82 EXACT AND EXPERIMENTAL AGRICULTURE, 



nothing has been more remarkable, and nothing in many cases 

 more mortifying and provoking, than this want of exactness. 

 They measure nothing ; they weigh nothing. It is all guess 

 work with them in every thing. Ask them how much land 

 they till or mow ? — they do not know. How much corn, rye, 

 oats, barley, how many potatoes, they raised ? — they did not 

 measure them. How much hay they mowed? — they guess 

 about so many loads. How much their corn or their potatoes 

 yielded ? — why, they judged about so and so ; but this judg- 

 ment is altogether the merest guess work. How much manure 

 they put upon an acre ? — why, they mean to put on, commonly, 

 for there are always qualifications enough to save their veracity, 

 about six, or eight, or ten loads, as the case may be ; but what 

 they call a load is with themselves, and must be with others, 

 matter of pure conjecture. How much seed they sow to an 

 acre ? — why, as near as they can guess, about so much. How 

 much will a favorite cow yield ? — why, she gives over a pailful ; 

 but what is the size of the pail, whether six, or eight, or ten 

 quarts, or whether wine quarts or beer quarts, which makes a 

 difference of at least one fifth ; or how much over, whether one 

 quart or four quarts, are points, which it never occurs to them 

 are important to be defined, or at least pretty exactly approxi- 

 mated, before they presume to demand the confidence of others, 

 or indeed to place confidence themselves in their own state- 

 ments, 



Now I submit to you, my brother farmers, whether this is not 

 an unvarnished statement of facts. Ought it to be so ? Is such 

 looseness or neglect admissible in any other of the business pro- 

 fessions ? 



But what, you will ask, is the advantage of such exactness ? 

 We answer, very great. There is a satisfaction in knowing 

 what we do. If we do not, in fact, do so well as we imagine, 

 let us not go on deceiving ourselves, but ascertain the occasions 

 of the faUure. If we in fact do better than we imagine, let us 

 enjoy the pleasure of conscious improvement, and let it furnish 

 a stimulus to greater efforts. 



Exactness is important in the next place, in order that a man 



