2O AGRICULTURAL I'.AC TERIOLOGY. 



very much more than have cleared the field for further rc- 

 search. Particularly is this true in connection with the prac- 

 tical application of bacteriology to agricultural processes. 

 Scientific discovery must always precede practical application, 

 and although the attempt is always made to apply scientific 

 discoveries to practical processes as soon as they are made, 

 these applications are, in the first years, sure to be tentative 

 and uncertain. This is exactly the condition of agricultural 

 bacteriology to-day. 



The agricultural side of bacteriology is, if possible, more 

 important than the pathological side. If the medical student 

 needs to know something of these organisms and their relation 

 to disease, even more does the agriculturist need to under- 

 stand their relation to his industry. Agricultural bacteriology 

 has, therefore, become a topic of importance equal to, if not 

 greater than, medical bacteriology. It has appeared that these 

 microorganisms play a very fundamental part in the proc- 

 s of nature ; that the life phenomena of animals and plants 

 a iv so inextricably bound up in the functions of bacteria that 

 without them life processes must soon cease. Indeed, it is 

 becoming evident that the farmer, even more than the physi- 

 cian, should be acquainted with bacteriology. The physician, 

 in the curing of disease, gains a certain advantage from his 

 knowledge of bacteria, but the farmer is obliged to make use 

 of these agents in a large number of his fanning processes; 

 and hence it is almost a matter of necessity that the agricul- 

 turist of the future should thoroughly understand the general 

 phases of bacteriology. Many of the most vital problems 

 which are coming up before our agricultural communities, the 

 settlement of which is necessary if agriculture in the future is 

 to hold its own successfully against opposing forces, are clearly 

 to be settled along the line of bacteriology. From beginning 



t-> '-nd th- occupations of the agriculturist are concerned in the 



iipt to obtain the aid of these microorganisms where they 



