50 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



and the access of population and markets gave value to the real 

 estate, the expenditures for obtaining the crops sufficient for the 

 subsistence now required by the presence of social relations 

 advanced, and a greater skill in overcoming obstacles, inseparable 

 from the new condition of affairs, became necessitated. As popu- 

 lation increased, the value of the land became greater, its occupation 

 as a farnl beccvme more difficult, its fertility decreasing, weeds and 

 insect pests increasing in variety and number, the wants of the 

 family ever growing, obstacles ever arising as competition of 

 growers became more keen, and now we in the eastern states are 

 in the position of the gold miner: like him, we need capital for the 

 carrying out of our farming, for the employment of our labor; 

 education, for the enabling us to recognize the means for securing 

 the most favorable conditions under which profit is to be forced 

 from a reluctant soil, in the presence of the adverse conditions of 

 high cost for labor and artificial aids, and low prices for products 

 induced by the many keen and earnest competitors whom the 

 railroad brings to our very fields and yards. 



The knowledge requisite to secure success under the simplest 

 relations between the man and the soil, in the presence of an 

 exuberant nature, ever ready to give, responsive to the slightest 

 effort, is far less than that required for the ensuring of success 

 under conditions that involve more complicated relations, such as 

 subsist where man demands far more than mere subsistence from 

 an unresponsive soil. In the one case, but a slight experience 

 secures the simple conditions requisite for the success measured by 

 the man's standard; in the other case, it is only a carefully- 

 organized experience which can avail to secure the best results, 

 measured by a different standard. It is through this organized 

 experience that the man is enabled to secure the proper results, or 

 those which are adequate to his labor and his necessities. Agri- 

 cultural investigation and agricultural experiment, interpreted by 

 a past experience, offers opportunity to the farmer to determine 

 conditions of profit, and to determine the direction and extent of 

 his efforts. ""What the farmer wants to know," is the key which 

 , is to unlock the capabilities of the farm, and "Why he wants to 

 know," is that he may derive the utmost from these capabilities, in 

 order that he shall be able to share in the amenities of a cultured 

 and progressive age. 



We may say a few words, in concluding, upon some good that 

 has been derived from our so-called field experiments. The labor 



