988 BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 
ent species of animals, but even in animals of the same class, being 
innocuous in some, and in others poisonous. 
It may be asked to what extent are these scientific pursuits to be 
followed by the practical farmer, or by those who intend to become such? 
Are they absolutely essential to success in agricultural pursuits ? 
In answer, we reply that much must depend upon circumstances, 
and upon the means and opportunities at the disposal of farmers. It is 
not to be expected that they will become experts in the veterinary art; 
but they should have acquired that amount of knowledge which will 
enable them to treat in a rational way the most common diseases of 
their animals, to be of service to themselves and their neighbors in 
time of need, to know when to call in more skilful aid, and in a meas- 
ure to be instrumental in dispelling the vast amount of ignorance, 
barbarism, and superstition that so extensively prevail in our country. 
This knowledge, however, is not to be acquired by the simple reading 
of books. It implies a diligent and faithful attendance upon recitations 
and lectures, the study of anatomy by dissection, and the examination 
of the various pathological specimens which may be presented. 
We do not deny but that long-continued and well-directed observa- 
tion, combined with careful judgment, may be of vast assistance to the 
agriculturist, but he cannot expect that certainty in results which 
follows experiments based upon scientific acquirements. We do not 
imagine that Robert Bakewell,* for example, the noted improver of 
* Robert Bakewell, born at Dishley, in Leicestershire, in 1725, occupied the 
same estate that his father and grandfather had resided on before him. Youatt, 
in his work on Cattle, says: ‘‘ Having remarked that domestic animals in gen- 
eral produced others possessing qualities nearly similar to their own, he con- 
ceived that he had only to select from the most valuable breeds such as 
promised to return the greatest possible emolument to the breeder, and that he 
should then be able, by careful attention to progressive improvement, to pro- 
duce a breed whence he could derive a maximum of advantage. Under the 
influence of this excellent notion, he made excursions into different parts of 
England, in order to inspect the different breeds and to select those that were best 
adapted to his purpose and the most valuable of their kind; and his residence 
and his early habits disposed him to give the preference to the long-horn cattle. 
In Bakewell’s opinion, every thing depended on breed; and the beauty and 
utility of form, the quality of the flesh, and the propensity to fatness, were, in 
the offspring, the natural consequence of similar qualities in the parents. By 
judicious breeding, in uniting the superior branches of the same breed, he pro- 
duced a stock unrivalled in his day.” A writert describes him as “a tall, 
t ‘Wet Days at Edgewood,” by Donald G. Mitchell. 
