360 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the vegetable products into marketable animal products, and the 

 efficient distribution of the required labor throughout the year in 

 accordance with strict business principles. 



In order to realize the full benefits of efforts to improve the 

 practice of agriculture in this direction, the increase and diffusion 

 of knowledge relating to the applications of science in practice 

 must be promoted and encouraged as an essential element of suc- 

 cess. There has never been a time when the advantages of agri- 

 cultural education were so clearly apparent, or the conditions of 

 practice so favorable for the general recognition of the practical 

 value of a knowledge of science. 



Under this encouraging aspect of the times, the agricultural 

 colleges of the country can now be made to command a dominant 

 influence in developing an improved system of agriculture, by 

 conducting their practical departments on a higher plane, that 

 will fully supplement and emphasize the economic value of the 

 class-room instruction in science, so that farmers may look to 

 them with a reasonable expectation of obtaining the information 

 needed in planning the best systems of practice. 



A course of instruction in practical agriculture can not be 

 consistently confined to the limited range of the established 

 routine of farm-work, but it must be supplemented and widened 

 by a full discussion of the applications of science in every process 

 of the art, and the practicable means of making them available 

 sources of profit. The labor system must likewise be made to 

 contribute its share to the leading purpose, it should have in 

 common with other departments, of developing in the student 

 correct habits of observation and investigation, and he should be 

 made to trace, in every detail of farm-work, illustrations of the 

 principles taught in the class-room, so that he may acquire a 

 proper appreciation of the intimate and legitimate relations of 

 practice and science. 



The sciences relating to agriculture have already made suffi- 

 cient progress to place the leading principles of farm economy on 

 a consistent basis, and they serve as a safe guide in tracing the 

 lines of future progress, or the direction, at least, in which im- 

 provements in agriculture may be made ; but there are, as yet, 

 many unexplained details that need further experimental investi- 

 gation. The invaluable experiments made at Rothamsted during 

 the past forty years have fortunately laid the foundation of a con- 

 sistent system for utilizing the residues of the farm ; but it must 

 be admitted that, aside from these admirable researches, there are 

 few, if any, experiments on record that are of practical interest in 

 this direction. The importance of additional experiments on the 

 lines of investigation so successfully followed at Rothamsted can 

 hardly be overestimated. 



