The progressive farmer., 1899-11-07
SCIENTIFIC FARMING.


called scientific farming" by which
they mean farming as taught by the
colleges and experiment stations and
agricultural papers, says WalIace's
Farmer. They do not regard it as prac-
tical. There is, perhaps, some ground
for the prejudice. Some of the work
done at colleges and experiment sta
tions is on too limited scale to estab-
lish facts. Some Of the conclusions
drawn theretrom will not apply to
farming under existing farm condi-
tions. Much of the teaching of some
agricultural papers, which are simply
business enterprises conducted by men
with no practical knowledge, is worth
less, some Of it because it is imprac-
tical and most Of it in this class of agri
cultural papers consists of the mere
commonplaces of agriculture the undi
gested knowledge that it is the com.
mon heritage of farmers the country
over. This much of the prejudice is
reasonable, but back of it all there is
the underlined and unspoken feeling
that farming is matter of luck and
weather, and that it is at most empiri
cal; that is, that the facts can be dis
covered only by experience and are not
governed by we'll known laws. To
show that there is no reason for this
prejudice is the object of this article.
What is science, and what is scien-
tific farming3 Science, according to
Webster, is comprehensive informa.
tion," knowledge" ''ascertained
TRUTH" specifically, knowledge duly
arranged and referred to general truth
and principles on which it is founded,
and from which it is derived" ''Sci
ence is applied or pure. Applied science
is knowledge Of facts, events, or phe-
nomene, as explained, accounted for,
or produced by means of powers, causes
or laws" Science is a systematic
and orderly arrangement OF knowl-
edge" Scientific farming is the science
Or definite knowledge Of agricultural
principles applied to agricultural oper
ations. To illustrates: Farmers often
use the following or similar maxims-
'Oats is the best summer feed for a
horse" ''corn is the best feed for fat
tening hogs;" ''skim milk makes the
pigs grow" 1.-The best looking cale is
the one that runs with the dam;"
''snap corn and clover hay tattens the
steer;" 1.-The COW gives the most milk
on June grass" All these are facts
recognized by farmers universally.
How were they aec8rtained7 By long
experience and observation reaching
over scores and even hundreds of years.
They are the final conclusions of farm
ers on these various points. AS held
by most farmers, they are not science,
but isolated facts which it has cost
farmers immense sums to demonstrate.
After trying every possible way in
handling the different animals, they
have come to these fixed conclusions.
They are correct.
The scientific man simply takes
facts, classifies, arranges and as
certains the why. He analyzes the
animal and finds that the body is com
posed of water, ash, nitrogen or flesh
forming elements, fat or the stored
fuel, and carbohydrates or the fuel and
force elements. He Analysis the grains
and finds that they contain the same
elements in varying proportions. He
discovers that the horse hard at work
wastes muscle rapidly, and that oats
has the propsr proportion of fuel and
muscle elements to give the horse
energy and repair the waste OF muscle.
He shows the farmer why oats is the
preferred food for horses. He shows
why corn is the preferred food for fat
tening hogs, the object in that case be-
ing to interlard the muscles and cover
the frame with fat, and hence he points
out corn as the proper food, He does
the same with all the grasses and
grains. He calculates the amount Of
the various kinds Of food or OF any
given kind of fooo necessary to sustain
the animal at it's present weight, which
he calls the food of support. He an
alyzas the cows milk and compares it
with the requirements of the growing
calt. In other words, he takes all this
mass OF knowledge acquired by long
experience, analy zes it, arranges it,
and from this deduc9s certain laws
the feeding of animals. Give
him a new feed o. which he never
heard before and he will indicate quite
clearly its value for each and every
kind of stock. If he is real scientist,
be will not rely on his analysis exclu-