The work of a shy, studious bachelor in his early 50s, the book ran to almost 1,100 pages. It was “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations,” by Scottish polymath Adam Smith.

No matter how you look at it, this data exhibits a strong effect due to the blocks (F-test p < 0.0001) and no significant interaction between treatments and blocks (F-test p > 0.7). But the lack of ...