1882. J AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS. 43 



we do not know the condition of the land, nor the composition of 

 the fertilizer, nor the potency of the soil, nor the influence of the 

 season, nor the effect of culture. To uphold this method as 

 "scientific" can do naught but injury. I pass by Professor 

 Atwater's errors in calling some of the crops "good," as also 

 attempting (p. 357, Rept. Conn. Board of Ag., 1881) to give the 

 impression that the lack of phosphoric acid in the soil caused a 

 total failure of the crops of 1879, for his table shows that wood 

 ashes applied, certainly containing phosphoric acid, was followed 

 also by failure. Nor do I criticise his attempt to show from the 

 slight variations, that a ratio existed between the amount of phos- 

 phoric acid applied, and that of the crop harvested, for this may 

 be an oversight of the figures given for 1879, nor do I select for 

 discussion the discrepancies between his conclusions, as between 

 the various experiments he reports on. 



In truth, such field experiments as these are, carried out on 

 farms, can have but little value for science, are apt to be misleading, 

 and to be mischievous in the consequences deduced from their imper- 

 fect and incomplete records. In method and results they differ from 

 field verifications which often can be carried on or observed 

 with profit. Professor Atwater has heralded in this Bartholemew 

 series of experiments a position which he will find untenable, and 

 a position which in time the good common sense of the farm, 

 born of experience, will condemn. His position ignores the meth- 

 ods and. claims of science: his reasoning is defective. 



The methods of agricultural investigation and experimentation 

 must conform to the methods of science. They must be inter- 

 preted from verifiable data, and the results must be also capable of 

 verification. Can value be assigned to the various elements which 

 may be looked for in disturbance of results ? Scientific progress 

 gives favorable hope, but it is to the special investigator that we 

 must look in order to obtain this power. It is by determining the 

 character of crops and their variation under circumstances of 

 fertilizer application, of tillage, and of atmospheric agencies as 

 related to the plant; by determining the causes of changes in the 

 plant; its method of growth and of feeding; its method of ripen- 

 ing; and its varied reactions with the acts of man and with those 

 of nature. 



In animal studies we need to know the composition of foods, 

 the power of animals to digest, and the variations that occur 

 through individuality or through breed. We would know the 



