CONSERVATISM IN SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE. 31 



the crowns of Aquilegias and Delphiniums, and do much damage, 

 as also is the case with the wire-worm, to a certain extent. 



Mr. Orpet agreed with Mr. ]Manning, and added that all our 

 native species of Aquilegia are very beautiful, and should be 

 raised from seed saved from plants growing in isolated places, 

 owing to the facility with which the species hybridize. In speak- 

 ing of so-called perennial plants, he said that they are not all 

 strictly perennial naturally. 



MEETIXG FOE LECTURE AND DISCUSSION. 



Saturday, January 18, 1896. 

 A meeting for Lecture and Discussion was holden today at 

 eleven o'clock, the President, Francis H. Appletox, in the 

 chair. 



The following lecture, provided by the Massachusetts Society 

 for Promoting Agriculture, was delivered : 



Conservatism ix Scientific Agriculture. 



By Professor W. H. Jordan, Director of the Maine State College Agricultural Experiment 

 Station, Orono, Maine. 



The American Agricultural Experiment Station is this year 

 twenty years old ; the American College of Agriculture is older. 

 During at least a quarter of a century the teacher and investiga- 

 tor, to a greater or less extent, have been active in this land of 

 ours in their efforts to illuminate the business of the farmer with 

 the beneficent light of Science. 



Their success has not been startling, though great enough 

 to justify the effort. Inexperience, imperfect knowledge, the 

 immense labor of successful teaching and investigation, prejudice, 

 the inertia that always attends any educational movement, all 

 have conspired to render the attainment of the ultimate object, 

 viz., a more rational practice of agriculture, slow and difficult. 



From one point of view, however, a great deal has been ac- 

 complished. Generous endowments, both State and National, 

 expended by a large body of trained workers, an enlightened 

 thought, and an improved farm practice testify not only to past 

 achievements but to present effort on a scale that is truly 

 marvelous. 



