No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 227 



its proper name and mark, every one must agree that it should not 

 be allowed to replace the product of the cow. Chemistry also pro- 

 tects the honest milkman from the man who buys old milk and pre- 

 serves it in a like case. There are also many other kinds of adul- 

 terations which time does not permit me to mention. 



The farmer has another class of enemies from whom the chemist 

 tries to protect him. It is the insects which infest his trees, vege- 

 tables, seeds, etc., which must be killed. The scale and fungus 

 growths must be combatted. For all of these the chemist has been 

 trying to find a remedy and in most cases has succeeded if the cure 

 is properly applied. 



THE REIGN OF LAW. 



The highest service which chemistry is doing for the farm, is 

 to make the farmer realize that he and the growth and development 

 of all things on the farm, are under the reign of law. There is no 

 such thing as chance or luck. Often when a man loses a crop or an 

 animal, because he contravenes the laws of nature, he says he had 

 bad luck, or lays it to Providence, but he must learn that his ver- 

 dict is no more just than of the Texas coroner's jury who sat on 

 the case of the cow-boy who committed suicide and who had many 

 friends who thought suicide a disgrace. The cow-boy, after nearly 

 killing himself with drink, took a half ounce of arsenic, swallowed 

 an ounce of laudanum, opened his arteries with a razor, and sitting 

 on the window gill, put a bullet through his heart and fell five stories 

 to the flag-stones belfiw, breaking his neck. The jury, out of re- 

 spect, brought in the verdict, "Died by the intervention of Provi- 

 dence." 



The farmer must realize that he is living in a world governed by 

 law, and when he follows the law, all goes well, but when he follows 

 his own ideas, that does not change the law. Luck and the moon, 

 and all the other signs will be of no avail to the man who does not 

 think. The lively discussion which followed the learned papers of 

 Professors Duvel and Harshberger last night, show that in this 

 audience there are many who have been thinking, and the greatest 

 service that the chemist can do for the farmer, is to help him solve 

 the problems which thinking will call forth. 



A Member: Mr. Chairman, in our locality we have been feeding 

 gluten meal and some farmers claim that it pays to sell their corn 

 and buy the gluten meal. I would like to ask Prof. Owens what he 

 thinks of that. 



PKOF. OWENS: That w^ould depend entirely upon the price of 

 the two; it is necessary for the dairy to keep supplied with a cer- 

 tain amount of protein and by working out that equation, it is pos- 

 sible to determine the question. You must take into account not 

 only the value of the materials, but also take into account that 

 certain feeds do not agree with meal when fed in excess, but leav- 

 ing that out of the question, it is possible to determine exactly how 

 much of any given compound ought to be fed to cattle to produce 

 the best results. It would be impossible to say offhand whether it 

 would be best to sell the corn and feed the gluten meal, or to feed 

 the corn. 



