SCIENCE. USE OF EDUCATION. 5 



nature and action of scientific principles will give a new 

 interest and pleasure to every operation in which the 

 farmer engages ; and his success in their application will 

 furnish a strong motive for new acquisitions. 



15. There is no doubt that men of science are liable 

 to make mistakes, partly because their science is not 

 thorough enough, and partly because very much of what 

 is most important can be learned only by one s own 

 observation. It is the union of science and practice 

 which alone can make a perfect farmer. 



16. It is often supposed that the scientific principles 

 necessary for intelligent farming are difficult to be under 

 stood. But this is very far from being the case. What 

 chemistry teaches about air, water, arable soil, the nature 

 of plants, manure, and what it is made of, is so easy to 

 be understood, that every well-informed teacher may, in 

 a dozen lessons, and with the simplest means of instruc 

 tion, impart to the commonest farmer s boy an accurate 

 knowledge of it. 



17. The learning these things will make the difference 

 between ignorance and knowledge, between seeming stu 

 pidity and real brightness. It will be a great benefit to the 

 individual and to the country. The boy who has been 

 taught in school on what the fertility of the soil depends, 

 and the great danger of the land s being worn out in 

 consequence of wasting the most valuable kinds of manure, 

 and who has been told by his teacher that he who wastes 

 the conditions of fertility is guilty of an offence against 

 the poor, against himself, and against society, will cer 

 tainly, when he grows to man s estate, see how important 

 it is that nothing essential to fertility shall be lost, and 

 will take the greatest pains to save and to use every thing 

 which is thus valuable. 



