No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 257 



to make the distinction between a science and an art. This is 

 desirable because of the tendency to confuse these two things and 

 because agriculture should be dealt with as an art and not as a 

 science. A science deals only with the relations of cause and 

 effect within its own field. Its sole single concern is to trace effects 

 back to their causes; to project causes forward to their effects. An 

 art, on the other hand, starts with the assumption that a certain 

 thing is desirable or that a certain other thing is undesirable; that 

 something is good or that something is an evil. The object it seeks 

 is to ascertain how the good may be attained, or the evil avoided. 



In pursuing this inquiry, it makes use of the principles, or laws, 

 governing the relations of cause and effect, which have been ascer- 

 tained in the cultivation of all the sciences that have in anyway 

 to do with its own subject matter. 



Agriculture then is an art and, as in the practice of any art, we 

 seek to apply the largest and latest results of the various sciences, 

 as chemistry, bacteriology, botany, etc. 



In our institute work it seems to me desirable that in presenting 

 many topics the principle involved be emphasized as far as possible 

 and that we, in addition to outlining methods, endeavor to impress 

 the fact that a proper understanding of the principles is more likely 

 to bring success than an attempt to follow the course as may have 

 been mapped out during the discussion. It is often necessary to 

 reach the principle through the use of detailed method in order to 

 make it stand out clear. To illustrate, we all will agree, I think, 

 that the presence of humus or vegetable matter is one of the most 

 important factors in restoring a so-called worn out soil. We may 

 be told that the clovers, cowpeas, etc., are the best things that 

 can be grown for this purpose, all of which may be quite true. But 

 in some cases the absence of the very thing we are after may be 

 the cause of the inability of clover to grow. It may be desirable, 

 therefore, to use some other plant for a time at least. In other 

 words, it may be necessary to use different crops in different cases, 

 but jet the principle involved is the same, i. e., that the presence 

 of humus is necessary. Emphasize the principle and then suggest 

 as to method. 



A fact which is often true and yet not always apparent is, that 

 often we emphasize a particular thing independently of correlated 

 facts and as a result some one may be led into an error which, while 

 we may not be directly, yet we are indirectly responsible for. It 

 is proper and necessary that in discussing a topic we stick as 

 closely as possible to the text and impress the particular points 

 connected with our subject; but in that very fact lies the danger. 

 There are doubtless other conditions which are as important and 

 17—6—1905 



