402 BOAED OF AGRICULTUEE. 



land for the experiment, in that the difference of yield of these 

 rows Avas as great as with the rows that had received the 

 fertilizer. The experiment then does not show what it claims 

 to, namely, the effect of employing different fertilizers. The 

 plan of the experiment was wholly unscientific. Had the land 

 been divided off into squares, each square planted at the same 

 time and in the same manner with beets, and had the land 

 shown a uniform quality, by producing on each square a 

 similar weight of crop, it would have been in a condition the 

 following year for testing the merits of particular fertilizers 

 on that particular field. 



Some experiments conducted at the Michigan Agricultural 

 College, designed to test whether the soil of a field was of a 

 uniform quality, — by dividing the field into squares, planting 

 and harvesting the squares separately, but all in the same 

 manner and without any application of manure, — were very 

 successful in showing that various parts of a field, though the 

 soil appeared of the same quality, have an unequal crop- 

 producing capacity. In other instances where fertilized 

 squares alternated with the squares without manure, the latter 

 produced the heavier crop. 



The best example of scientific inquiry with which we are 

 acquainted, is contained in Wells' essay on "Dew." Sir J. 

 F. W. Herschel pronounces the theory of dew, as developed 

 by Wells, one of the most beautiful specimens we can call to 

 mind of inductive experimental inquiry lying within a moderate 

 compass. He " earnestly recommends his work, a short and 

 very entertaining one, for perusal to the student of natural 

 philosophy, as a model with which he will do well to become 

 familiar." Prof. Tyndall says : "A series of experiments con- 

 ceived and executed with admirable clearness and skill, 

 enabled Dr. Wells to propound a theory of dew, which has 

 stood the test of all subsequent criticism, and is now univer- 

 sally adopted." The experiments were performed with the 

 aid of a few, and these the simplest instruments. Thermom- 

 eters to record the temperature of the air, little bundles of 

 wool to collect the dew, and scales to weigh the amount 

 deposited upon them, a piece of pasteboard bent like the roof 

 of a house, were the principal contrivances employed, but 



