The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1895-11-15
Changes That Are Occurring
Always.
ADVANCEMENT OF KNOWLEDGE.
Farming of a Decade eAgo-Experiments
and Experimentation-W Elec-
tricIty Has Done and VIII Do-Im-
portance ef Public stations, Etc.

ment station he was requested t
prepare a general resume OF tn
work done by these stations, in OF
der to place the Importance OF tn
experimental work before the pub
lie. The following, from Professo
Maxwell's address, will be reao
with interest in the country wher
the necessity of more experimental
investigation is constantly becom
ing more evident:
Mr.. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GEN
TLEMEN:- Today the most arduOu
work of men who are laborng Il
make themselves equal to the posi-.
tion in which they are placed is the
getting and economiZiDg OF knowl-
edge, and of such knowledge as theil
duties aud a liberal career require.
The demands imposed upon those
who, by selection OF nature o. the ap.
pointment of their fellows, are chosen
for a particular work ale usually not
only precise, they are prOdigious al
most to oppression. For, in the gen.
eral progress of things, with the in-
creased scope of the individual, the
fields of knowledge, and the opera
tions of men are coDverging more and
more into one universal plane; and
these make a broad intelligence and
a vast effort incumbent on such as are
called to direct in any specific course.
This is no more the old world, and
composed of the immeusities and mys-
teries of the unknown. 1t has been
almost wholly traversed and explored;
the surfaces above water are nearly
allotted and possessed, and not only
for the scientist is there no new coun-
try left TO discover, also, as Bismarck
has pathetically complained, there is
nothing left TO annex. Sphere is
drawn to sphere, and by the magnifi-
cent acts of steam, and the still voice
OF the electric current, the distances
between lands are annulled. And
what do we behold today? The wheat
broker in New York, sitting leisurely
over breakfast, asks for the "Opening
prices on Mark Lane before be wires
his agent the values of grain beyond
the Mississippi. And by this binding
together of the peoples OF the globe with
the cord of universal knowledge each
nation is brought into com petition, as
well as into bond, with its neighuor,
and that country, as likewise the indi
vidual who fails to act upon this union
OF conditions - who neglects to in
quire and to know, must soon be re-
legated to the train of defunct things
which progress is leaving behind.
We, however, are considering the
subject of agricultural inquiry, aud
for the present shall leave aside the
matters of more universal concern and
attention upon the inter
ests of the farm.
Away back in the shade of the pres
ent generation the possibilities and
modes Of the tillers of the soil were of
another order than those of today.
Then the agriculture was what the
Germans call natural culture (ndtur
The land was ploughed
and sowD, the harvest was gathered,
and only the refuse of one crop was
known of as a means of fertilization
for the following. The magic power
of the artificial fertilizer had not yet
the intensive culture of
the present. In those days there were
few journals of agriculture and no sta
ton bulletins. The magnates of the
land exchanged experiences in the
Of estates during the
season Of visits and social interchange,
and the farmers talked of crops and of
cattle on market days or under the
shade by the church on Sundays.
But, Mr.. President, We will not dis
miss, with brief definition, the peri |
Od OF a generation ago. Let us recol- |
Iect the native intelligence and force |
which imbued the enterprises that
arose in agriculture several decades /
ago; and also consider their relation |
10 the movements of today. Today |
We hear of stations and experimental
ion, and most fortunate it is for the |
world that we do. But |
we're there no experimenters, and was
here no experimentation those de-
,ades ago? Each individual farmer
who applied his observation to note
he visible variations in his land, aud
he kinds of crops adapted to those
the men who first called
attention to the breeds which produce
milk, and those which make beef; and
others who blended their flocks both
or wool and for mutton, those were
he experimenters of generation
'go. Those years ago experimental
ion was not corporate; it was indi-
'idual, and every man who produced
fresh variety, or established. a new
ross, was an experimenter aud a
lemonstrator Of object lessons to all
throughout his owu and other lands.
Whence came the varieties of corn, of
ooscco and of cotton? And who were
he originators of Shorthorns, of
and the horses OF Ken
ucky? Those individual experiment.
rs, who were men of vast native
ense, and moved by magnificent
and enthusiasm. AS a boy,
n England, one of h,y greatest de- |
lghts was to go with my father to the :
nnual sales of the Booth and Bates !
and of Oxford and Shrop.
biredown sheep. And when heard .
he auctioneer knocking DOWN. the ]
ales to purchasers from Germany, I
lew England and Japan, I wondered [
'ho could be so great as the founders I
those breeds which were being dis !
ibuted throughout most OF the coun- :
les Of the globe. b