16 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



of the errors of previous methods of farming. It is in this 

 period that the investigations of agricultural chemists are 

 brought to bear upon the question, and we have now to 

 consider the practical results of these investigations. 



How shall we measure the value of experiment stations? 

 You all know very well what they are, that they are simply 

 institutions which are devoted, and intended to be devoted, 

 to the carrying on of those experiments which are neces- 

 sary in order to determine the best means to overcome the 

 obstacles which stand in the way of successful agriculture. 

 And how shall we measure the value and usefulness of their 

 work? Let us start with the measure of values in general. 

 We must take some standard or unit of measure. The dollar 

 is the unit of measure in the world of commerce and in the 

 world of exchanges. By this standard we measure the 

 success or failure of men in all the business occupations of 

 life. Can we apply such a standard as this to the results 

 of the work of the agricultural experiment stations? No, 

 we cannot. I will admit that freely, to start with. We 

 cannot measure their work in any such way. There is 

 no one who would attempt to measure in dollars and cents 

 the influence of Harvard College in Massachusetts or in 

 the whole country. You would not attempt to measure the 

 value of the schools and other educational institutions of 

 Worcester in dollars and cents. You would not attempt to 

 say how many dollars the churches of Worcester were worth 

 to the city. You could not tell anything about it. There 

 are other factors entering into the question of their success 

 or failure, aside from dollars. It is true that we like to have 

 anything that we undertake yield dollars, and of course 

 in all financial operations it is the legitimate measure ; 

 but there are influences resulting from our educational 

 institutions which cannot be measured by this standard. 

 This same thing is true very largely of the agricultural 

 experiment stations. We cannot tell in dollars and cents 

 what they have done, but we have good reason to believe 

 that they have done good and that they are now doing good ; 

 and we can pick out certain definite things, as I shall do 

 later, and show wherein they have been beneficial, and in 

 that way we can to some extent measure their usefulness 

 and make an approximate estimate of their value. 



