1882.] AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS. 49 



and what the farmer wants to know; and I only offer them here 

 as ilhistrations of what, in part, we may expect a station to accom- 

 plish in order to receive recognition from the farmer. These 

 questions, in their solving, will require the utmost study that we 

 can bring to bear, and will tax the resources of the laboratory, the 

 plant-house, and the field, and the results, properly gained, may be 

 considered scientific, as the questions deal with matters of a kind 

 which admit of our test — verification. 



This list of desired agricultural experimentation may seem to 

 some to include the closely allied subject of agricultural investiga- 

 tion. A careful thought will, however observe that this lis5t is 

 separated from another list almost innumerable in its subjects 

 that I cculd offer, by the consideration of profit — by the fact that 

 all these experiments should be carried out so as to furnish infor- 

 mation for the actual carrying out of profitable farming. 



1 do not touch, as will be seen, upon the political duties assigned 

 to agricultural stations, such as are known as "control," and which 

 includes analyses of fertilizers, opinions on seeds, etc., not that 

 such are unworthy, but because these functions are not experimen- 

 tal, and do not come within the scope of my essay. 



Why does the farmer want to know? In the early days of 

 California mining, strength of muscle and endurance enabled all 

 who would to dig from the soil the auriferous gravel and wash 

 therefrom the grains of yellow gold. The student and the laborer 

 and the mining expert were on a par, except so far as the strength 

 of the laborer gave an advantage. This state of things, however, 

 could not continue. As the virgin deposits became despoiled, new 

 fields had to be sought, and the gold came to be procured through 

 agencies which required the aid and application of a high intelli- 

 gence. In time the laborer found himself a hireling, while the 

 man of wisdom and educated skill became the owner or the worker 

 of deposits. Mining is now carried forward under the guidance 

 of a scientific experience, and its returns are based upon educated 

 direction. Gold has its price, and so soon as this price appreciated 

 to the cost, then ignorance offered not sufficient advantage to secure 

 profitable success. 



Farming is of the same genesis as the gold mining of California. 

 In the time of virgin land, to be had for the settling, and in a 

 region of favoring climate, any worker could obtain an easy sub- 

 sistence from the soil. As fertility, however, became removed, 

 4 



