EDITORIAL. 5 



necticut, was bound up with the history of fertilizer inspection. It 

 furnished a stimulus, and in some instances overshadowed all other 

 purposes of such an institution. One of the men most instrumental 

 in securing the new station is quoted as intimating that " the purpose 

 of this station was for the analysis of commercial fertilizers alone;" 

 and the sentiment is further shown by the resolutions of a farmers' 

 club, which stated substantially that they would patronize no manu- 

 facturer or dealer who was not willing to put his wares under the 

 control of such an institution. 



These views were not in accord with Dr. Johnson's ideas as to the 

 full function of an experiment station or the methods of exercising 

 a fertilizer control. He opposed any atttinpt on the part of the sta- 

 tion to formally control the output of manufacturers or storehouses, 

 but held the most effectual plan to be the taking of samples of the 

 goods as offered for sale, and making the analyses public. This will 

 be recognized as the form which ultimately prevailed and has been 

 generally adopted. 



It is interesting to read, at this period, of systematic work among 

 farmers akin to some of the present features of extension work. In 

 1859 Dr. Johnson wrote, " I am on a month's tour among the farmers 

 of Connecticut and expect to speak every evening of the week except 

 Saturday and Sunday." In the following year he took prominent 

 part in a course of agricultural lectures at New Haven, arranged by 

 Prof. J. A. Porter, which fully five hundred persons came to Xew 

 Haven to attend, — a forerunner of the short courses. He wrote many 

 popular articles for the agricultural press, and through the columns 

 of a leading New York daily he reached a wide audience in the early 

 seventies, his articles and discussions of agricultural matters attract- 

 ing attention from the first. 



The high character of Dr. Johnson's scientific ideals and standards, 

 and his advanced conceptions of the kind of work of most permanent 

 value to agriculture, as shown by his earlier writings, are especially 

 worthy of note. Although these could not be fully carried out, on 

 account of conditions of the times, they were in evidence notwith- 

 standing, and they served to give him a recognized leadership in 

 agricultural thought. The passage of years brings out more clearly 

 the advanced position which he occupied. His writings of sixty 

 years ago are interesting reading and entirely applicable to-day. 

 Their obscure publication has hidden them. The pity is that we 

 haven't long ago had the benefit of the light they shed. 



Early in his career, before he had entered college, in a contribution 

 to an agricultural paper he made a plea for " reason and labor with- 

 out prejudice " in scientific work : " It becomes," he said, " the interest 

 as well as the duty of him who would bring science to the aid of 

 agriculture to make every labor as complete as possible, and especially 



