Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1876-05-17
The Experiment station.

'
fessor seems to object to the idea that the
Connecticut experiment station is the
first, and Professor Seelys the second, in
America. lie claims that not only the
farms attached to some of our agricultural
but also various private farms On
GLIDING Mr.. IIammond's, Mr. Pringle's and
our own twelve-acre patch) are entitled to
the name. And he claims it, also, even for
the Offices of those secretaries Of agricultural |
boards where fertilizers are analysed.
We cannot quite assent to this view Of the |
subject. Agricultural experiments upon |
farms, in gardens and in chemical labora
tories, have been practiced for more than a
hundred years, yet they have never been
able TO do the work that is being done in
the experiment stations Of Europe, or that |
is expected from those now established here !
Van Mons, Rivers, Blackwell, Bates, Jethro
Tull, Lawes, Iiebig, Boussngault, Dana,
johnson, Willard, Hammond, Lane, Pringle,
and hundreds Of others, on both sides of the
Atlantic have indeed been eXperimenters in
agriculture and the associated Sciences but
they have, by their successes and their fail.
ures alike, only the more emphatcally shown
the necessity which exists for what are dis
tnctively called experiment stations"
The analysis of fertilizers does not prop
erly belong to an experiment station"
Where it has been undertaken at one it has
been as a concession to those who demand
immediate "practical pecuniary results,
or as bait or bid for the support Of a mar
row-minded and ignorant community, inca
pable of being otherwise induced to give
their aid or even their consent to its exist
ence. 1t is easily shown that the farmers
are cheated by fraudulent fertilizers, and
the saving made by checking the fraud is so
evident that it becomes an easy argument in
favor of a small appropriation or contribu-
ton for that end But these analyses, use
full as they are, reveal no new facts. That
men will cheat is certainly no modern dis
covery. The detection of such cheats is a
mere matter of police, belonging to the gov
eminent, in which the aid OF science is only
incidentally called in, as in the inspection of
flour, fish, kerosene, or distilled spirits. In
regard TO fertilizers, it is the business of the
state 70 see to their inspection, through the
appointment of the proper officers, either the
secretary of its board of agriculture, or some
other duly designated functionary.
But the use, and the only proper use, of an
experiment station, is TO investigate and set
tie some of the thousand problems in agri-
culture upon which people have been guess
ing for ages-to settle them authoritatively,
so that they will stay settled the proofs
being made so plain that hereafter the ques-
tioning of them shall be sufficient evidence
that the questioner has not learned the al
phabet of his art
No immediate, or even remote, distinctly
measurable result ought to be expected, in a
pecuniary form, from these Investigations
II is very bad policy to give ont the idea
Gas these fertilizer analyses do) that money
profits of an immediate and direct kind are
to be expected from experiment stations.
They will indeed yield great profits, but
these will be so generally diffused, and their
realization will be so dependent upon the
gradual spread of the truths elected, that
no one can estimate and tabulate them.
Who can figure the profits to be derived
from ascertaining the most profitable com
binations of hay, grain, roots, ol-cake, ETC.,
in tho ratiopo for fatttnar ufoclr mill o,,,s
etc, etc? Theyare being worked out by the
German stations, and great sums will event
ually be saved by their discovery; yet the
real discovery will not yield profit of itself
The people will profit by these discoveries
only as they understand and adopt them
The same is true in regard to the results OF
the Investigations upon the fertility of soils
upon tillage, upon manuring upon tn,
growth of plants, upon the crossing and by
bridization of both plants and animals; tC
say nothing of such smaller, yet very i'm
portant matters as a thorough investigation
of the changes which cheese undergocs in
manufacture and curing, and the proper
manipulation TO realize the best results in
practice.
Why has private experimentation been SC
unsuccessful that these stations have been
called for and established Every privat,
experimenter understands the reasons fol
that. In the first place, no matter how SCH
entifc his tastes, his necessities require thai
his chief energies shall be devoted to max
ing living. His experiments are but hii
recreations, and only such funds as can b,
spared for such a purpose will be given t,
them. Or If he is experimenting for indi
vidual profit, he viii only pursue the worl
far enough for his own ends, the results be
ing garnered in his mind in such form
that he could not communicate them if h,
would, and his interest being such that h,
would not If he could. Then, most expert
mentors lack scientific training, so that thel
are constantly misled, and think they hay,
discovered what turns out 10 be no discoy
cry at all. Or if scientifically trained, the,
lack money, or opportunities, or support, o
encouragement.
Scientific experiment stations have been
established TO obviate all these evils. Th
is sought to be done by the purchase an,
stocking of farm, and putting it in charg,
Of one or more persons having both prac
teal and scientific training. They are SCI
to work out certain unsolyed questions, anc
are provided with every means and appli
ance necessary for the work. They ar,
paid salaries, not to make money out of tn,
farm, but to find out certain things and tn,
farm and stock are furnished to them, no
for the profit to be got Of them, but as appa
ratus to experiment with. In feeding ex
periments, for instance, half dozen COWS
or sheep, or oxen, are fed with rations no
only carefully weighed, but carefully ana
lyzed. These rations are first fed separately
then mixed together in various exact pro
portions, having reference TO their chemca
composition, or their physical condition, o
both. The animals are weighed daily, thei
excrement, liquid and solid, and even thei
condensed breath and perspiration, an
weighed and analyzedi aud, if giving mill
that also is submitted TO the same treatmen
and finally, from the recorded tests, we hay
the tabulated results in columns of figure
Ul.iab damcuatrota A., a.