New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1910-12-03
THE REAL "THEORIST."

the soil are learning some things
Many of the things they Were sure
a few years ago were not so. they
are now coming to learn are real
~ true. One of these facts. which
the men who do the work on the
farms Of the Soutn are just b.
coming to find ont. is tina; the
man who experiments. tests. meas
ures. weights. etc. has found out
a few facts which they, although
engaged in tiIliIg the soil all Their
lives. had never found out. And
going stl, step further, some
of the tllcrs of the soil are be
ginning to realize that some of
ihese facts. which the "theoreti-
cal' fellows have found out. are
of real value to the farmer.
OF course. there is still the fcl-
low who allows prejudice instead
Of reason to shape his conduct and
thoughts. who is still certain that
no man who does not actually do
farm work every day can tell him
about farming that will.
be of service to him. And then.
there is the other fellow who is too
narrow and conceited to be able
to see how any man who can not
plow or hoe better than he can, is
possibly able to know more about
any other phase of farming. But
the numbers are increasing and
fortunately increasing rapidly,
who can see and appreciate USE
ful fact and are wiling to take
hold of it and use it to their ad
without asking or caring
who first discovered the fact. or
whether he was man who was
doing farm work or was
'one of those scientists who
Knows nothing of practical farm
ng and never plowed furrow in
lis life
Never having had any school
raining in agriculture, not being
|. graduate Of an agricultural col
ege, nor having had the advant-
.ge of a training in those sciences
which underlie modern agricul
ure. the writer is free to state
hat he sometimes becomes dis
nus ed at the conduct of the men
N the farms towards those who
lave actually discovered and Civ
n to us about al the really great
acts which distinguish the mod
I'm from the o,d-t me agriculture.
hose who are doing the actual
york on the farms call themselves
PRACTICAL men, while they con-
emptuously dub the experiment
RS and scientists as theorists.
he terms should be reversed, for
f all the slaves to theory the
armer who sneers at the scien-
ist is the most completely under
prvitude. He takes practically |
i things for granted. He does
OF measure, he estimates; he does
ct we Oh, he guesses; he does not
now or ask the reason why. he
oes things this way or that way
cause others do so, or it has been
is custom.
To whom shall | go to obtain
ccurate and practical. informa-
on regarding the value OF a
seding stuff? To the man who
itehes the hay to his cows and
ives the grain with scoop, who
ever weighs the milk. or makes
Babcock test; or to the man
tho, knowing the chemical CON-
osition of his feeds, weighs every
ound Of hay and grain given the
,ws and weighs the milk, and
determines the butter-fat
y means of the Babcock testi
Which will be best able to tell me
lie amount Of milk and butter
reduced from the various feedsi
''Oh!' says the practical
ian. "but the man who goes to
/ that trouble to weigh and ties
a 'theorist and can not make
oney out of the dairy business.
What difference does it make
you or me whether he makes
onsy out of it or not, if he gives
] the rea. factsi As a matter OF
Ict. however, the experimenter
scientist does not try to make;
oney out Of his work, his OBJ
ct is to find out facts that the
an on the farm may lake and
axe money out of them.
By the way, who was it. the
'actical dairyman working hard ]
his routine work, or the chem