Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1891-10-02
Science the Handmade Of Agriculture

seienee the Han4maid Of AzTienflHre.
Time was, and not so very Iopg ago,
when any referelee to science in con
nection with agriculture was apt 70 be
received by the average farmer with
smile Of derision, il not, indeed with an
uadisgai.ed expression OF impasience
Today We find the majority OF the
f7rmers looking 10 scieEce for aid In
carrying On their work, and ready TO
complain, IL anything, that the results
81 scientific investigation a. relating TO
agriculture are not so widely difased
smong them or 50 clearly presented 10
hem az they ought 10 be Instances could
oe multiplied far beg ond the limits Of
be present paper TO illustrate the mum
erous ways ~ which science has served
a. the handmade Of agriculture Par
1 deuiaiiy when we come 10 the diseases
| u animals do we and that The service
| rendered 10 the farmer By the develop
uent 0. pathological science has been
constant and Of late years greatly mul-
| riplied. The Losses occurring in other
| countries, and notably In Great Britain.
from conts gious pieuro pneumonia. can
| hardly be estimated, but competent
authorities did not hesitate 70 declare
a. long ago as ten years since. that
agriculture In Great Britain had suffered
loss Of over 500 000, 200 from this
cause. Now the comparative immu
nity enjoyed 10 this country from
the rayages Of this disease, apd it,
Ultimate control and suppression, are
due entirely 10 the scientific inVestigs-
ions made into the nature OF that dis
ease Va those countries where il has pre-
y4ils d for years, upon which the entr
zetie and effective measures Of the
national Government have been based
IL goes without saying that no adequate
remedy can be found for disease, The
cause Of which - not understood, and
hat the knowledge that disease is Ia
cursb!e will save vast sums Of money
and large expenditure of time IN efforts
to find remedy. So in regard To the
prevention 0f diseases which are known
% be non communicablee kept by actual
contact, and which can therefore be pre-
vented by rigid quarantine. The in
ve.tigatlous made Of late years
into that mysterious disease known "a
Texas fever. and into the nature and
cause of hog cholera and swine plague
furnish examples Of a striking nature as
TO the utter heiplesaness Of our cattle
raisers without the aid of scientific
knowledge and scientific investigation,
Undoubtedly mary complaints are heard
and no. infrequentiy from the farmers
them selves, because science does not do
more or has seemed 10 accomplish moth
tng in this or that direction; but the Sc
q COMPLAINTS, after all. often arise from
the grOwing feeling of dependence upon
.cience which our farmers are beginning |
70 entertain, aud as a rule reflect
only the momentaTy encouragement |
Of one, who, seeking counsel with |
confidence OF relief. finds him |
self for the time being, disappointed |
The truth Is that even where only mega |
tive results are obtained from scientific |
investigation, much, after all, must be |
credited to it for. As we narrow down |
the possible causes OF disease, We reduce
the labors of our successors by limiting |
the field of their inquiry and thus hasten
the solution of the problem. On the |
-ubiect OF breeding our most successful
breeders are, some Of them even without |
knowing it, protIting greatly by the
work OF the scientist Darwin4 Of late
years science has been investigating the
nature of foods of both man and |
beast with some most int resting
and economically valuable results -
te.ultS which have not only an
bearing on the business If
cattle raising As regards ccono ny in
feeding, but, in the case Of pareut ami
mals "a regards their constitution and
that Of their offspring While ia this
matter OF food values. as we might say,
chemistry has played a most important
part, it ia to the development Of this
same SCIENCE We must look for the ulti
mate substitution of home grown sugar
for the imported article, and the trans
fer OF the 500 900 900 which we nov
pay yearly to the foreign produ er, to
he pockets of our American farmers
Chemical investigation has already
shown how the sugar product OF Louisi-
ana may he greatly increased without
adding q single acre to the area of the
Louisiana Sugar plantations, hemis
Try has revealed TO Us the wonderful in
rease to be obtained In the sorghum
yield by the use of alcohol. aud in re
gard to beet sugar, it IA chemistry thai
must, in this country as in Europe. at
end aud guide every step in the deve)
1pirpnt ~ tho Industry .