356 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



From the prominence given to the economics of farm manage- 

 ment and the inseparable relations of practice and science, as fac- 

 tors in the progress of agriculture under its present well-defined 

 conditions, the notion must not be entertained that a complete 

 revolution in practical methods is needed. The general principles 

 of farm practice have been well established by the teachings of ex- 

 perience, and the leading rules of the art are not likely to be super- 

 seded or essentially modified by any discoveries in science. The 

 old landmarks which have been obscured or lost sight of from too 

 exclusive attention to specialties of comparatively little impor- 

 tance, must be restored and clearly defined, as a foundation on 

 which a superstructure of improved practice in harmony with the 

 principles of science and the prescribed conditions of production 

 may be safely developed. New methods are not so much needed 

 as a systematic adjustment of details, under the old established 

 rules, in order to secure greater certainty and exactness in results. 



Development, and not revolution, must be the watchword of 

 progress, and the generally accepted methods of practice should 

 only be modified by a proper arrangement of details to adapt 

 them to the new environment. Exclusive attention to special 

 farm products, and intensive systems of cultivation, have been 

 urged as a royal road to success, in what has been called " pro- 

 gressive agriculture," by those who have noticed some of the 

 improved methods in other industries, and attempted to apply 

 them in agriculture without any definite knowledge of existing 

 methods of farm practice, or the available applications of science 

 in the art. These mistaken views do harm from the defective 

 data and hasty generalizations on which they are based, which 

 tend to bring true science undeservedly, into disrepute, and also 

 by diverting attention from the real methods of improvement. 



From wide differences in the conditions of production, it must 

 be readily seen that the centralization and specialization in manu- 

 factures, and the consequent subdivision of labor, which have been 

 found essential to success in other industries, can not be applied 

 in agriculture. With the exception of the comparatively few 

 cases in which peculiar local conditions may warrant a departure, 

 to some extent, from correct principles of general practice, it will 

 be found that the specialization of products, instead of mitigating 

 the evils arising from active competition, will only add to their 

 intensity. 



The tendencies of high farming are in the same direction. Sir 

 John Bennet Lawes has clearly shown, from experimental data, 

 that intensive farming can only be successfully practiced when 

 comparatively high prices for farm products are obtained ; and 

 he concludes that high farming can not be recommended as a 

 remed}^ for prevailing low prices. In agriculture, increased pro- 



