26 INTRODUCTION. 



have a most important bearing on the general results, but they 

 do not come directly within the cognizance of science, and 

 actual experience is necessary for the solution of the questions 

 continually arising in regard to them. He who depends wholly 

 u])on books, even if he be well read and have thoroughly mas- 

 tered the general and well established principles of his occupa 

 tion, may fail from want of this experience. But this is far 

 from showing that no advantage is to be derived from well 

 selected b5oks. It is unreasonable to expect that tact and busi- 

 ness ability can be obtained from any amount of study and 

 reading. Experience itself does not always give them. To a 

 great extent they seem to be intuitive and innate, and though 

 familiarity with business affairs may sharpen the wits and 

 quicken the perception, it does not always mature the judgment 

 or create the skill which commands success in the market. 



Practice and experience in the field should, therefore, be re- 

 garded as an essential part of an agricultural education. But the 

 farmer should not, for these reasons, depreciate the aid he may 

 gain from the man of science, the man of letters, or the faithful 

 and accurate experimenter. The revelations of science will bring 

 ever new and ever varied instruction to his mind. From year 

 to year he may improve his practice, thus attaining greater and 

 greater results ; and no limit can be set to his upward progress. 

 A simple record of experiments, carefully made and well de- 

 scribed, will give him material for much improvement. By 

 the exercise of judgment and discrimination he may separate 

 the good and useful from what is of doubtful utility, and what- 

 ever he thus gets is so much positive gain. The actual results 

 of an experiment are facts from which truth itself may be ex- 

 tracted. They are not mere vague conclusions, or the opinions 

 or reflections of another, they are that which induced and ena- 

 bled him to reflect. 



