FROM ERRONEOUS ANALYSES. 189 



ledge, and one who really knows something that is 

 true and valuable. He takes these erroneous analyses 

 as his guides, and probably falls at once into some 

 serious mistake, by attempting to alter the supposed 

 constitution of his soil. After he has been disappointed 

 in this way a few times, he is very apt to condemn 

 all scientific agriculture as ridiculous, and of no avail 

 for any practical purposes. 



What I wish to impress in this connection, is the 

 necessity of caution in coming to such a decision. Let 

 it first be considered, if the experiments to be carried 

 out have been properly and carefully made, so that 

 there could be no mistake in that direction. Let it 

 next be ascertained that no physical obstacles are in 

 the way of success, and if it is found beyond doubt that 

 there has been no error from either of these causes, then 

 let the farmer conclude not that chemistry and sci 

 entific investigation are useless; but that the results of 

 analysis obtained were wrongly interpreted, or that the 

 examinations were incorrectly made. 



There is truth in science, but it is not every one 

 who can draw it out; and the proper course in cases 

 of an unsatisfactory nature, is to distrust the man, and 

 not the general principles. 



It is easy to show that there are very serious diffi 

 culties, other than those which have been already men 

 tioned, in the way of making perfect analyses. We 

 will take soils as an instance. Where mention has 

 been made of the inorganic substances in soils, as in 

 Table I. p. 60, it must have been noticed that the pro 

 portions of some of them were quite small, so much so 

 as to seem of little importance. It was, however, ex 

 plained that the presence of these minute quantities 

 was absolutely necessary, so much so that our culti 

 vated crops would not thrive without them. 



Half a pound of phosphoric acid in 100 Ibs. of 

 earth, is a very unusually large proportion, even in 



