Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1911. SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10169, 20 February 1911, Page 4

Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1911. SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE.

We make no excuse for reverting to 1 the subject of scientific agriculture—a subject briefly touched upon by Lord Islington in the course of his recent address in Masterton—because it is the one study winch, more ithan any other, is neglected in this country. Lie'big, the German scientist, j stated not ,so long ago (that "Perfect I agriculture is the true foundation of (the riches of States."- The truth of this statement is being more fully ap_ predated every year in the older countries where the services of the chemist, the geologist and the bacteriologist are employed in the development of modern agriculture. Scores of men are giving their services to Hvliat Harwood, in his eminently practical work, describes a« "the New Earth." The most important study of all is that of the soil, the fundamental factor in all the varied lines of life that branch put from tire main trunk of*agriculture. How to conserve this soil, how to restore it to life when dead, what it is composed of, how it is found, how to interpret it, so to speak, so that any man may understand it—these have been, and still are, among the problems presented. It is only by a scientific study of the soil that farmers may know what to do, or what not to do, that the broad acres may be 'brought up to their highest- productivity; Thousands aw? WWusands of pounds are being lost annually to this country—the most fertile' and resourceful on the face of the globe—because the soil is not heing used to its best advantage.: Experiments have been made from" time to time; but these at the best: are only temporary devices for improving the condition of farming.

They make no provision for the everrecurring changes produced by the influence of the atmosphere and the climate upon the soil. The only true test of the capacity of soil is to be determined by chemical analysis. What is urgently required in this Dominion, therefore, is a wellequipped scientific college, where young men could be taught the con stituents of the soil; the elements required- to create fertility; the effect of water in the formation of plant life; the process of elimination as well as of creation. It has been demonstrated that there are only twelve of the seventy elements in the earth's crust which are essential to agriculture, while only four of the twelve—nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and calcium—are liable to be lacking in any given soil. They are the fundamental quartette without which there is no harmony 'in agriculture. By chemical analyses alone can it be determined whether any of the chief parts in the general harmony are below pitch, or are lacking, altogether; or. whether the soil contains injurious materials, such as acid or strong alkaline substance. The "great agricultural centre" which Lord Islington had in viewwas probably a college at which there is a well-equipped chemical laboratory, in charge of scientific chemists of repute, where farmers' sons could learn the elements of the soil and re-. ceive. practioal..demonstrations in its treatment. . It. is .ihe-. existence -of these colleges. wfoich has enabled the United States,, and Canada, and other countries to revolutionize agriculture. And it is the want of such a college which is causing agricul- i ture in New Zealand to languish. In conversation with a representative, of the Age, Lord Islington stated that New Zealand was-the only part of the British Empire which did not< possess a scientific agricultural college. Is it not time, therefore, that our A. and P. Associations, and our Farmers' Unions, brought pressure to bear upon the representatives of the people to-.have this reproach removed ? What is wanted is a college in each Island—not possessing an agricultural bias such as the Minister of Education suggests, but agricultural in every sense of the term. A year or two back the member for Wairarapa offered a farm to the Agricultural Department. Presumably that offer is still open. Why should the' Minister for Education not join with the Minister for AgricultureMn availing himself of this offer, with a view to providing an agricultural college which would be open to students from all parts of the North Is-' land?