SCIENCE IN AGRICULTURE. 
Both the local associations and the superior organizations are sub- 
sidized to a small extent by the Government, but Mr. Olsen is  re- 
Sponsible only to his own local body, that is his neighbours whom he 
Serves. There are within his district about 2,000 settlers with holdings 
greater than 10 acres, and the majority of these are members. The 
farthest is within cycling distance (about 15 miles),.and they are all 
either on the telephone or within easy reach of a neighbour's instru- 
ment. Mr. Olsen could therefore scarcely be in better touch with his 
district. Some of his various duties may be listed thus: The purchase 
of stud stock and high class seed for members, the keeping of records 
for various classes of herd-book stock, and forwarding consolidated re- 
turns to the society’s head-quarters; conduct of demonstration and 
experiment plots on his own and about twenty other farms; acting as 
managing director of the seed drying and pickling establishment; the 
delivery of about a dozen lectures ‘a year to meetings of the association; 
writing on agricultural subjects for the local press; and, lastly, by far 
the greater part of his time is occupied in replying to members’ in- 
quiries chiefly by ’phone, and in visiting their farms to investigate 
Special difficulties, and give personal advice on the spot. With all this 
r. Olsen still finds time to supervise the farming of his own land. 
He was inclined to apologize for his own husbandry owing to pressure 
of his public duties, but what was lacking in the thorough working of 
his farm was not at all apparent. It was gathered that Mr. Olsen was 
elected to the post of counsellor by the members of the association, and 
the considerations which doubtless weighed in his selection were, besides 
us profound knowledge of the principles and practice of agriculture, 
the fact that he is possessed of tact and other strong personal qualities, 
and, above all, that he had made a thorough success of farming in the 
istrict, whose prosperity as a whole it was his duty to advance. 
“That man, I think, has had a liberal education, who has been so 
trained in youth that his body is the ready servant of his will, and 
does with ease and pleasure all the work that, as a mechanism, it is 
capable of ; whose intellect is a clear, cold, logic engine with all its parts 
of equal strength and ih smooth working order ; ready, like a steam- 
engine, to be turned to any kind of work, and spin the gossamers as 
well as forge the anchors of the mind; whose mind is stored with a 
knowledge of the great and fundamental truths of Nature and of the 
laws of her operations ; and who, no stunted ascetic, is full of life and 
fire, but whose passions are trained to come to heel by a vigorous will, 
the servant of a tender conscience ; who has learned to love all beauty, 
whether of Nature or of art, to hate all vileness, and to respect others 
as himself.” 
—HUXLEY. 
123 
