PRACTICE WITH SCIENCE IN AGRICULTURE.* IT has frequently been said
that Agriculture is an art, not a science ; and Mr. Lloyd, in the first sentence of his introductory chapter, says, " Agriculture is an Art." But there are principles derived from various sciences underlying the practice of Agriculture which, in their collective form, may properly be termed the science of agriculture. " With the development of every art," Mr•. Lloyd explains, " practice alone has preceded all principles ; " but, he adds; " with the gradual development of the latter out of the former, there has arisen the more thorough and practical method of first studying the principles, and then putting them into practice." Professor Tanner, in his Elementary Lessons in the Science of Agricultural Practice, defines agricultural science as " scientific truths taught by the practice of agriculture." This is, perhaps, somewhat too modest a claim on behalf of science, as many of the discoveries which have been applied to the advancement of agriculture have arisen from observation and reasoning, unaided by practice in the first instance, though subsequently accredited by it. For instance, the value of artificial manure was first recognised by scientific men, and only slowly, after much derision, admitted by men of practice. Yet it must be admitted that most of the scientific practice now in vogue originated in empirie custom or accidental discovery. Guano was used as manure centuries ago in Peru, long before its constituents were discovered by chemical analysis; and bones were applied to the pastures of Cheshire at the beginning of the present century, although it was not then known that their value consisted in the phosphate of lime they contain, a constituent of the soil exhausted by the constant production of milk and bone in dairy-cattle. But Professor Tanner fully sustains the claim of agricultural science to respect, when, after pointing out that the sciences of chemistry, botany, geology, and physiology are each and all of great value to the farmer, he adds :—`• They are, in fact, a series of detached agencies, which require to be brought into concerted action ; and the only means by which this can be accomplished for the advantage of the farmer is by the aid of agricultural science."
The ignorant scorn of agricultural science among farmers is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. It still exists, no doubt, to a considerable extent ; but we think Mr. Lloyd makes too much of it when ho says :—" A generally accepted notion is abroad that there is little for the farmer to learn away from the field, either in lecture-room or text-book." Agricultural science classes have now been established in many country towns and villages, as well as in London, and in most educational centres of any considerable importance. The book before us is mainly a reproduction of lectures delivered at King's College ; and the Science and Arts Department and the Institute of Agriculture both of them train teachers in elementary and other schools to become instructors in the science of agriculture. During the past ten years,
too, a number of excellent a;r•icultural -text-books have been published, chiefly for use in schools, but also circulating extensively among the rising generation of farmers. In this connection, moreover, it is to be remarked that it is not farmers alone who are to be blamed for the slow progress of scientific agriculture. If the'farmer needs science with his practice, the professor no less needs practice with his science. Unfortunately, the scientific teachers of past generations were too dogmatic and absolute in the propagation of their theories, which were often brought into contempt by failure when applied. It is only in modern times that such practical teachers as Sir John Lazes and Dr. Voeleker have arisen to test their theories in the field, the feeding-stall, and the dairy, before presenting them to the public as ascertained facts.
It is strange that the most ancient and the most important pursuit of mankind should have been one of the latest to• receive the benefit of scientific investigation. " If we go back in the history of agriculture some fifty years," Mr. Lloyd observes, "we come to a time when chemistry and physiology were comparatively in their childhood, and had neither come to the help of practical agriculture nor thrown any light upon the multitude of scientific problems which it presented." During that period, however, and especially during the latter half of it, these sciences have made great progress, and their effect upon agricultural practice has been very striking. To quote Mr. Lloyd again, "they have helped the farmer to overcome difficulties formerly insurmountable, enabling previously barren soils to prove fertile by the use of artificial manures, and livestock to reach maturity in incredibly short periods by the use of artificial feeding-stuffs." There is only one objection to make to this representation of the case, and that is to the use of the term " artificial." The earlier maturity of our cattle, sheep, and pigs has been attained by means of wise selection in breeding, and by a discriminating selection and administration of food. Cattle-cakes composed of single ingredients, such as linseed, cotton-seed, or rape, can scarcely be termed " artificial ;" and we doubt whether the stimulating mixtures and spices, now so plentifully sold, have been, on the whole, advantageous to the grazier. Too commonly he pays very dearly for the nutriment which they contain.
