236 CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



here, very forcibly bring again to our mind the point on 

 which we have already insisted very strongly, namely, 

 the necessity that exists for our leading Agricultural 

 Societies to come forward to institute a set of experiments 

 which will set at rest, so far as they can be set at rest, the 

 various questions now more or less disputed, and which 

 influence, to a greater or less degree, the future of agricul- 

 ture. We say, so far as such questions can be set at rest, 

 the probability being that, in some, if not in many cases, 

 we shall find that distinct and decided results applicable 

 to all diversities of practice will never be obtained. But, 

 as has been well remarked in scientific discussions, the an- 

 swer No ! is just as valuable to us as the answer Yes ! 

 There are therefore some departments of culture in which 

 we are at present asking the question, Will this direction 

 lead to practically useful results ? and which at present we 

 must continue asking, seeing no one comes forward to say 

 yes or no ; and it is clear that if progress in that direction 

 can lead to no good, it is exceedingly useful for us to know 

 that, inasmuch as we shall have at least the negative ad- 

 vantage of knowing that all attempts to go in that direction 

 will be but lost time. It so happens that there are in the 

 cultural departments of agriculture many question, to which 

 it is advisable that the answer Yes ! or the answer No ! 

 should be given with all due speed. Isolated efforts to 

 answer them must, of necessity, in a science with principles 

 so unfixed and so liable to modification from ever-chang- 

 ing circumstances as agriculture is, be unsatisfactory and 

 vague to a greater or less degree. Why should these in- 

 quiries, involving, as they necessarily do, the expenditure 

 of much time and labour, be left to be pushed forward by 

 private individuals 1 In view, indeed, of the persistent ef- 

 forts made by our leading Societies in one or two direc- 

 tions oftener in one than in two unfortunately we are 

 very apt to ask what is the object of our Societies' exist- 

 ence, or is it, indeed, an object that is one only ? How is 

 it that so much attention is paid to our Stock, while ab- 

 solutely none is given to the raising of the food which sup- 



