190 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



istiy. It is the play of vital forces wliicli converts these chem- 

 ical elements into their peculiar forms, and gives them their 

 peculiar characteristics. Hence it is, that the roots of ,g;i-ow- 

 ing plants have a chemistry of their own, which puts at tlcfi- 

 ance, in some sort, the synthetical laws of general chemistry, 

 which renders it impossible that such specific rules and direc- 

 tions should be given to direct agricultural operations, as a sci- 

 entific matter, as we have in general chemistry. We cannot 

 tell the farmer to put together such a proportion of potash, 

 soda, lime, magnesia, oxide of iron, phosphoric acid, sulphuric 

 acid, silica and chlorine, and the result will be wheat ; and with 

 such and such variations, barley ; and such others, oats ; and 

 so on to the end of the chapter. There is and can be no such 

 dcfiniteness in the instructions of Organic Chemistry as this ; 

 no such mere mechanical manipulations, to secure specific results, 

 as obtain in general chemistry. Why ? Simply for the reason 

 before assigned, that the results sought are not secured by mere 

 chemical laws ; but by the agency of that intangible, unknown 

 something we call life, or vital force. It is this which deter- 

 mines the whole matter, not in contravention or defiance of the 

 laws of chemical science, but in concurrence with them. It is 

 an agency superadded to them. Hence, all we can expect of 

 science is to explain the rationale of the phenomena we wit- 

 ness, and suggest new and varied means to secure the ends of 

 agriculture, adapted to the varied localities where men live and 

 the circumstances under which they find themselves. It can tell 

 lis the substances which must be found in our soil, and the pro- 

 portions of these indispensable to their highest fertilit}', and 

 the most successful cultivation of specific crops; the sources 

 from which any deficiencies we may discover, may the most 

 readily and economically be supplied; and suggest the mode or 

 form of their application, which will render them the most ef- 

 fectual ; all of which must be tested by experiment. All wo 

 can do is, to adapt our soils to these conditions as near as may 

 be, and wait for the vital forces to work out, in their own way, 

 the result. 



Hence it will be seen, the great thing to be expected of sci- 

 ence is, to reveal to us the facts and explain the causes of the 

 phenomena we witness in our agricultural operations, so that 



