226 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
tions are designed to supply, the entire state in a certain sense, may 
be made an experimental farm. The more important conditions 
under which the crops in different parts of the state are raised, 
being known, the causes of success or failure will become more 
apparent, and much needless expense in experimenting with new 
varieties or new methods in unfavorable localities may be saved. 
As it now is, if a new crop, or some new form of stock raising or 
dairying proves successful in one locality, it is apt to be rashly 
tried in all other localities, regardless of the difference in their nat¬ 
ural adaptations. And if a new enterprise in any department of 
the business fails at one point, the question is too apt to be regard¬ 
ed as settled for the entire state. The object of these observa¬ 
tions on the part of the geological survey is to furnish, as bas al¬ 
ready been said, a reliable basis for comparing the results of expe¬ 
rience in different regions, for forecasting the results of new enter¬ 
prises and for drawing correct conclusions from them. It is not 
to be expected that anything like perfection will be, or can be, at¬ 
tained. The observations of the survey cannot be more than gen¬ 
eral. The problem is complicated. Much will remain to be 
done. But if something can be contributed to the more perfect 
success of the greatest industry of the state and nation, it will 
abundantly justify the labor and outlay necessitated. 
The act establishing the survey provides, very properly, for 
observations upon animal life with reference to agricultural 
interests. While all observations upon the animal kingdom 
have a direct or indirect bearing upon farming, those of the 
survey have been planned with direct and special reference to the 
interests named. 
The problem presented for solution is a complex one. It 
involves the manifold aspects of the conflict of animal life. 
Popularly, we have scarcely got beyond the sweeping and 
unjust generalization, that the birds are our friends and the 
insects are our enemies. Because a certain bird lives upon 
insects, it does not follow that he is therefore useful to us, for 
he may be devouring our insect friends. Nor if he is found to 
live upon vegetation does it follow that he is our enemy, for 
the vegetation may be noxious. What is needed is exact and 
specific information. The present state of the problem, even 
