68 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



A scientific man, like a gentleman, is rare, but may be looked. 

 for in any station or class. I know that all males are in this 

 country called gentlemen. Call them what you please ; my 

 experience is that a gentleman is rare in this and in any other 

 country. So our man of knowledge, of science, may be 

 looked for anywhere. Does a man's lettuce head better than 

 his neighbor's — he is scientific, knowing. When you examine 

 him, you find he knows just how many inches to open the 

 frames at such and such a temperature ; when to water and 

 when to leave them dry ; how to keep lice and mould away ; 

 and how to maintain a long, steady heat. Does a man have 

 the best cows, — he, too, is scientific; for a good cow is no 

 matter of chance. He has stared at cattle till he knows their 

 points by a sort of instinct ; he can rise above the limits of 

 breed or grade, and can tell an animal on her own merits ; 

 can say whether she runs too much to beef, or has not the con- 

 stitution to keep up her milk, or is too closely bred. The 

 two men have one trait in common, — they are one-sided ; they 

 are specialists. The lettuce-grower could not tell a fifteen- 

 quart cow if he died for it ; and the cattle-breeder would 

 scald his lettuce before February was out. Knowledge is 

 great, and one student, though he be talented, can master 

 only a bit. Every scientist, therefore, is one-sided. He is all 

 lettuce, or all cow. With this preface, we are prepared to 

 place and to appreciate what are called, with improper ex- 

 clusiveness, "scientific men"; to wit, those who follow a 

 subject, not for the profit of it, not even that they may teach 

 it, but that they may know it. Such men must of course be 

 specialists, and one specialty is scientific agriculture. We 

 must not expect too much of scientific agriculturists. They 

 are human and can know a part only. If they work all day 

 with test-tube and reagent, they cannot be expected to " point 

 out " a swarth as well as a country lad who never got beyond 

 the rule of three. This advantage, however, is theirs : that 

 they arrive at a result more rapidly and reliably than men of 

 slight education, because they do not try problems already 

 solved, and because they compare thousands of facts where 

 the others compare tens. 



We have noted how ancient is the tilling of the soil, and 

 bow slow has been its improvement. Nevertheless, each 



