Why Farmers Resist Agricultural Changes. . 



agricultural changes, which was well exempHfied by the 

 English farmer who, when some agricultural changes 

 were suggested to him, simply said, " What we knows 

 we knows, and what we don't know we don't want 

 to know." On mentioning this to a landed friend 

 who is interested in agriculture, as well as many other 

 subjects, he said, " Why, that is just the case with the, 

 landlords in my county, and they don't know, and 

 they don't want to know, nor to trouble themselves 

 at all about the subject." And in Johnston and 

 Cameron's book on agricultural chemistry, it is stated 

 that " the reception of scientific results and suggestions 

 by the agricultural body generally have been so un- 

 gracious that little wonder can exist that so many 

 chemists have quitted the field in disgust, and that the 

 majority of capable men should studiously avoid it." 

 And I may mention that when lately making some 

 inquiries relative to the subject of this book at the 

 rooms of the Royal Agricultural Society in London, I 

 was told by the clerk there that never in his experi- 

 ence had a farmer come there to ask a question, or 

 go into an enquiry of any kind relative to agriculture. 

 He should have said that farmers rarely do so. Planters 

 in India, like farmers here, will not read, as both have 

 probably taken to cultivation from a liking to out-door 

 life and an indisposition to any form of intellectual 

 exertion. Then it must be considered that the sharp 

 lads in families are generally sent into law, or trade, or 

 medicine, while the duller are considered to be only 

 good enough for agriculture, or planting, where study, 

 though quite as essential as in other professions, may 

 be neglected without much loss until changing times 

 require important modifications of system. As for our 

 farmers in Scotland, I have often said to some of them 

 that I believe most Scotch farmers would go five 

 miles out of their way to avoid. seeing an agricultural 

 improvement. And yet all farmers are ready enough 

 to adopt improvements in the shape of improved stock. 



