38 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



ment that the teachings shall have reference to applied art, 

 and shall presumably be correct in statement and application, 

 I would also further express my views of an additional duty 

 that devolves upon a lecturer at such a meeting as this ; and 

 this duty consists in stimulating thought in the hearers, by 

 taking the audience into partnership as it were with the 

 speaker, by expressing in words the thought and the science 

 which leads to the practical talk which is expected by the 

 audience. If, therefore, in a lecture which deals with the 

 greatest of economical sciences, that of farming, the thought 

 in the lecture takes precedence of practice, the audience 

 must approve, as they consider that in practical success 

 thought always takes this precedence, and that the interest 

 in the practical conclusion necessarily must increase in 

 accordance with the fullness and correctness of the thought 

 which precedes as well as explains. I propose, hence, to 

 think before you and talk to you. 



My subject is not only one of practical import, but is also 

 an intricate one, and hence, in order to keep within the 

 bounds of the time assigned me, it will be necessary to use 

 illustrative facts alone, and appeal to the consensus of tried 

 experience for the securing of wider generalization. If, by 

 implication, I also appeal now and then to the individual 

 experience that shall confirm what science explains and 

 scientific thinking here formulates, I may be pardoned in 

 thus calling my audience into the exercise of that partner- 

 ship in thought to which I have already alluded. 



From Aug. 18 to Sept. 23, 1883, at intervals of a week, 

 five corn plants at each collection, or thirty in all, were 

 analyzed at the New York Agricultural Experiment Station.* 

 The average result of. these analyses offers a fair illustration 

 of the composition of the corn plant at the period of its 

 best condition. The figures of the analyses are : — 



Water, . . . .79.01 



. , oi J! 1 • 1 S plios. acid, .08 



^«h, 81 of which ^Jjot^gh, . .28 



Albuminoid, . . . 2.06 = nitrogen, .33 



Crude fiber, . . . 4.65 



Nitrogen — free extract, 12.92 



Ether extract, . . .51 



« Report of N.Y. Ag. Ex. Sta. for 1883, pp. 153-155; 163. 



