396 Wisconsin state Agricultumal society. 
soon come to be willing not only to observe, but to ask information; 
not only to use our e 3 ^es, but also our ears. We learn that no one 
man knovvs as much as all his neighbors. And we ought to be able 
to see that a fact in agriculture is none the less a fact because ’t is 
found on a printed page rather than heard from the lips of a neigh¬ 
bor. 
There is no excuse for distrust of teachers of agriculture. Many 
men, utterly incompetent for the work, have assumed to give in¬ 
struction. Some of these have been well meaning men, who saw 
the need for instruction, and were only at fault in supposing that 
without careful preparation they were competent to give it; but 
none have been shallow egotists or unprincipled men, the^^^nly 
seeking reputation; the others seeking to advance their own selfish 
interests. But it is poor reasoning which leads us to reject all 
teaching because some has proved bad. It should be borne in 
mind that it is where there is the least knowledge, the impostor 
and charlatan finds his best field. It is not among the most intelli- * 
gent farmers that he can best practice on their credulity. The ob¬ 
jections to agricultural education are not peculiar. The time has 
been when it was urged that observation and practice were all that 
could help in preparing for the practice of any profession. The 
objections do not show the education valueless; only that the men 
making them are not prepared to accept its benefits. 
It is a most pernicious error that education is any bar to the pos¬ 
session of practical skill. The farmer unlearned in books, has no 
monopoly of practical information about the business. 
The great essentials to the improvement of our agricultHte are 
more information and more interest. We need to know more;about 
it and feel more interest in it, that we may make the betteAiise of 
what vve do know. The best security for better practice is more 
information; the best means of securing greater interest is to im¬ 
part better and more accurate instruction. 
There have been men who have made grand success in life with¬ 
out the aid of education in the schools. All honor to such men, 
but they see clearly how often their power is limited for want of 
the things which the schools could have given them. We have all 
known men literally unable to read who were more successful in 
money making, perhaps more useful, than a college educated man 
in the same neighborhood. Yet none of us wish that we could not 
