THE EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 47 



entomologist might not know wheat from barley or a sulky 

 plow from a hay rake. He might know all about bugs, 

 and have a rare faculty of imparting instruction, and so be 

 invaluable in the class-room, and yet be perfectly helpless if 

 called upon to deal with a piece of boggy ground. So it 

 finally came to be seen of all men that few men could be 

 good farmers and good scientists at the same time — not even 

 agricultural professors. A good farmer must be a good exec- 

 utive man, and many good agricultural professors are not 

 such men, and while there are always attached to Agricultural 

 Colleges some who are both good instructors and good farmers, 

 the two arts can not usually be practised by the same man at 

 the same time. 



Neither was there any chance of an income from an experi- 

 mental farm. Experiments are costly, and the most of them 

 fail. New plants are tried in order to see whether or not they 

 can be cultivated at a profit; new methods of culture or of feed- 

 ing are tried, for the same reason. If the plant or the method 

 is not profitable it is worth while to know that, and it is better 

 to have one experiment tried at the public expense, and the 

 result widely published, than for hundreds of individuals to 

 try the same thing, fail in it, and say nothing. These things 

 are not always well understood by farmers, and as a farm 

 which continually tries things which do not wx)rk, is sure to 

 get a bad name, the College farms, however unjustly, became 

 the subject of derision in their communities to an extent 

 which largely accounts for the general prejudice against Agri- 

 cultural Colleges which so long existed among farmers. It 

 was also the fact that it is not always possible, when starting 

 an Agricultural College, to secure the services of a full staff of 

 clear-headed, sensible men, with the requisite knowledge and 

 executive ability. Political methods have often controlled 

 appointments, and there have been some weak men connected 

 with the colleges, and some foolish tilings done, such as could 

 hardly occur now. Men have found their places. 



But with the practical abandonment of actual farming 

 in connection with most Agricultural Colleges, the necessity 

 became more urgent for actual experimental work for the 



