49 



tion. iiiid the work ba.sed upon the foundations thus given has l)een gen- 

 orously sustained by the State by annual appropriations. The enactment 

 of tlie Hatch Law, already mentioned, about twenty years after the Mor- 

 rill Act, gave a magnilieent impulse to agricultural research. By the terms 

 of the Hatch Law there were established in each .State at least one Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station charged with the investigation of the prob- 

 lems relating to agricultui'e. horticulture and forestry. As a result of 

 these generous endowments no other country in the world has a system 

 of agricultural research which can compare in magnitlcence of endow- 

 ments, number of woi'kers and pi'actical results ol)tained, Avith the agri- 

 cultural institutions of this country. The services which have been con- 

 ferred upon the State by these endowments have already been pretty fully 

 exploited in this address. 



But I must be permitted still to call attention to the fundamental place 

 which one of the sciences, viz.. Chemistry, holds iu these investigations 

 relating to the progress of agriculture. Before the establishment of the 

 Agricultural Experiment Station of Indiana Mr. John Collett. State Geol- 

 ogist, as previously mentioned, secured the enactment of a law by the 

 Legislature establishing the ottice of State Cliemist. I. as most of you 

 know, had the honor of being the fii'st incuml)ent of that otliee. A pecu- 

 liar feature iu the history of the enactment of this law Is the way in 

 which Mr. Collett secured it. He did not consult, in so far as I know, 

 any of the officials connected with I'urdue I'nivcrsity. The first intima- 

 tion that I had of the enactment of the law w.-is a commission signed by 

 the Governor sent by the Secretary of State appointing me to the place. 

 On looking into the law I found that the (lut!"s of the State Chemist were 

 particularly contined to the fertilizer control, and thxis there was estab- 

 lished in 1SS2 at I'urdue the tirst laboratory for the control of fertilizing 

 products sold in the State. The laws before this were crude and power- 

 h-.'^s to protect the farmers of our State against l)arefaced frauds.' At that 

 time any kind of mixture could lie sold as a fertilizer for a fancy price 

 and there was no otHcial method of detecting a fraud and no provision 

 for its punishment. Undt'r tlje provisions of the law the farmer is now 

 completely protected in the character of the goods which he buys. This 

 has been a saving in hard cash to our farmers in sums difBcult to esti- 

 mate, but this is not the most valual)le result which has been obtained by 

 the establishment of this ottice. In addition to analyzing the fertilizers 

 offered for sale the State Chemist commenced a study of their effects 

 4 — Academy of Science. 



