Chemistry in Relation 'to Agriculture.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 162, 24 July 1886, Page 5

Chemistry in Relation 'to Agriculture.

In the course of a. lecture a graduate of the Mass, Agricultural College, U.S., makes the following sensible remarks :—

One important reason why land cannot be fertilized intelligently is owing to the imperfectly known chemical action of both plant and soil, but: with chemistry as a means we may expect in the hear future a solution of this difficult problem.

Another subject not generally understood! is the effect of certain mineral salts upon the soil. It is a well-known fact that different potash compounds produce widely different results in the quality and quantity of various farm crops, but their mode pf action is a problem which has till recently defied solution. •

Too many agriculturists at the present day are given up to imperfect theorizing. Having obtained a few fact.s from epme poorly conducted experiment where all the' conditions were not controlled, they proceed to generalize and build up <a theory which applies only to their own case. . Liebig says of the true theorist, "he is not the advocate of an opinion j he does not give us, instead of an explanationjthe image which he has formed in his own fancy of a phenomenon or natural process ; but he endeavours to ascertain by observation and experience all thoee conditions which have co-operated to produce the phenomena ; and in the course of his researches, he tests every conclusion at which he ai'rives and everyopinion which guides him, by experiment." Science has not changed the fundamental modes of agriculture, for they are es sentially the same as two thousand years ago, but it has pointed out the underlying principles and has opened many new. fields of investigation. It is not claimed that agricultural chemistry will revolutionize any par lieu jar portion of the art of agriculture, but it is claimed that by its aid the production of field crops may be greatly increased and thus double the profits of the farmer. The function of agricultural chemistry is simply to solve the principles of both plant and animal growth, while the practicr 1 agriculturist must do the rest. The great difficulty experienced in the application of chemistry to agriculture, has been due to the fact that the majority of the farmers of to-day are imperfectly prepared to receive the truths imparted by chemistry, and are thus many years behind the practitioners of other arts.

The chemist should confine himself to purely chemical questions., leaving to the practical agriculturist the application of the results he acquires. If such a course is pursued it seems reasonable to believe that in the not far distant future, agriculture, by the aid of chemistry, will reach such perfections that instead of being looked down upon as an occupation, it shall take its proper position among the professions.