70 THE FARxMER S EDUCATION. 



transmitted to this day. Agricultural chemistry is even yet 

 one of the least-understood sciences, and while certainly of 

 great importance, is less reliable as a source of profit than 

 almost any other of the applications of science to agriculture. 

 At the same time, so deep-rooted and permanent are these 

 popular impressions, that the general notion of " agricultural 

 science" and "agricultural books" is almost exclusively that 

 of the employment of commercial fertilizers under the direc- 

 tion of chemists. 



Another reason for this wide-spread prejudice is the fact 

 that very few farmers ever read the books tliey condemn. 

 As a matter of fact, with all the shortcomings of the old 

 books on agriculture, they contained a great deal of useful 

 information and sensible discussion. For the most part, what 

 the farmers objected to was not what the books contained, but 

 what they imagined they contained. No prejudice is so bitter 

 as that founded on absolute ignorance. Still another reason 

 is the gradual sapping of the farmer's intellectual vigor by 

 the flood of cheap periodical literature, seldom reliable, 

 largely sensational, and always ephemeral, which now infests 

 the earth. In the old days most farmers had a few well-bound 

 books, handed down from former generations, very solid in 

 character, and which were read and reread of the long even- 

 ings until thoroughly mastered. The daily paper he happily 

 knew nothing of. Such training tended to make strong minds 

 and thoughtful men. It is now hardly possible, from sheer 

 intellectual weakness, for a large portion of our farmers to 

 attack and master the intricate agricultural problems which 

 confront them. The majority will yield to the inclination to 

 drop study for the newspaper the moment it comes in. And 

 yet it is seldom that the contents of the daily paper are of any 

 special consequence. The habit of newspaper-reading also 

 begets the habit of superficial, hasty reading of all publica- 

 tions, whereby the real meaning of the author is missed. 

 If it be said that what is said here is by no means true of 

 all farmers, the reply must be that it is in the main true of 

 that portion of them who are most prejudiced against book- 

 ll farming. 



