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IVHAT SCIENCE HAS DOXE FOR AGRICULTURE. 



Graduation essay delivered by Ire Yowell, '06. Kamehameha 

 Manual School commencement, June 30, 1906: 



"The ideal agriculture maintains itself. It is able to thrive 

 forever on the same land and from its own resources. The ideal 

 farm becomes more productive and better stocked with tim.e, and 

 this without the aid of outside contributions. But such condi- 

 tions are only possible by the application of scientific methods 

 and science. 



Modern agriculture owes its wonderful development to the 

 rapid advancement of scientific knowledge, and the application 

 of scientific facts and methods to agriculture pursuits. 



Other things being equal the most successful farmer of today 

 is the agriculturist who knows the reason why as well as the how. 

 The spirit of enquiry, observation, patience, accuracy and sys- 

 tematic attention to all farm operations, and the love for experi- 

 ment, is the scientific spirit, and in no field of endeavor more 

 than in agriculture is this spirit more necessary for advance- 

 ment. 



Agricultural science in its fullest meaning comprehends a large 

 number of subjects. It includes something from nearly every 

 department of human learning. But the art of agriculture is 

 based more directly on the natural sciences of geology, meterol- 

 ogy, physics, chemistry, botany, physilogy and mechanics. To- 

 day it is no less concerned in political and social economy. 



Scientific agriculture, as now accepted, dates from the in- 

 vestigations of the great German chemist, Liebig. A little more 

 than a half century ago he laid down the broad principles which, 

 with few exceptions, have borne the test of time. 



By his teachings we know that a fertile soil contains all the 

 elements of plant food. Each drop removes a portion of these 

 ingredients, some of Vv'hich are replaced by air and water, others 

 are lost if not replaced by man. 



While he recognized the importance of humus as a source of 

 plant food as held by his predecessors, he further made clear that 

 the ingredients of ash are essential to vegetable growth. The 

 importance of phosphates in the nourishment of crops was his 

 discovery, and it was he who suggested their source. It was 

 thus that science entirely revolutionized the methods of manuring 

 and created the new and important fertilizer industry. 



