106 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



them. Then agriculture, as other branches of practical science, 

 requires the determination of our facts of observation in the 

 exactest form, and the proper induction of laws or principles 

 through tlie collation of those facts. But herein lies the great 

 and peculiar difficulty of agriculture as a science. I know that 

 some of my agricultural friends have, in former times, been 

 inclined to smile at me when I have said, asl am still prepared 

 to repeat, that what we want in agriculture, quite as much, if 

 not more, than anything else, are facts, — true facts, — facts in 

 which the most exact and precise determination is made, not 

 only of the result, but of all the conditions by which that result 

 has been brought about. It is very common to distinguish, in 

 ordinary conversation upon subjects of this kind, between the 

 philosophical or theoretical man, and the man of facts ; but the 

 true philosopher in agriculture, as in everything else, is the 

 man who is master of the largest number of the most precise 

 and important observations ; and until he has secured the mas- 

 tery of this great group of facts, he cannot philosophize. Now, 

 the signal difficulty attending investigations in agriculture, — 

 (pardon me for my seeming presumption, in speaking upon a 

 subject, with which you, sir, and the larger part of my audience, 

 are so much more familiar in detail than I,) — consists in the great 

 diversity, and, in many respects, peculiar obscurity of the facts. 

 Let us take an illustration now, in reference simply to the 

 phenomena of soil. We all know well tliat thei^e was a time 

 when not only in many parts of Europe, but largely throughout 

 the United States, the most sanguine, and, I may now say, the 

 most extravagant anticipations were formed from the applica- 

 tion of the doctrines of Liebig and other chemists to the affairs 

 of agriculture. Far be it from me in any degree to disparage 

 the labors of this illustrious chemist and his fellow-workers in 

 the field ; but the question has not unfrequently been presented 

 to me whether, by a knowledge of the composition of the soil, 

 and a knowledge of the composition of the plants that are 

 grown upon the soil, we cannot surely reach a successful agricul- 

 tural method. My answer would be, no. The composition of 

 the plants and the composition of the soil are only two of the 

 correlative facts. We must know them, but there are many 

 other things that we must know, which are equally essential to 

 be known. The soil may bo of a certain composition, and yet 



