INTRODUCTION 15 



mathematics is numbers, quantity and magnitude; of botany, 

 plants; of ornithology, birds; of entomology, insects; of chem- 

 istry, the composition of matter; of astronomy, the heavens: 

 but agriculture is a mosaic of many sciences, arts and activities. 

 Or, it may be said to be a composite of sciences and arts, much 

 as medicine and surgery are. But if there is no science of 

 agriculture as distinct from other sciences, the prosecution of 

 agriculture must be scientific; and the fact that it is a mosaic 

 makes it all the more difficult to follow, and enforces the im- 

 portance of executive judgment and farm - practice over mere 

 scientific knowledge. 



22. The province of a text -book of agriculture, in other 

 words, is to deal ( 1 ) with the original production of agricultural 

 wealth rather than with its manufacture, transportation or sale, 

 for these latter enterprises are largely matters of personal cir- 

 cumstance and individuality, and (2) with those principles and 

 facts which are common to all agriculture, or which may be 

 considered to be fundamental. 



21b. In other words, we must search for principles, not for 

 mere facts or information : we shall seek to ask why before we 

 ask how. Principles apply everywhere, but facts and rules may 

 apply only where they originate. Agriculture is founded upon 

 laws; but there are teachers who would have us believe that it 

 is chiefly the overcoming of mere obstacles, as insects, unpro- 

 pitious weather, and the like. There are great fundamentals 

 which the learner must comprehend ; therefore we shall say 

 nothing, in this book, about the incidentals, as the kinds of 

 weeds, the brands of fertilizers, the breeds of animals, the varie- 

 ties of flowers. 



