658 .Agricultural Gazette of N.S.ir. [^?/.^. 3, 1908. 



or bookworm is becoming a thing of the past, and the man who hmdly boasts 

 about his piactical knowledge is beginning to he hiokcd u|)on as being 

 mentally iudoli'iit 'and attempting to hide liis ignorance under pretence of 

 superior experience. The valuable services science has rendered agricultui'e 

 are, however, scarcely realis3d yet by most people. 



Farming is as old as history, and, for the matter of that, science also, but 

 its universal application to agriculture dates back oidy a few decades. All 

 applied sciences contribute their quota to make agriculture and its adjuncts 

 more profitable now than in former times. Chemistry, pathology, physics, 

 metallurgy, medicine, botany, entomology, meteorology, bacteriology con- 

 tribute their share. It may be worth while to select a few items which have 

 prominently benefited agriculture, and proved the devotees to science practical 

 men par excellence. 



Liebig, fifty years ago, invented superphosphate, and laid tlie fouiulation 

 of the present universal use of artificial manures. Investigations into the 

 chemical constitution of plants determined their food requirements and laid 

 the basis of rational manuring, and led to the utilisation of many waste products 

 for that purpose. Chemistry has in other ways much enhanced agriculture, 

 and is, without doubt, the science which has influenced modern agriculture 

 to a greater extent than any of the others. The dairymen throughout the 

 world have to thank the bacteriologist for many advantages ; and but for 

 Lavall, the physicist, thinking out the separator in his laboratory, dairying 

 would not be profitable in warm climates. Between the botanist and the 

 pathologist means were found to produce rust-resisting wheats, besides 

 . ameliorating other plant diseases. By studying the life history of insects the 

 entomologists have found proper Avays of suppressing or checking insect pests. 

 The improved knowledge of the metallurgist made it possible to produce 

 cheaper steel and other metals, and thereby cheapened and improved farm 

 implements and machinery. When in the sixties of last century a disease 

 broke out amongst the silkworms in Southern France, killing every caterpillar 

 wherever it made its appearance, and I'apidly spreading through almost every 

 establishment for the rearing of silkworms, thereby bringing thousands of 

 silkworm rearers to the brink of starvation, and jeopardising the whole silk 

 industry which gave employment to several millions of people, ii" was science 

 that came to their rescue through the medium of the great Pasteur. By the 

 attenuated virus of anthrax, discovered also by Pasteur, the means of prevent- 

 ing that terrible disease was disclosed, and thereby Australia has benefited 

 to an enormous extent. Many other similar instances might be (juoted in 

 which agriculture has benefited bv scientific research. 



o 



Bacteria. 



From the fact that a nund)er of bacteria are disease-producing in man. 

 beast, and birds and plants, the whole tribe of these minute plants have 

 acquired a detestable reputation in popular opinion. Such a general con- 

 demnatory opinion thoy do not, however, deserve. The mischievous bacteria 



