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es.ses of vegetable life and growth. Men like these are 

 rendering the highest service to agriculture. Those who 

 only experiment in their laboratories, and write out the- 

 ories for farmers, based entirely on chemical analysis, 

 are " blind leaders of the blind." But those who — like 

 a distinguished member of this Society — devote them- 

 selves' to an investigation of the relations which Chem- 

 istry sustains to agriculture, and test their theories in 

 the field before giving them to the public, are entitled 

 to the thanks of the whole community. It is only by 

 the efforts of such men that agriculture can be raised to 

 the rank of a science. A great hinderance wdiicli every 

 observing farmer meets, is the length of time required 

 to try an experiment. If we are desirous of ascertain- 

 ing the comparative value of certain modes of culture, 

 or certain special crops, we find we can make only one 

 trial in a year ; and some experiments, such as those re- 

 lating to the application of manures, require more than 

 a year to determine the result. And here we discover 

 another important cause of the slow progress of agri- 

 cultural science. The most carefully conducted experi- 

 ment is liable to mislead, by reason of the many influen- 

 ces Avhich afiect the crop during its growth. 



It is only by careful and repeated trials that the fiir- 

 mer becomes certain of the superiority of any particu- 

 lar method. And, even then, the efiect he attributes to 

 one cause may be owing to another. The increased 

 crop, which he thinks is due to some special fertilizer, 

 may be in consequence of some slight natural difierence 

 in soil, or amount of moisture, or other unseen cause. 

 To illustrate : — Perhaps no class of experiments would 

 be more valuable to farmers than a carefully conducted 

 trial to ascertain the comparative value of the difterent 



