74 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Among the obstacles in the way of that progress which we 

 ought to make, will be the failure of many colleges to enter 

 vigorously upon these farm experiments, and the failure of those 

 who do experiment to act in concert with others in carrying on 

 the same series of experiments. Although the law of vegetable 

 growth must be the same in all places, very few are aware of 

 the different treatment which the same plant demands in dif- 

 ferent parts of our country, to insure its greatest perfection. 

 And oftentimes the treatment which a plant demands in one 

 place is taken as a rule for that plant wherever it will grow at 

 all. A series of experiments conducted in the same way on the 

 same plants in Massachusetts, in Michigan, in Wisconsin, in 

 California, in Texas, Kansas and Georgia, would give us a new 

 revelation of the work before us, to secure the means for prog- 

 ress in general knowledge for the world at large, while we 

 learn the best methods of cultivation for our separate localities. 



What measures can be taken to secure such unity of action, 

 that every experiment may have its greatest value by being 

 brought into comparison with the greatest number of similar 

 experiments bearing upon the solutibn of the same problem ? 



Another difficulty will arise from the unwillingness of young 

 men to take that long and vigorous course of study in natural 

 history, mathematics and logic which shall make them compe- 

 tent observers and safe interpreters of facts. They will not 

 believe that so plain a business as farming can call for such long 

 continued and accurate study. Their friends will not believe 

 it because they cannot understand the difficulties to be encoun- 

 tered. The community at large call for the " practical." And 

 by the " practical " is often meant learning only what is well es- 

 tablished. But that region where science is growing is called 

 the land of theory and nonsense. Such practical men would 

 leave the world forever where it is now. And it is almost im- 

 possible to get young men beyond their influence into a healthy 

 scientific atmosphere. And when you have caught a few and 

 prepared them for their work, another trouble meets you at once. 

 These men are in such demand in other pursuits, that few of 

 them will give themselves at once to farming. Now the colleges 

 which are our hope for scientific progress in agriculture will have 

 such obstacles in their way. And the danger is that before they 

 show their real worth, they will be underrated and cramped for 



