88 BOAED OF AGRICULTUEE. 



beginners, to make a choice of one or two special crops, and 

 make their perfect growth and development the aim and 

 study of a lifetime. This course, we think, would not only 

 be productive of both pleasure and profit, but would kindle 

 enthusiasm, so essential to the successful prosecution of any 

 pursuit in life. A striking characteristic of the age is the 

 division of labor, and as industries multiply the tendency is 

 to divide and subdivide. This runs through not only every 

 department of human industries, but in all scientific investi- 

 gations it is carried to a greater extent perhaps than in the 

 mechanic arts. 



Let me relate an instance which is fresh in my mind that 

 will go to confirm this statement. Some years ago Professor 

 Farlow of Cambridge was invited to deliver a lecture before 

 the Board of Agi'iculture at Waltham ; his subject was the 

 fangus, or mildew, which makes its appearance on the under 

 side of the grape leaf. The subject was treated at length, 

 showing great scientific research, and was profusely illus- 

 trated by large and costly drawings. At the close of the 

 lecture questions were announced to be in order, and as the 

 mildew which troubled my vines appeared on the upper side 

 of the leaf, I ventured to inquire wherein it difiered from 

 what he described. The reply was, I know nothing what- 

 ever of the fungus you have noticed ; that involves a difier- 

 ent line of investigation, and is intrusted to a man in Paris, 

 who informs me he will be able to make a partial report in 

 two years. A few years ago the village doctor was supposed 

 to be master of all the ills that flesh was heir to. Having 

 studied medicine and received a diploma, it was taken for 

 granted that he had acquired an exhaustive knowledge of 

 every real or imaginary disease which afflicts humanity, and 

 his surgery and knowledge of medicine were regarded as equal 

 to the most critical emergency. But the medical profession 

 has kept pace with the progress of the age. Public senti- 

 ment has decided that one man cannot know everything, and 

 has demanded a more thorough knowledge of each disease. 

 Hence infirmaries for the treatment of special diseases have 

 been established and endowed in this country and in Europe. 

 We now have a specialist for the eye, the ear, the liver, kid- 

 neys, lungs, diseases of the skin, etc. Whatever progress 



