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280    WISCONSIN STATE AGRiCULTURAL SOCIETY. 
statesmanship in managing the affairs of a nation. When 
Abraham Lincoln had reached the age at which scholars 
generally graduate from highest universities, he could 
barely read, write, and cipher as far as the rule of three. 
Who will claim that he would have been a stronger or abler 
pilot to guide the nation through the terrible storm of rebel- 
lion which shook our government from foundation to ridge 
tree if his earlier life had been passed in colleges and uni- 
versitieß instead of gaining a kno'wledge of men and expe- 
rience in the rough and unlettered surroundings which 
developed the strong man and the great statesman fitted to 
guide a great nation in its times of danger. 
As Tennyson said, in view of his extensive acquaintance 
with <Simon Wrongless" an,1 <double fists," men who had 
takeh the highest honors in the Enclish universities, "knowl- 
edge comes but ivisdom lingers" f t'om a training in colleges 
and universities. 
It is probable that the mixed system proposed of part 
study and part manual labor is the worst that could possibly 
be devised. There is to be enough manual labor to interrupt 
study, but so little as to prevent the formation of, or 'destroy 
if already formed, the habits of steady continuous labor 
necessary to success in any industrial calling. 
In my judgment we had better tuake haste very slowly 
in embarking in the enterprise of an extensive and costly 
school for the teaching of agriculture. 
SCIENCE IN AGRICULTURE. 
BY C. R. BE.CH, Whitewater, Wis. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: I am here by the 
invitation of your secretary, and my subject is, <Science in 
Agriculture, and how the farmers of Wisconsin can best 
secure its benefits." Were slang phrases allowable before 
this dignified assembly, I should probably say that 1 was 
wel aware that I had bitten off möre than I can chew, but 
if you will pardon my egotism for a few moments I will tell 
you how I came to do it.