956 Agricultural Journal of Victoria. 



The Instructional Duties of Chemistry. 



In earlier years, wlieii tlie teaching of scientific agriculture 

 practically meant the teaching of agricultural chemistry, the chemist 

 took a more active personal part in educational work than at present. 

 His positiou in this respect, at the present time, will, in any particular 

 State, depend upon the system of the field experimental work pre- 

 vailing there, as well as on the provision made generally in its 

 Department of Agriculture for instructional duties. Where a system 

 of permanent experiment stations is in existence, and the chemist is 

 one only of many investigators, each with a well defined specialisation 

 in work, there seems no strong reason justifying the facts, resulting 

 from his individual inquiries, meriting a special lecturer or lecturers. 

 But, in the absence of such permanent stations, and under conditions 

 where the whole of his investigations are carried out co-operatively 

 with farmers, there does appear a necessity on the part of the 

 chemist for keeping in close and constant direct touch with the 

 farming community, iu order to stimulate aud retain the interest 

 necessary to the continuity of the work of the branch. The 

 advisability of providing for travelling lecturers in chemistry under 

 such conditions will not, I think, be questioned, and the subjects 

 dealt with by such lecturers on the platform might include : — 



1. Results of field experiments. 



2. Manures, their application and methods of valuation. 



3. Animal nutrition, with the chemical composition of feeding 



stuffs, and the approximate comparative money values. 



Each of these subjects might naturally be amplified to take in, under 

 many separate lectures, the various aspects presenting themselves. 



Work Accomplished by the Victorian Chemical 

 Branch. 



I have now attempted to give you a concise account of what 

 may be considered the legitimate functions of a State chemical 

 laboratory for agriculture. There is no pretence of having gone 

 beyond the main essentials of its activities. You will, however, now 

 be in a position to form conclusions as to what should be attempted 

 by the chemical branch of your own Department of Agriculture, and 

 to ask what up to the present has been done. 



With respect to laboratory research work of the nature indicated 

 in an earlier part of my paper, little has been attempted until 

 recently — the day to day demands of routine work absorbing the 

 entire time of the analysts. A commencement has been made, how- 

 ever, in co-ordinating the results of soil analysis with field manure 

 tests, with the ubject of fixing standards of fertility. The investiga- 

 tion of the composition of the staple crops and products of the 

 country still remains largely a work for the future, although much has 

 been accomplished, during the past year, in the comparative analysis 

 of the various forage crops grown experimentally. 



