SOME THINGS APPLIED SCIENCE HAS DONE 35 
j FOR THE FARMER 
Formerly the farmer tilled _his soil, and planted his 
seed, and if it grew, it grew, and if it didn’t, it didn’t, and 
of course the failure was ascribed to ‘‘ the will of God.’’ 
To-day, if the seed does not grow, science wants to know 
if it was specially bred for a seed plant—if it was tested 
before it was selected—if it was disinfected before it 
was planted, and if it was planted in a soil which its nature 
specially needed. If the farmer says the soil is to blame, 
science has still more pointed questions and drastic remedies. 
The nature of the soil must be considered, for ‘‘ the ground 
is not a grave where death and quiet reign,’’ as one has 
said, but ‘‘a birthplace where the cycles of life begin anew 
to run their courses.’’ 
As I have already said, many lands grow only a crop 
of mortgages because the farmer persisted in planting wheat 
where nature had planned for corn. To-day these same 
lands are growing dank accounts because science has taught 
the trick of obeying Nature’s laws, instead of breaking 
himself trying to break the laws. 
In the counties bordering the great lakes, both in 
Michigan and Wisconsin, land which refused to produce 
either wheat or corn is making its owners rich in timothy 
and clover. If time permitted I might speak of how peat 
bogs and sand marshes have been utilized. 
I have already referred to the smut in the oat crop 
having been all but eradicated by scientific appliances. In 
one State alone one-fifth of the oat crop was lost annually 
from this pest. That one-fifth has been saved, representing 
$4,000,000, which went into the farmer’s pockets. 
The fact is, that outside the Agricultural Bulletins, the 
story of what science is doing for the farm is almost un- 
known, though the gain brought about by Applied Science 
in a single group of States in a single year would more than 
equal the capital of the great Steel Trust including the 
water in it, 
