360 State HorticultiiraJ Society. 



there are so many doc^rees of success in farming, and so many kinds of 

 people in the world. It is sufficient for sonu' ruddy to apply a simple 

 art, or without understanding- to follow llu- methods of one who has suc- 

 cessfully though't more deeply upon the reasons for things, and has brought 

 a higher degree of intelligence into action, ikit the progress of the ages 

 has not been due to such as these, but to those who applied clear think- 

 ing to accurately observed facts. By them the art of agriculture has been 

 developed to a high state, in which fullest success is won only by those 

 who have made adequate preparation. Let us consider for a few mo- 

 ments some of the channels through which nature works out her miracles, 

 and which man must intelligently direct if he would farm with the 

 highest success. 



All of the natural processes taking place on a farm are referable to 

 one or another of the several sciences. We live in the age of science, that 

 is, of classified knowledge. The multitude of known facts are most ad- 

 vantageously studied when grouped under various headings which are 

 called the sciences, but which are merely parts of the great body of truth. 

 Almost all of these touch agriculture. We can not enter into the refine- 

 ments of view concerning the ultimate constitution of nature, but for our 

 present purpose we may recognize that matter and energy furnish the basis 

 for all observed phenomena, and that in ordinary observation there is a 

 marked difference between organic and inorganic nature, between the 

 living and the not living. 



The most fundamental of the sciences aYe physics and chemistry, and 

 these two illustrate the interdependence of all. Neither is independent 

 of the other ; neither can be studied without at the same time studying the 

 other to a greater or less extent. Chemistry deals with matter, physics 

 with energy or force ; yet no chemical changes can take place without 

 accompanying physical changes, and physical changes are recognizable 

 only as changes in the condition of matter. These twin sister sciences 

 are the foundation of agriculture, and in so far as we would understand 

 this art, we must master those sciences. Agriculture illustrates all the 

 degrees of complexity in the manifestations of these sciences, in the trans- 

 formation of inorganic, non-living matter into organized living things by 

 the interaction of the physical and chemical forces. The soil, the air, the 

 plant, and the animal, are the laboratories of nature in which processes 

 are executed which as yet are far beyond the skill of the scientist to per- 

 form except by using the same laboratories. 



Consider how water is used. It falls in rain, and settles into the 

 soil, and dissolves the minute percentage of soluble salts that it contains. 

 By the resultant action of gravitation and capillarity this soil water moves 

 up or down or laterally, according to the existing conditions. It thus 



