704 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



beginning of human history, experience in like manner had been the 

 school in which instmction had been sought for proficiency in the 

 art and improvement of its processes. The value of experience surely 

 is not to be disdained. On the contrary it is a very efficient corrective 

 of error, and men do well to maintain its historic continuity for the 

 avoidance of fault and the elimination of blunder. 



" But Avhile experience may be safe, it is after all but an unintelli- 

 gent and unprogressive monitor. Certainly in the case of agricultiue 

 it has proven its inadequacy to progress. For it may be doubted if 

 agricultural practice or agricultural production in Europe in the 

 eighteenth century were in any large degree superior to those of 

 ancient Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, or Rome. It was only when the 

 truly scientific spirit of inquiiy into the causes and reasons of phe- 

 nomena was loosened upon the world that conduct and practice could 

 be based upon an illuminating knowledge and no longer guided by a 

 blind experience." 



There is little in mere handicraft that can be taught ; it must mostly 

 be acquired by experience. Hence the development of such agencies 

 as the agricultural colleges and the Department of Agriculture waited 

 largely on the development of the scientific stage and the explanation 

 of the principles involved. With the application of science and its 

 dissemination^ all of these agencies grew in power and resources and 

 size, so that in a remarkable degree they are to be regarded as prod- 

 ucts of their own activities. The great industry of agriculture has 

 developed with them and very largely as a result of them, and to them 

 is unmistakably due the present position of agriculture as an industry 

 and its efficiency as an occupation. 



But there were other conditions in this country which retarded 

 for a time the higher development of agriculture and had a great 

 influence on the progress of these agricultural institutions. Among 

 these were the operations of the Homestead Act, which, as we have 

 seen^ came into effect at the same time that the Department and the 

 agricultural colleges were provided for. Other conditions were eco- 

 nomic in their nature, and these we are still struggling with. 



The Homestead Act promoted on a vast scale the rapid expansion 

 of our agriculture, causing the occupation of the available fann land 

 in a half century and distributing this land among millions of small 

 proprietors. This brought about the production of enormous wealth 

 as the basis for the development of commerce, manufacturing, educa- 

 tion and social life. It broadened our more conservative and sub- 

 stantial electorate to such an extent as to enable us to meet the 

 problems arising from vast combinations of capital and labor, so that 

 today we have a fair opportunity for their successful sohition. 



Looked at from another angle, the Homestead Act brought about 

 conditions which prevented for many years the proper development 



