LINES OF PROGRESS IN AGRICULTURE. 353 



petition which surrounds him, as the result of the wonderfully 

 increased facilities for the transportation and exchange of com- 

 modities. He can no longer claim that the empirical knowledge 

 of farming he may possess is the only consistent guide in practice, 

 and he can not safely ignore the many lessons presented in the 

 marked progress and revolutions that have been made in other 

 industries, or the manifold benefits he may derive from the wide 

 circle of sciences, which are now in their rapid development sug- 

 gesting important applications in every interest and process of 

 the farm. 



Practice and science must go hand in hand, with the most 

 hearty co-operation, if the problems in farm management arising 

 from the world's progress and the consequent depression in prices 

 are to be successfully solved. Every hint which the latest dis- 

 coveries in science may present for his consideration must be 

 closely studied, and its relations to practice carefully determined, 

 or the best results can not be obtained. From the comijlexity 

 and interdependence of all agricultural processes and their inti- 

 mate relations to every department of science, it must be admitted 

 that there is no business or profession in which so wide a range 

 of knowledge can be profitably made use of as in farming. 



The ruts followed by narrow specialists, and the ultra-conserv- 

 atism of the so-called " practical men," are alike to be avoided, if 

 real progress in the practice of agriculture is made. A broad and 

 liberal culture, with special training and aptness for the work, is 

 required in dealing with the practical applications of the latest 

 contributions of science, as no department of research can be 

 safely neglected in the broad field which embraces such widely 

 different interests ; and this fact must be fully recognized in the 

 management of our agricultural colleges, or they will fail to ac- 

 complish the end for which they were established. 



In the popular discussion of manual training in schools as a 

 phase of the modern demand for industrial education, there is 

 danger that too much stress will be laid upon the assumed advan- 

 tages of manual dexterity as a preparation for acquiring some 

 handicraft or trade, and that its real value as a factor in mental 

 development and discipline will be overlooked in the efforts to 

 give a practical bias to an elementary course of instruction. 



A brief glance at some of the conditions under which the 

 world's work is now performed will make it evident that breadth 

 of culture and thorough training in methods of scientific investi- 

 gation are of greater importance than manual dexterity in any 

 special direction. The trades or handicrafts which formerly re- 

 quired an apprenticeship of several years for their mastery are 

 now, in effect, made nearly obsolete by the invention of machin- 

 ery, and specialization in the processes of production, together 



VOL. zxxiii. — 23 



