602 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



first time in its scientific aspects from the standpoint of agriculture. 

 It was a product of individual work in a comparatively new lield 

 and Avith meager facilities. The studies on which it was based were 

 made with the aid of a secondhand microscope which he purchased 

 for a few dollars. The book was well received and the edition was 

 soon exhausted but was never revised, despite many requests for a 

 new edition. Kiihn continued his studies in that field throughout 

 his career, and only a few years before his death took up the prepara- 

 tion of a revision of his book, which appears not to have been 

 completed. 



Following a semester as privat-docent in the agricultural academy 

 at Proskau, Kiihn became m'anager of a large estate in lower Silesia 

 in 1857, where he remained for five years. It was during this period 

 that his widely-known treatise on cattle feeding was written. A 

 l^rize was otFered through the Silesian Agricultural Society for the 

 best treatise on some phase of agriculture. This prize was awarded 

 in 1859 to Julius Kiihn for his essay on cattle feeding,"^ which was 

 first published in 18G1. This was a blending of the scientific prin- 

 cijDles which had been developed at that time with the skill and 

 judgment of the feeder. Kiihn demurred at the attempt to make 

 animal feeding on the basis of fixed standards which had been ad- 

 vanced by (jrouven a matter of a2)plied mathematics, and adopted 

 for his book the now famous motto " the eye of the master fattens 

 his stock,'' a doctrine which finds much endorsement among jjoth 

 practical feeders and investigators at the present day. 



The preparation of this book illustrates the characteristics of the 

 man. The sixty draAvings contained in the first edition were all of 

 them original, and many made from microscopic preparations. In 

 referring to these in the preface the author takes occasion to impress 

 upon young men the importance of individual effort — of independ- 

 ent seeing and reasoning. In the twelve editions through which 

 this book has passed the scheme of treatment as shown b}^ the table 

 of contents has not changed. The chapter headings and subdivisions 

 remain the same, but successive revisions have incorporated in the text 

 the progress made in the subject as recognized by the author. The 

 new matter added has made the later editions fully twice the size of 

 the original essay. 



In 1862 Kiihn received a call to the chair of agriculture in the 

 University of Halle. He w^as then thirty-seven years old, and his 

 studies and his wide and successful practical career had made him 

 exceptionally well fitted for such a position. Moreover, he had de- 

 veloped a keen interest in higher agricultural education, and was am- 

 bitious for connection with an institution which would give him 



° Die zweckmassigste Erniihruug des Rindvielies. 



