Things New and Old. 39 



In the art of husbandry, we witness the slowest and most patient prog- 

 ress. We must go back to the earliest ages for the foundations of our 

 knowledge. The slow steps of advance are wearisome, and are by no 

 means flattering to the race. Yet we must bear in mind that the subject is 

 one of difficulty, dealing with uncertain and ever-varying elements, and 

 requiring almost endless experiments and observations in order to arrive 

 at the best results. Soils, situations, variations in the seasons and in the 

 weather, diseases, and other conditions, are so changing, that fixed rules 

 cannot be laid down as in mechanics ; and the greater evil is, that, owing 

 to these uncertain elements, random experiments are most unreliable data. 

 Yet, from the huge mass of past experience, knowledge is gradually sifted. 

 This knowledge is stated more clearly, is made available, and put into gen- 

 eral use ; so that, with frequent and important improvements in mechanical 

 implements, with many discoveries and developments of new varieties of 

 products, and with some progress in the sciences, as applied to husbandry, 

 we may safely say there is a steady advance. There are reverses, and in 

 some instances there are failures. The wheat-crop is almost given up in 

 New England ; the plum is a fruit scarcely to be found in our markets ; 

 peaches are no spontaneous growth at the present ; the almost extinct St. 

 Michael pear was unsurpassed a generation since by any new variety. 

 Fifty years ago, the Sweetwater grape was a very reliable fruit ; and the 

 Isabella was sure to ripen, and was excellent. 



Our contest with insects, with an exhausted soil, and with diseases in- 

 duced by climatic changes consequent upon the destruction of our forests, 

 will require untiring energy and patience. It will not do to delude our- 

 selves into the feeling that our garners are to overflow with the fruits of the 

 earth. Yet we may take courage. We are yearly learning new facts in 

 regard to insects, and acquiring dominion over them. Science is at work 

 in the vast field of research for the specific food for plants. Practical ex- 

 periments are developing varieties of plants adapted to the changes in 

 climate. This is the ^leld, and this the work. It is a struggle of which 

 this generation saw not the beginning, neither is it to see the beginning of 

 the end. We may be compelled to abandon one old, favorite, strongly-for- 

 tified post after another ; the pleuro-neumonia may destroy our herds ; we 

 may- fail to detect and control the potato-disease ; the plum, peach, and 



