The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-01-24 00:00:00

SCIENTIFIC FARMING.

Last Saturday Mr. W. W B. Beach, M.P , presided over
a well-attended meeting of farmers and others, held in the
Board School, Tadley, for the purpose of considering the
scheme of the Science and Art Department for teaching the
science of farming.

Mr. Beach said the subject was one of immense
importance. The Legislature had, he thought, wisely
provided for the elementary education of the labour-
ing classes, but the education of farmers had not
received the attention it deserved. A school was
shortly to be opened at Winchester, which, he hoped,
would remedy this defect. In the present distressed
condition of the agricultural interest, it was worth
considering whether by more scientific and economic
methods of cultivation farming could not be made to
pay. Mr. Buckmaster would, no doubt, give them
some valuable information on this and other matters.
The remission and adjustment of local taxation would
be very helpful, but a fear had been expressed that if
some of the burdens now borne by the farmers were
relieved by increased demands on the Exchequer,
there would not be so much economy and watchful-
ness in the expenditure. We were not able to subsist
on our own production of food, but if by more skill
and knowledge we could increase our supply, we
should add to the safety and prosperity of the country.
Mr. Buckmaster then explained in detail the plan
of the Science and Art Department for qualifying
teachers of agriculture starting classes, examining
pupils, and awarding payments. He went on to say
that there was no opinion more deeply ingrained in
the mind of the English farmer than the belief that
there was some antagonism between science and prac-
tice. Some even went so far as to say that the two
are incompatible. The farmer who drains his land or
tries a new manure, or a new machine, or a new crop,
calls himself a practical man; he despises all experi-
ment, and laughs at the teaching of scientific men.
/le is not conscious that when he is thinking over
new plans and adopting new methods of cultivation
he may be illustrating in his daily work a series
of chemical and physiological experiments of ex-
treme complexity and importance. Men of the
highest order of intellect and whose researches were
the most original have been practical men. Practice
and theory are but phases of the same form of
thought. The practical farmer, if he ever permits his
mind to rise above the traditions and empirical rules of
his .forefathers, and asks himself, "Could not that have
been done in a better and more perfect way: would
not this be an improvement?" becomes a theorist,
and when he tries to realise these conceptions in his
work becomes a practical man. Theory and practice
are inseparable in every art, however much men may
seek to disunite them by affecting to despise the
teaching of either one or the other. The most practical
man is often the most theoretical. Every operation is
with him a theory. He recognizes no change; he will
admit of no trial or experiment because that would be
an acknowledgment of science. Every science is
built up of principles and these principles carried into
work are called practice. There is the science
of astronomy and the art of navigation; the science
of geometry and the art of land measuring; the
science of mechanics and the art of making machinery;
the science of chemistry and the art of agriculture.
Almost every science is the basis of a cognate
art. The most obvious and natural way of arriving
at a real knowledge of the art of agrical•
tura would be to know something . of those
principles on which the art is based, art being nothing
more than the application of principles previously
acquired. A farmer who is able to unite a perfect
mastery of principles with a knowledge of practical
details is an educated and scientific farmer. It might
reasonably be inferred that the shortest and easiest
method of learning any industrial art, and the surest
guide to new discoveries in the art would be a know-
ledge of those fundamental principles upon which the
art was based. No amount of practical skill and ex-
perience could ever replace the want of scientific
knowledge in farming.