72 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



producing the same crops until they learn the influence of new 

 conditions, and learn, perhaps, to change, if not to reverse, their 

 New England agricultural customs. After we have gathered 

 up all that can be relied upon in the common experience of 

 farmers, and in the special advances that have been made in 

 certain localities, and in the general cultivation of certain crops, 

 there still remains a vast number of questions of the highest 

 importance in successful farming which our best agriculturists 

 cannot answer, or if answers are given, there is good authority 

 on both sides. 



On every side we see evidence that the progress of scientific 

 agriculture demands observers and interpreters of observations. 

 To secure these should be the first aim of our Agricultural Col- 

 leges. I know of no field of observation more difficult, and 

 calling for higher training, than that of the scientific farmer, 

 who is to observe every condition of soil, of climate, of vege- 

 table growth and animal life. He must be prepared to throw 

 aside much that has been done as rubbish. And when experi- 

 ments are offered for his consideration, he must have the ability 

 to judge of their truthfulness by the best tests, and then he 

 must also be able to judge of their applicability to every given 

 case. Every farm offers some peculiar conditions, and the 

 scientific farmer must not expect to work by any rule except 

 the one he forms for himself in the study of the land he is 

 called upon to cultivate. I mean by this that almost every rule 

 in agriculture depends upon conditions, which may vary greatly 

 even in the same field. The knowledge must be in the farmer 

 and not in books. And the knowledge in him must not hQfrom 

 books alone. He must have knowledge, but with it such power 

 of observation as will make him master of every situation. 



There is a sense then, in which we join the cry against " book 

 farmers." It is undoubtedly true that those who farm by books 

 without practical knowledge to judge of the applicability of the 

 experiments or directions recorded to the case in hand, or per- 

 chance following some grand experiment which in its omissions, 

 is like the play of Hamlet with Hamlet left out — it is undoubt- 

 edly true that such farmers come to grief, or would come to it, 

 were it not for some good salary as editor, lawyer or minister, 

 which enables them to call themselves farmers. The name of 

 farmer is an honorable one, and many men in high positions 



