STATIONS FOR SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENT. 351 



fully for their support, in the form of small fees for analyses. 

 It may be stated, also, that the work of the German stations 

 has become thoroughly systematized by the division of labor, 

 each one taking some special line of investigation, and leav- 

 ing other specialties to other stations. The station mentioned 

 as having been first founded at INIoeckern, for instance, now 

 confines itself chiefly to studies and experiments in the nutri- 

 tion of animals ; and some of the stables on the farm are set 

 apart for the cattle required. Other stations are confined 

 specially to experiments in fertilizers, and the nutrition of 

 plants, to animal and vegetable chemistry, and physiology. 

 Agricultural research, the discovery of new truth, and the 

 test of older theories, is the work of them all, to be sure ; but 

 the field is so vast, that experience has dictated the economy 

 of division of labor. And so it may be argued, that we need 

 numerous stations in various parts of the Commonwealth ; and 

 it is true. But we shall never have a system of such invalu- 

 able institutions, unless we make a beginning in the estab- 

 lishment of one ; and true economy would dictate its location 

 in connection with the Agricultural College, where the requi- 

 site scientific appliances are already at hand. 



In the mean time, the societies can do more than they do 

 now in this direction, and it is not unreasonable in the public 

 to expect and demand it of them. We cannot shut our eyes 

 to the fact that we are to look more and more to the accu- 

 rate investigations of science as the source from which any 

 steps of real progress are to come. We shall not always 

 grope along blindly in the dark ; and science alone can throw 

 light upon the variety of questions that constantly meet us in 

 our daily practice. This fact is certainly to be recognized 

 in the future to a much greater extent than it has ever 

 been in the past. 



It is to be hoped, also, that the suggestion to hold one or 

 more Farmers' Institutes within the limits of each society 

 will commend itself to the favorable consideration of the 

 officers of all the societies in the State. Associated efforts, in 

 the way of public meetings for lectures and discussions, 

 stimulate individual enterprise, diffuse valuable information, 

 and excite emulation in the direction of improvement. Very 

 much of the progress already made is due to associated 

 effort ; and there never was a time in the history of progress, 



