STEEPING SEEDS. 121 



the rows in question had no other distinction than that of ab 

 solute inferiority to all the rest. It would have been as useless 

 as it would have been uncivil to avow our convictions to him, 

 for men are seldom convinced against their will, and assaults 

 upon an unduly-excited organ of self-esteem, if they do not 

 arouse combativeness, inflict only needless pain. In agricul 

 ture, being eminently a practical art, and as yet, I believe, claim 

 ing not a single theoretical principle as established, excepting 

 as first deduced from long-continued practice, experiments are 

 of the highest moment. Th.e careless and slovenly manner in 

 which they are commonly conducted, the haste with which men 

 jump to their conclusions, the variety of circumstances which 

 belong to every case of importance, and the imperfect manner 

 in which these circumstances are observed and detailed, are the 

 just opprobrium of the agricultural profession. A most intelli 

 gent and agreeable friend, in speaking of the best modes of 

 fattening poultry, and in expressing her distrust of some which 

 were recommended, said that her venerable grandmother always 

 fed and fattened her poultry in a very different way. But upon 

 being asked whether her grandmother s fowls were the best 

 layers, brought up the most chickens, and produced the best 

 poultry for the table of any to be found, she was compelled to 

 answer that on this point she had no information. A learned 

 naturalist, who, in many respects, was justly celebrated for his 

 acquirements, was once asked why black-wooled sheep con 

 sumed more food than white, and proceeded gravely to give half 

 a dozen philosophical reasons for it, without having once inquired 

 whether the fact were so. 



It is strongly hoped, that, under an enlightened system of agri 

 cultural education, for which the auspices now are most encour 

 aging, and by the establishment of experimental farms, many 

 important suggestions, in relation to agricultural practice, as yet 

 only conjectural, may be determined, and much actual progress 

 made in agricultural science, by the only infallible teacher 

 exact and enlightened experiment. 

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