344 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Professor Goessmann submitted a paper upon the chem- 

 istry of fruit-culture, prepared by himself and Professor S. 

 T. Maynard, including a statement of experiments made at 

 the Massachusetts Agricultural College at Amherst, as fol- 

 lows : — 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE CHEMISTRY OF FRUIT-CULTURE. 



Br PROFESSORS C. A. GOESSMANN AND S. T. MAYNARD OF THE MASSA- 

 CHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



Whether a systematic and rational manuring of our fruit- 

 bearing plants is essential to the continued production of 

 good crops is a question worthy of careful attention. It 

 seems reasonable to assume that the practice which has 

 been recognized as indispensable to success in general agri- 

 culture ought to apply with equal force to operations in 

 fruit-culture and horticulture in general. 



Rational modern agriculture bases its claim of superior 

 progress, as compared with that of former times, on the 

 recognition and the application of the principle that it is 

 essential for its continued success to return to the soil those 

 substances which the crops take out of it. It has been one 

 of the principal aims of numerous scientific investigators of 

 agricultural problems during the past thirty years to prove 

 the existence of these relations, and to study how to comply 

 with their requirements in an economical manner. Most o^ 

 our common farm-crops have received an undivided and 

 careful attention from the beginning ; their composition has 

 been ascertained, and their action on the soil thereby estab- 

 lished. In many instances their peculiar growth has been 

 studied to learn in what form the various manures are best 

 applied on different kinds of soil. 



No one familiar with the results of recent investigations 

 can fail to notice their extraordinary influence on the prog- 

 ress and improvement of farm practice. The same claim 

 cannot be made with reference to fruit-culture and horticul- 

 ture. Experiment-stations for the benefit of these branches 

 of agriculture are but few, and these, in a majority of 

 instances, are of very recent date. Superior skill and 

 intelligence have been devoted to the promotion of their 

 interests from an exclusively botanical stand-point; while 



