SUMMER MEETING. 65 



Horticultural Geology. 



Edwin Walters, Kansas City, Mo. 



Inside of certain limits, the application of the principles of chem- 

 istry to agriculture and horticulture gives satisfactory results. Not- 

 withstanding the sneering at "book farming," applied chemistry has 

 worked a gradual change in the methods employed by the orchardist, 

 the florist and the farmer. Yet it must be admitted that failures some- 

 times occur when, apparently, the most scientitic methods have been 

 employed. For instance, chemistry may determine that a certain soil 

 is adapted to a particular crop, but experience may demonstrate that 

 the adaptation is at best but partial. Such a demonstration is a great 

 disappointment to the one who desires to walk in the light of science. 

 Every failure of this kind affords the croaker and old fogy another 

 weapon with which to fight " book farming." 



The young physician starts in the pursuit of his noble profession 

 with the full determination to perfect himself, as near as possible, in 

 the healing art. If he is guided by the experience of others, the 

 chances are he will attain a high place in the profession. But let us 

 suppose he is ambitious to " treat the sick on scientific principles." 

 He may make a correct diagnosis of a given case. Let us suppose it 

 is albuminuria. The patient is rapidly declining from a waste of phos- 

 phates. Science indicates phosphates as the treatment. Phosphoric 

 acid is given and the waste is increased in proportion to the amount of 

 the drug that is administered. The remedy is not assimilated. Herein 

 lies the great difiBculty. So it is in the employment of methods in 

 agriculture aud horticulture. A fertilizer may be applied to supply a 

 known deficiency in the soil, and failure may result. This failure may 

 be caused by the use of more than growing plants can assimilate. The 

 quantity being in excess, the very element in the fertilizer that the soil 

 requires may become a poison — a bane — to the growing crop, rather 

 than a food and stimulant. The quantity is too great for proper assimi- 

 lation. The quantity in its maximum and minimum must be determined 

 by actual experiment. Temperature and humidity of the atmosphere, 

 together with the amount of moisture in the soil and its other physi- 

 cal conditions, enter as important factors, and must be as closely con- 

 sidered as is its chemical composition. 



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