Winter' Meeting. 235 



pei'ience. Scientific fanning is yet so unpopular witli the masses 

 that there is little hope of immediate improvement in methods such 

 as would bring about the higher results sought. 



There is no other industry that has so persistently ignored the ad- 

 vance of science in its application to the principles underlying its pro- 

 gress, and vet there is no industry that has been more favored through 

 scientific research. Everv other industrv seeks to know what research has 

 revealed and is ever prompt to seize the advantages offered. Farming 

 alone is still consulting the Delphic oracles and seems wedded to the 

 traditions of the past. With a very large per cent, it has become a 

 part of a fixed creed that little, if any, serviceable value can be acquired 

 through any source other than that of individual experience. By them 

 the book farmer is regarded as a visionary fellow, and he who would 

 advise as a necessary part of his farmer's equipment, a knowledge of 

 chemistry and biology in so far as such knowledge relates to health, 

 g'rowth and fruitage, is looked upon as one misguided and the feeling for 

 him is that of pity or contempt. 



If experience were the gateway to success, most men would be suc- 

 cessful. The world is full of men of experience but unfortunately 

 most of them have little else to show. Many there are who have battled 

 with life tlirouo'h more than half a centurv without taking a sino-]e 

 fortress ; at any rate they have captured nothing but themselves. Fail- 

 ure is plainly written all over them, yet they undertake to advise others, 

 feeling they have a right to do so because they are men of experience, 

 and since their weather-beaten aspect shows clearly enough they have 

 been in the storm, and since their counsel bears the mark of experience 

 it is eagerly sought. 



We observe that all men desire to employ attorneys, physicians and 

 artisans who are schooled in the principles of their respective profes- 

 sions. In all the trades and professions skill is taken at its full value, 

 until we come to farming, while here we find the prejudice to scien- 

 tific farming so deep seated that even a hearing has been denied, and 

 through the perverseness of the tillers of the soil will still be denied for 

 some time to come. Farmers as a rule reject the truths revealed 

 through research and experiment as the foolish dreams of citv farmers 