There is no department of farming in which agricultural science is not of immense value to the farmer. It teaches him the character of soils, shows why some soils should be ploughed and turned-up deeply and others not, and tells him in what elements of fertility his land is deficient, and how most economically to supply them. It teaches him not only how to usemanures, but how to buy them without being cheated. It explains to him the value and habits of various grasses, and shows how superior sorts may be encouraged and inferior varieties extirpated, by feeding the first and starving the second. It tells him, too, what ar•e the constituents of meat, and how these can be most cheaply supplied.
Mr. Lloyd's book might be made one of the best of its kind for agricultural students, if he would carefully revise it, and correct some errors and inaccuracies which are to be found here and there in it. A scientific treatise, to be a safe guide to students, should be exact, so far as the present state of knowledge goes ; and we cannot say that Mr•. Lloyd is always to be trusted. A great many of the books on farming recently issued have been written by mere bookmakers,—writers who have a mere smattering of agricultural science, and no experience in farming at all. For• whom such books are written, or who are their readers, if they have any, we cannot imagine. Agriculturists would simply laugh at the frequent mistakes of their authors ; and no student of the science of agriculture would think of studying a book not written by a competent authority. As already remarked, several excellent handbooks for schools, written by well-known men, have recently been brought out. They are excellent for their purpose; but there is room for Mr. Lloyd's book, which is intended for readers who do not require to be taught quite as young children are. Nevertheless, the author leaves very little unexplained, his style is particularly lucid, and his work is fairly comprehensive. He deals with the origin, composition, physical properties, classification, improvement, and cultivation of soils ; with manures of various kinds and their profitable application, with the chemistry and physiology of plant life, with seed, the rotation and treatment of crops, and permanent pasture ; with the chemistry and physiology of animal life, with the rearing andinanagement of live-stock, and with dairy management and produce.
In the practice of agriculture the author does not pre
tend to have had much experience. He has availed himself of such opportunities as have been possible to him for studying agriculture in the field and the homestead ; and he acknowledges valuable assistance received from the manager of the Royal Agricultural Society's Experimental Farm at Woburn. Skilled farmers will notice a few mistakes in the cbapters which deal with the details of farming, and statements and advice are occasionally put forward without the necessary qualifications ; but, on the whole, Mr. Lloyd has been fairly successful in avoiding the pitfalls always open to one who dogmatises upon the diverse and intricate subjects embraced in his treatise. The chapters on "The Management of Livestock " and " The Dairy," are, perhaps, the least valuable in the book. The important subject of ensilage is very insufficiently and, indeed, flippantly noticed. Evidently Mr. Lloyd does not understand the advantages of the system, especially on heavy land, where root-growing is costly, and has other disadvantages. When he says that, besides maize, which, he thinks, cannot be grown here with certainty, " there are few crops grown capable of being utilised by ensilage except cabbages and tares," he lays himself open to the charge of writing on a subject that he knows very little about. Cabbages are about as ill-fitted for ensilage as any crop that is grown, and tares are very difficult to deal with in the silo, though susceptible of proper treatment. Rye, trifolium, ryegrass, lucern, red clover, and spnrrey have all been successfully ensiled. If Mr. Lloyd should have to issue a second edition of his book, we have no doubt that he will see the desirability of treating ensilage at much greater length than it is dealt with in the present edition of his work, and with much more consideration for the manifold advantages of the system. At the same time, he may be advised to supplement his very meagre lists of the principal varieties of the cereals. We may also point out to Mr. Lloyd that it is rather the exception than the rule to break-up and clean a one-year's clover layer before ploughing it for wheat, and that it is usual to manure either the clover or the succeeding wheat crop with farmyard manure.
Not to conclude our notice of the book with faultfinding, we may refer to the excellent advice which Mr. Lloyd gives against buying what are termed " special " manures—that is, mixtures supposed to be specially adapted for particular crops. The farmer, in purchasing one of these manures, always buys a pig in a poke, to use a familiar agricultural metaphor ; and he nearly always gives a great deal more for it than it is worth. Agricultural text-books very clearly prescribe the manures suited to each crop, and the farmer can make his own mixtures ; though he should never, as Mr. Lloyd very properly tells him, attempt to manufacture his own artificial manures. Readers will find " The Science of Agriculture" full of useful hints of this kind.
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