to take up these facts to analyze them, and to make deductions 

 and suggestions for the farmer. We want a series of patient 

 and accurate experiments, recorded in such a manner as not to 

 mislead. We want them not in one branch of farming alone, 

 but in nearly all ; in the permanent improvement of lands, 

 in the breeding and feeding of stock, in new and improved 

 implements, and in a thousand other details in which our 

 knowledge is still very imperfect. And let it not be for- 

 gotten that an exact, faithful and systematic statement of 

 every experiment so conducted, is of the utmost value to the 

 community ; and with such statements of such experiment's, 

 new discoveries and new progress would inevital)ly follow. 

 Then let all such statements be brought together, thoroughly 

 digested and analyzed, and we shall have a collection of real 

 facts in agriculture, not theories to be afraid of, but facts upon 

 which it will be safe to base our rules for daily practice. 



Here is the true field for the agricultural societies to exert a 

 direct and powerful influence on the progress of scientific and 

 practical agriculture throughout the State, and for the more 

 complete and rapid development of the material resources of 



