annual report—Miscellaneous. 
35 
The practical application of these valuable results is, that upon 
the same land for twenty years in succession, an annual expendi¬ 
ture of less than $15 per acre in artificial manures has yielded an 
annual increased product of 48 bushels of barley to the acre, and 
a corresponding increase in wheat, and of superior quality, and an 
increase of about 1 1-2 tons of straw. When we take into con¬ 
sideration the results of this labor of twenty years by chemists of 
scientific attainments and culture, and that this experiment was 
directed to the growth of a single variety of grain, need we ask 
whether agriculture is a science? And yet these experiments only 
show the great uncertainty of this pursuit, and that only a series 
of years in succession can determine definite results, but that only 
the results of such experiments can be safely laid down to rule 
and guide the young farmer. When an agricultural society or a 
government, employs learned scientific men to make experiments 
of this kind, concerning a single point in the science of agricul¬ 
ture, for the benefit of this great industry and for the progress of 
the world, is there not something in it that should stimulate the 
youth of our country to engage in a calling as grand and noble 
as any within the range of human knowledge? Similar experi¬ 
ments are being made upon our University Experimental Farm at 
Madison, under the direction of W. W. Daniells,, M. S., Professor 
of Agriculture, and is a valuable aid to the establishment of sci¬ 
entific facts. A more liberal policy should be shown, however, 
toward this and kindred institutions, so that a foundation broader 
and wider may be laid for scientific investigations, and that prac¬ 
tical and valuable results may be conferred upon the farmers of 
the state. Let agricultural colleges and practical farmers, give 
thought and study to some particular point in agriculture for 
years in succession until it becomes a fixed fact. Let these facts 
be recorded and handed down to posterity to guide and direct 
the beginners in this noble avocation. Such is scientific farming. 
FERTILIZERS. 
A vast amount of valuable material has been annually wasted 
in our state, which ought to be saved in convenient form to be 
applied to, and enrich the land, for want of manufactories to put 
it in condition for such application. I am glad to be able to state 
