(CHAPTER VII. 



AGRICULTURAL PAPERS AND BOOKS. 



ONE of the curious things which must be taken account 

 of is the intense prejudice which exists among large 

 masses of farmers against what they call "book- 

 farmers" and "book-farming." Everything has its cause, and 

 there is, of course, a cause for this prejudice. In part it is 

 accounted for by the very unpractical character of some popular 

 books on farming which were published a half century since. 

 There was good literature on the subject even tlien, but it did 

 not seem to get into popular form. Allowing for the advance 

 in scientific knowledge since that time, there is very little to 

 which modern science can take exception in the old cyclo- 

 pedias, for example, whicli had the widest popular circulation, 

 and in which the agricultural articles, written by the best men 

 of the time, are clear and sensible. The first really popular 

 movement towards scientific agriculture was based on the idea 

 of controlling fertility by the operations of chemistry. There 

 were then few agricultural chemists in this country, and they 

 doubtless had rather exaggerated ideas of the possibilities of 

 agricultural chemistry; and these, as conceived by the people, 

 were still more impossible. There was an abundance of virgin 

 soil to be had for the asking, and more money could be gen- 

 erally made by robbing that than by improving that which 

 had begun to be exhausted. Analysis of his soil in advance 

 was practically impossible to most farmers, who, so far as they 

 used commercial fertilizers at all, used them blindly, and often 

 witliout much regard to mechanical and climatic conditions, 

 or the special needs of the different plants. The result of 

 these exaggerated notions, usually still farther exaggerated 

 and unintelligently applied, was a great reaction from what 

 at first was a promising movement, and a deep-seated preju- 

 dice against " scientific fellers " of all kinds, which has been 



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