144 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



says he would know. I was going to ask hiin how he would 

 know, but it seems it is by experiment. But the seasons 

 differ, and the land differs in every field that I own, I think, 

 and I don't knoAV how I would know. We have experiment 

 stations to test these things more carefully, and tell us what 

 we don't know in reference to our land. I don't believe the 

 farmers can find out. The}'^ are not careful enough to make 

 these experiments so they would know anything about them 

 from one year to another. 



Dr. Jordan. You have touched upon one of the difficult 

 things, — that is, just how far an experiment station might 

 serve you in determining or solving some of your business 

 problems on your own farm. There is a certain limit be- 

 yond which we cannot go. I don't believe it is within the 

 province of any experiment station to tell you whether you 

 Avould better keep milch cows or raise pigs. I don't be- 

 lieve it is Avithin the province of an experiment station to 

 tell you how much you ought to feed your cows. It may 

 give you certain general principles and certain fundamental 

 facts ; but, if I were getting 8 cents a quart for my milk, I 

 would feed differently than if I were getting 90 cents a hun- 

 dred pounds. I Avould feed them well at 8 cents a quart, 

 and at 90 cents per hundred I would feed them as little as 

 possible. I don't believe it is possible for an experiment 

 station to experiment with fertilizers so generally that it 

 would be able to tell so and so, after he has managed that 

 farm for some time, just what he ought to use on it. It de- 

 pends on his system in using the farm. I know that is a 

 hard thing to say, and it is not very satisfying to say it, but 

 it is the best I can do. 



Mr. Edmund Hersey (of Hingham). I think there is no 

 trouble in a farmer findinsf out what his land wants. He can 

 test it himself a good deal better than can the experiment 

 station a hundred miles off. I have tested my farm, and it 

 has saved me a good many dollars. It is by trying different 

 (juantities of the three articles, one year after another, and 

 then striking a balance. By keeping an exact account, you 

 can tell Avhat your ground will grow. I don't go to a man 

 one hundred miles off, and ask him to mix my fertilizer ; 

 I don't believe he knows how. 



