Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 August 1874 — Scientific Men. [ARTICLE]

Scientific Men.

Scientific men hinder scientific progress because they fail to apply their knowledge to practical use. They are known to the world as learned men; but their knowledge is of little more use than the Yankee side-hill plow was to the Virginia planter whom I met in Lynchburg, Va., under the following circumstances: I saf In the store of a Yankee agricultural implement dealer one hot July day, A tall, swarthy, intelligent-looking gentleman, on horseback, rode up to the .door. He was followed by a four-mule team, attached to a heavy, covered Virginia wagon, driven by a colored man. “ Good afternoon, Col. —t~," said the dealer. “Good evening,” was the response, with an accent indicating irritation. “ What brings you to town so soon Malnf” asked the dealer, who evidently feared something wrong, as he had sold the planter a plow a day or two before Well, sir, I’ve brought that plow back,” was the reply. “Brought the plow back! Why, what alls it? That waa one of my best plows—freezing dignity, “you remember there

was a small piece of iron attached to that plow with a String?’” “ Yes,” was the response. ’ “ Well, sir, I’ll be dog goned if either I or my old man could find a place where it would fit! We tried it every way and could do nothing with it, and so there it is in the wagon. I reckon you had better take it back or give me another-” [The planter had hauled it twenty miles in an empty Wagon, with a four-mule team.] “Why,” said the dealer (and you may imagine there was a broad smile upon his face), “ that was an extra point for you to use when the one now on the plow had worn out." The planter, a graduate of the University of Virginiji, and really a sensible man, saw the point, and allowed he Was a fool. He knew he had a plow, but.be did not know how to use it; so men of science have the implements of usefulness, but too generally fail to use and to teach others how to use them ; and whatever is useless is. valueless; and forthat which is valueless there are no seekers. —Cor. Rural New Yorker.