THE HOW AND THE WHY. 229 



lege. I think there is no mistake about that. But you have 

 noticed, no doubt, that in all of these discussions here, that in 

 all the discussions of the agricviltural papers in times past, there 

 is little, if any, talk on the subject of agriculture but what says, 

 " the science of agriculture." It is all " the science of agricul- 

 ture " nowadays. We are truly making great and rapid strides 

 in the matter of agricultural progress — there is no mistake 

 about this ; but we are told that it is the science of agriculture 

 which is working and is destined to work these wonders. We 

 must plough scientifically^ and we must reap and mow scien- 

 iificallij^ and everything must be done scientifically^ according to 

 certain laid-down principles of science ; while the art of agri- 

 culture is almost entirely kept out of sight. 



Now it seems to me that our renowned friend, Prof. Agassiz, 

 who spoke so learnedly last night of the manner in which our 

 soil was made up by the grinding process of the glacier, and 

 told us what this soil was, if he had been asked to practically 

 illustrate the value of that soil by engaging in the art of agri- 

 culture upon it, would have found that the science of agricul- 

 ture alone is not enough ; that the art must come in somewhere, 

 or else science is nearly valueless. I do not ignore science, by 

 any means. Do not understand me as ignoring science in any 

 department. I take it for granted, everywhere and always, that 

 science is one of the chief corner-stones of advancement in 

 agriculture. It is absolutely essential to complete and thorough 

 success that every man who undertakes to till the soil should 

 understand the principles of that tillage. We want to know all 

 about geology. We want to know how our soil was made up, 

 and of what it is composed ; we want to know mineralogy ; we 

 want to know all about botany and all about zoology ; but, after 

 we have learned all these sciences, it is simply the why — nothing 

 more and nothing less ; the how is another and very different 

 thing. The ivhy will sleep to all eternity and be ineffective 

 unless we know the how, and are able to apply it. That is the 

 thing we want. 



Now, then, science and art combined are the wedded pair that 

 are going to accomplish these great results in the advancement 

 of agriculture. The man who attempts to advance it entirely 

 by science will most certainly fail, while many a man will meet 

 with very commendable success who knows nothing of the sci- 



