as much about it as any one, and can tell at least how it ought to be
done.

Theoretical farming is always very fine--more so than any other calling.
Very few believe in theory in other branches in business. As a rule, to
be successful in other occupations, a long training is necessary; step
by step must one go until each detail is learned. And it is only by
industry, experience, and hard work that these are fully mastered.
Advice is offered sparingly, because it is known that experience is the
only true guide. But in farming theories are supposed to take the place
of experience, and men who have very little, if any, practical knowledge
can tell us how to farm. The fact is there is hardly a business or
occupation that practically requires more study and experience than
farming. A practical farmer, who makes his farm and farm work a study,
learns something every day, and unless he is willing to learn not only
by his own experience, but by that of others, he will soon discover that
he is falling behind.

Such a man is able to discriminate between the practical experience of
one and the theory of the other. If new plans or new methods are
presented, he can, in some degree, judge whether they are in any way
practical, and if they are, he is willing to give them a trial. He knows
that what might prove just the right thing to plant in one section of
country, under certain conditions, and in some soils would, under a
different climate and soil, result far from satisfactory. The large per
cent of this kind of real practical knowledge can only be gained by
experience.

Whenever we meet a man who will not learn, we can not help but conclude
that he will never make a successful farmer. We want to learn, too, not
only by our successes, but by our failures. If we try a new plan and
fail, we want to be able to know why we failed--just as much as to know
why we succeeded.

One great trouble with us in learning is that we are too apt to keep in
mind our successes and forget the failures. This is the great fault of
theoretical farming. If by a combination of favorable conditions success
is obtained, it is given out as a fact--no exception being given or
allowed for the very favorable conditions under which the method was
tried. Such things may rightly be compared to the many specifics given
to cure the various ills of life. A remedy is tried which, under
favorable conditions, effects a cure, and forthwith the cure is given
out as