106 LETTER-FILES OF S. W. JOHNSON 



Address of 1857 and the Report of 1858, and for that 

 reason is given in full as an appendix. The analytical 

 work described in it was probably the first of the kind 

 published in this country. Together with the intel- 

 ligent and authoritative discussion of the broader 

 aspects of his subject, it laid the foundation of the 

 personal reputation for accuracy, fearlessness and 

 integrity, by virtue of which every utterance of his 

 later years commanded a respectful hearing. Con- 

 cerning the two brands of fertilizers considered, this 

 investigation gave essentially the same information as 

 did the Reports made by Professor Johnson, a few 

 years later, to the Connecticut State Agricultural 

 Society covering a much larger number of fertilizers ; 

 and this work, done in his early student days in New 

 Haven, shows that his methods were, to some extent at 

 least, his own, not merely an adaptation of European 

 models due to the influences of his later student life in 

 Germany. 



After the publication of "Superphosphate of 

 Lime," two years of study abroad intervened. 

 Almost immediately upon his return to New Haven 

 in 1855, Mr. Johnson resumed his work of analysis 

 and valuation of fertilizers for the information and 

 protection of farmers. This seemed to him the obvious 

 and rational beginning of a larger work which he 

 hoped he could thus prove to be so necessary that 

 farmers would come not only to accept, but to demand 

 it. It gave opportunity to demonstrate to the laity 

 one way in which science stands ready to help prac- 

 tice. The correctness of the view which led him to 

 take up this voluntary personal work is evidenced by 

 its growth into our present American system of fer- 



