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seded by the march o£ discovery, and the greatest 

 pleasure and profit may still be derived from its study. 

 Of course this great teacher was grossly misunderstood 

 and misrepresented and he is not responsible for the 

 sanguine and enthusiastic expectations indulged in by 

 many who looked forward to two or three crops in the 

 season. More sober views ultimately prevailed and 

 farmers perceived that Ihey had still to deal with 

 uncertain meteorological conditions and that 

 unceasing labour and toil was the lot of 

 all engaged in providing food for man ahd beast. 

 As one of the most obvious directions of inquiry was 

 involved in the condition and composition of the soil, 

 the aid ol the cher.iist was systematically employed 

 and analysis resorted to in order to ascertain possible 

 mineral and organic defioiencies. The results thus 

 obtained were ofton of the greatest value, 

 especially in cases where the practical absence 

 of all-important constituents was revealed. But 

 in many instances the chemist, after furnishini; 

 results of his work, was unable to spenk 

 with certainty us to tiie bearing of these results upon 

 the suitability of the soil examined for the growth of 

 special crops, while in other cases soils unfa-votirahly 

 roported upon by analysts were knotvii by their 

 owners to yield fine crops, and this is especially 

 appliciible to some lands in Thanet famous for barley. 

 Matters went on thus for years and samples of 

 snils continued to be analysed and doubtless the total 

 amount of their essenliul principles estimated more or 

 less correctly. During the past ten years this inquiry 

 has undergone a "change of front" and a new 

 departure inaugurated which will probaby prove critical 

 as regards future agriculture. The question has been 

 lutterlyput something like this — confining the inquiry to 

 Potash and Phosphoric acid (for the present as a start- 

 ing point) these principles being of prime importance 

 to every food-yielding plant, how do such plants get 

 these principles from the soil ? Do they secrete any 



