402 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



While a gratifying degree of tolerance is commonly exhibited toward 

 the scientific aspects of the work, the speakei-s are repeatedly brought 

 back to the " common sense " plan or theory or view, and are called 

 upon to justify their statements on " a common sense basis." The 

 intimation often is that science has no part in the latter, but that 

 viewed in such a light the science is usually found visionary and 

 not a thing to be followed. The " common sense proposition," on 

 the other hand, is the test applied and is apparently thought of as 

 the reliable and practical one, and as usually opposed to suggestions 

 developed through investigation. In such instances science has little 

 real standing unless it chances to accord with the prevailing idea of 

 common sense, despite the fact that what, was supposed to be com- 

 mon sense in farming has often been found in error. 



Perhaps this is merely a reflection of a feeling that science is 

 not practical — at least until it has been proved so by this arbitrary 

 measure, and that it is devoid of some quality which enters into good 

 common sense; a belief that man gets his practical knowledge by 

 another means, and relies on his shrewd judgment and intuition. 



A similar idea was carried in a recent review of a bulletin in a 

 farm paper. In speaking of the attitude of the author the editor 

 remarked : " Xor do we care how unscientific he may be so long as 

 he is practical." This was probabl}' a careless statement, intended to 

 la}'^ special stress on the importance of an experimenter being prac- 

 tical, rather than to encourage unscientific writing. The idea that a 

 station man may be practical although imscientific is contrary to the 

 underlying thought of experiment station work, as is likewise the 

 suggestion that a fact or a rule of practice may be unscientific and 

 yet practical. "We may not fully understand the scientific principles 

 underlying the practice, but this does not admit that there is a 

 possible antagonism between them or an absence of principle. It is 

 fundamental that all sound practice accords with scientific principles 

 and facts as soon as wc are able to determine them. 



What is commonly designated as common sense is the result of 

 practical experience, coupled with sound judgment and often with 

 good business instinct. Its basic quality is judgment, which in turn 

 depends on information, and its most prominent attribute is that it 

 is supposed to be practical and has in it the elements of success. It 

 is thought of as an individual quality, acquired rather than taught, 

 and often supposed to combine a degree of intuition or unusual 

 sagacity. 



It is not formulated in definite terms, and the elements which com- 

 prise it in particular cases often could not be analj'zed or enumerated. 

 Hence, it is absorbed rather than learned, and it is passed on by that 

 means and by imitation. Common sense is popularly looked on as 



