710 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



M. H. Buckham, J. H. Canfield, and W. I. Chamberlain agreed with 

 the previous speaker that religious instruction might be safely left to the 

 church and the home. The subject was further discussed by A. B. 

 Peebles and J. E. Stubbs, the latter holding that the State colleges in 

 the far West in nouchurch going localities needed the influence of the 

 church, and that the different denominations should plant church organ- 

 izations and auxiliary colleges in the vicinity of such institutions and 

 enable the students to have direct religions culture under the direction 

 of their own church. 



SECTION ON AGRICULTURE AND CHEMISTRY. 



In the section on agriculture and chemistry the first paper was sub- 

 mitted by W. I. Chamberlain. The subject of this paper was Becent 

 investigations, together with former experiments, on the relation both 

 of commercial fertilizers and of clover to wheat growing in Ohio. 1 In 

 it the author quotes statistics which he believes tend to show that there 

 has been a relative decline in clover growing and an increase in the 

 acreage and yield of wheat in Ohio. This increased production of wheat 

 he believes to be due largely to a more liberal use of commercial ferti- 

 lizers. The direct purchase of unmixed fertilizing materials for cash at 

 wholesale is considered impracticable as a rule, although sound in theory. 

 He stated that in his opinion the attitude of some of the experiment 

 stations has seemed to be antagonistic to fertilizers, and that he deplored 

 this state of affairs. 



This paper provoked a lively discussion of the relation of the experi- 

 ment stations to the fertilizer business. W. Frear maintained that in 

 those States where the purchase of fertilizers is an important factor in 

 farm expenditures the stations should aid the farmer in the intelligent 

 purchase and application of fertilizers. He believed this to be the 

 attitude assumed by most of the experiment stations, and that the 

 position needed no defense. W. H. Jordan stated that while he recog- 

 nized that there are manufacturers and agents who stand on as sound 

 and dignified a basis in what they say and do as any other class of men, 

 he was personally cognizant of methods and arguments in vogue which 

 made it incumbent upon the experiment stations of his State to secure 

 better methods of trade than those now prevailing; and he believed the 

 New York Station or any station in the Eastern States — he could not 

 speak as to the West — could do for the farmers no better service than 

 to point out to them more efficient and economic methods of purchasing- 

 plant food. The attitude of the stations had been not so much directly 

 antagonistic to the purchase of commercial fertilizers, as an attempt to 

 point out to the farmers of the Eastern States the value of their home 

 resources. He wished to disclaim on the part of eastern experiment 

 stations, as far as he had any authority to speak for them, any such 

 position as antagonism to the judicious and economical use of commer- 

 cial fertilizers. 



This paper lias been published in a series of articles in the Ohio Farmer. 



