302 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



themselves to scienlilic pursuits, and among those who attend our 

 agricultural colleges the call to the farm or other agricultural pur- 

 suits and the opportunity which is now open deter all but the 

 occasional student from advanced stud3\ 



"Scientific farming" has become a popular phrase and the ap- 

 preciation of the man who can couple science with his farming or 

 apply it to various branches of the agTicultural industry has made 

 a large and increasing demand. Those entering upon agricultural 

 investigation are thus especially exposed to temptations to abandon 

 their work, and particularly if they have not fully caught the spirit 

 and the apjieal of scientific work they are likely to be attracted or 

 distracted by the financial returns of modern orcharding or special 

 farming and long to see the results of their effort measi^red in 

 bushels or tons or dollars of increase. 



This is a matter of no little importance to the success of our agri- 

 cultural institutions. The colleges must prepare men for the business 

 and professional sides of agTicultnre, but somewhere and somehow 

 bright, capable men must be had for the great and growing work of 

 education and investigation. The inclination to enter it is partly 

 temperamental and depends upon an outlook and a point of view 

 which the colleges can do much to inculcate. If such a career can 

 not hold out as large remuneration as some other callings, the other 

 compensations of real worth deserve to be understood. It may be 

 profitable, therefore, to consider some of the characteristics and dis- 

 tinctions of such a life work and its ability to satisfy the aspirations 

 of men who are by nature attracted to it. 



A scientific career is one of service to human welfare and ad- 

 vancement. It thus affords an opportunity to do the world's work 

 and to take a vital part in the progress of civilization. Science and 

 education are two of the great civilizing agencies of the world. The 

 real force of this is beginning to be more widely appreciated. As a 

 recent writer has said, " Science is the one great motive force of 

 modern civilization on which all progress, all wealth, and even all 

 existence increasingly depend." 



The German mind realizes that the wealth and well-being of the 

 Empire must ultimately depend on science and it expresses this 

 feeling in the high position it accords to men of that calling. At 

 every great state function in that country a prominent place is 

 assigned to the representatives of pure and applied science. 



Science guides judgment and reason and helps to interpret 



experience. Until we have science, reliance is placed on dexterity, 



experience, the results of repeated trials, many of them unsuccessfid. 



In this way a purely empirical means is developed, a rule-of-thumb 



uethod, which knows not reason and is based on chance, except as it 



