have been instances of this kind, that many persons have lost all 

 confidence in experiments, and regard this part of the business 

 of agricultural societies as useless. But if there are any fixed 

 principles on which agricultural processes depend, (and how can 

 this be doubted, when we see the constancy of nature's opera- 

 tions in every thing else,) why ought we not to impute fre- 

 quent failures in experiments, to the imperfeet mode of conduct- 

 ing them; or to presume that the details are not given with suf- 

 ficient minuteness, to enable us to judge whether they are, or are 

 not, contradictory toothers? Those conversant with philosophi- 

 cal and chemical experiments, know very well, that the most 

 trivial and unthought-'of circumstance often entirely defeati them, 

 or conducts to an unexpected result. Much more then, ought we 

 to expect similar occurrences in agriculture, where the proces- 

 ses are a thousand times more complicated and delicate, and 

 scarcely understood at all. Hence then, it is an important en- 

 quiry, what is the best mode of conducting experiments in hus- 

 bandry. 



The first suggestion I would make, is, that such experiments 

 be prosecuted according to the established principles of philoso- 

 phy. I know that many an agriculturist will feel that I am di- 

 recting him to lean on a broken staff. But by philosophy I do 

 not mean mere airy speculation; but established principles, 

 drawn by induction from the most accurate and long continued 

 experience. — ! mean the laws that observation has discovered, 

 by which the operations in the natural world are conducted. 

 And shall the experimenter prefer his own limited and partial 

 experience to the accurate and enlightened observations of the 

 whole world 1 Or shall he pay a regard to the thousand ground- 

 less maxims and whims that are floating among the ignorant, and 

 are alike repugnant to philosophy and common sense 1 It is to 

 the observance of such unsupported fancies — the relics of super- 

 stitious and marvellous times— that we are to impute the failure 

 of many experiments. For even in this enlightened land, many 

 such notions sway the belief and control the practice of multi- 

 tudes. What a mighty influence, for example, is imputed to the 

 moon, in almost every operation of the farmer ! He cannot sow 

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