CHAPTER XIV 



LABORATORY PRACTICE 



THE laboratory practice is an essential part of the work in Soils 

 and Fertilizers, as the experiments illustrate many of the funda- 

 mental principles of the subject. The student should endeavor to 

 cultivate his powers of observation so as to grasp the principles in- 

 volved in the work rather than to do it in a merely mechanical or 

 perfunctory way. Neatness is one of the essentials for success in 

 laboratory practice ; an experiment performed in a slovenly manner 

 is of but little value. 



A careful and systematic record of the laboratory work should be 

 kept by the student in a suitable note-book. In recording the re- 

 sults of an experiment, the student should give in a clear and con- 

 cise form the following : 



(1) Title of the experiment. 



(2) How the experiment is performed. 



(3) What was observed. 



(4) What the experiment proves. 



The note-book should be a complete record of the student's in- 

 dividual work, and should be written up at the time the experiment 

 is performed. 



Before an experiment is made the student is advised to review 

 those topics presented in the text which have a bearing upon the 

 experiment, so a clearer conception may be gained of the relation- 

 ship between the laboratory work and that of the class room. 



Students who have had but little laboratory practice are advised 

 to study the chapters on Laboratory Manipulation, and Water and 

 Dry Matter, in "The Chemistry of Plant and Animal Life." 



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