EXPERIMENTS IN AGRICULTURE. 
175 
m this region for all useful purposes; the 
country is well divided between timber and 
prairie, so that most farmers have part of each. 
Stock can be raised very cheap, and always 
bring a good price. 
The lovers of Flora would find this an ample 
field for study from April until November, as 
the prairies are literally covered with flowers 
all that time. The first we have is phlox, of three 
varieties, none of which I have ever seen culti- 
vated in any of the eastern gardens. They are 
all of low growth ; the colors blue, white, and 
pink. The former is indigenous in the woods, 
the two latter in the prairies. Next comes the 
Dodecatheoa meadia, or American cowslip, 
which, for quantity and beauty, exceeds belief. 
They are succeeded by taller-growing plants. 
Conspicuous among them I would mention the 
Bablisia alba, and last in the season, the Liatris 
scariosa, which keeps in flower until the frost 
comes, and is remarkable for opening then first 
at the top of the stalks. 
Can you or any of your readers give a de- 
scription of an instrument for taking the height 
of trees while standing, I think I have seen an 
account of one many years ago in Loudon's 
Magazine. 
Will wheat degenerate on the same farm if 
the ground is kept in good condition 2 [No. — Eds.] 
Mine is a very superior kind, and I do not wish 
to change it. I have grown it four years, and my 
crops get larger every year, the berry being 
now as good as the seed I first procured. I hope 
some person will be able to step into Reviewer's 
shoes, as his criticisms are always to the point. 
Fond-du-lac, Wisconsin, Jan., 1850. S. S. 
EXPERIMENTS IN" AGRICULTURE. 
The value of an agricultural journal depends 
upon the number of experiments connected with 
farming business, judicious^ made, and fully 
detailed, which it makes known to the agricul- 
tural world. We go to books, usually, for ab- 
stract learning, but the common routine of prac- 
tice may be picked up anywhere. We want to 
.know through periodicals, current facts — what 
improvements have been attempted — how they 
have been attempted, and with what success — 
good or ill ; for it is just as important to know 
what has failed as what has succeeded, and in 
general more important. Saving is gaining. 
We may be able to gain by few of the opera- 
tions that have been profitable to others, since 
a thousand causes may prevent our even trying 
to do so. But there are few failures, the knowl- 
edge of which would not, in some way, serve and 
benefit us. Now, nearly every farmer is exper- 
imenting, more or less, all the time. How few 
of them let us know anything about these ex- 
periments. Failures are always kept profoundly 
secret ; and as success rarely equals expectation, 
that is seldom deemed worthy of being made 
public. For the most part, the accounts we 
have of experiments, are from persons, who, 
having undertaken something new and impor- 
tant to themselves, cannot restrain their desire 
to talk about it. They rush into the journals, 
sometimes at the first heat, when they have 
only conceived the thing, and before they have 
begun to work. In general, however, something 
has been done, and high hopes are entertained. 
We then hear of the beginning, and the bril- 
liant prospects, and, nine times in ten, we never 
hear of the matter again. It fails — of course we 
are not told, though I think the experimenter is 
under solemn obligations to do it. It succeeds 
pai'tially, and is not thought worth saying more 
about. It succeeds entirely, but the novelty is 
gone ; it has become an old thing, and the ex- 
perimenter is looking forward to something else. 
How many half-told experiments lie buried, Mr. 
Editor, in your past volumes ! 
But the worst is, that where even sensible 
farmers undertake to give accounts of valuable 
experiments and improvements, they seldom do 
so in a way to be understood to any useful ex- 
tent, at a distance. Few appreciate all the par- 
ticulars that go to constitute an experiment, 
every one of which must be accurately detailed 
to enable another to profit by it. Now let us 
consider a moment as to experiments in grow- 
ing crops. First, we must know what kind of 
land the crop is grown on. Nothing can be 
more unsatisfactory than to say, it is clay or 
sand, or even heavy clay or loamy sand. To 
arrive at certainty, we ought to have an analy- 
sis of it. At least, we should be told as nearly 
as can be described, the precise nature of both 
the soil and subsoil. Then we should know 
what is its geological character — what rocks, if 
any, exist in the neighborhood, and as near as 
may be, its longitude and latitude, for climate 
and position are of vast importance. We should 
also know the previous history of the land, and 
its treatment for many years before. If ma- 
nure is used, we should know the ingredients 
and value of that, the time and manner of ap- 
plying it, and the precise quantity in bushels, 
cords, or tons. When I come to so many " loads" 
of manure used in an experiment, I stop reading 
and pass on to the next article. My loads of 
manure vary from ten bushels to a hundred, 
and I have no idea of a load of itself. 
Next, we must know something of the seed 
used. There are 100 varieties of wheat, and 
150 of potatoes and perhaps as many of corn. 
The variety planted, is important. How often, 
how deep, and at what times the land was brok- 
en and the crop plowed must be stated. When 
the ground was seeded — how deep, how cov- 
ered — when it came up — how much rain and 
drouth it encountered ; all these must be known. 
And lastly, the amount of production must be 
stated in exact weight or measure, or both. All 
these particulars, and many I have not enumer- 
ated, are indispensable to be known, that one 
farmer may profit by the experiments of another, 
a hundred, or even twenty miles distant. Yet 
how seldom are they given. How seldom does 
the experimenter himself know, or keep any 
accurate account of these things. And here is 
the secret of the slow progress of agricultural 
improvement. Not one farmer in a thousand 
knows half the time, what he himself is doing. 
For the want of knowledge, of close observa- 
tion and accurate registering of details, he is 
