286 THE LURE OF THE LAND 



It has seen triumphs of toil and of genius which have 

 not merely made one man famous, but have also made 

 millions comfortable and happy. It has seen triumphs 

 which have not filled long trenches with the dead and 

 huge hospitals with the wounded, but triumphs which 

 have made fields of peace fertile, and filled granaries to 

 the top. 



It is the laboratory of Justus von Liebig, the founder 

 of agricultural chemistry, the benefactor of his age. 

 Liebig himself is dead, but I seem to stand in the pres- 

 ence of his great genius, and to feel the inspiration of 

 his wonderful industry and application. There is no 

 other one place in the world which illustrates so con- 

 vincingly the intimate relation existing between prac- 

 tical science and rational agriculture. 



The work so splendidly begun by Liebig has not been 

 allowed to languish with his death. Problems which 

 he left unfinished have since been solved and new ques- 

 tions have been asked, which are now answering from 

 a hundred experimental stations. Chemistry has the 

 same vital relation to agriculture that , anatomy and 

 physiology have to medicine. The alleged surgeon 

 who does not know the locality of the heart is no more 

 at sea in his practice than the farmer who does not have 

 at least a practical knowledge of the nature of soils, 

 fertilizers, and crops. Ignorance of these things is not 

 bliss, it is crime. 



METEOROLOGY. 



Another intimate relation of science to agricultural 

 industry is found in the science of the weather. 



Next to the soil, climate and the weather are the 

 most important factors which enter into the agricul- 

 tural problem. The science which studies these phe- 



