TREATISE ON AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY. 13 



Publication of First English Treatise on Agricultural 

 Chemistry. 



In 1795, a book dealing with the relations between 

 chemistry and agriculture was published. This work 

 was written by a Scottish nobleman, the Earl of 

 Dundonald, and possesses especial interest from the 

 fact that it is the first book in the English language 

 on agricultural chemistry. The full title is as follows : 

 * A Treatise showing the Intimate Connection that 

 subsists between Agriculture and Chemistry/ 



In his introduction the author says : " The slow 

 progress which agriculture has hitherto made as a 

 science is to be ascribed to a want of education on 

 the part of the cultivators of the soil, and to a want 

 of knowledge, in such authors as have written on 

 agriculture, of the intimate connection that subsists 

 between the science and that of chemistry. Indeed, 

 there is no operation or process not merely mechanical 

 that does not depend on chemistry, which is defined 

 to be a knowledge of the properties of bodies, and of 

 the effects resulting from their different combinations." 



In quoting this passage Professor S. W. Johnson 

 remarks : l " Earl Dundonald could not fail to see that 

 chemistry was ere long to open a splendid future for 

 the ancient art that had always been and always will 

 be the prime supporter of the nations. But when he 



1 How Crops Grow. By Professor S. W. Johnson. Macmillan & 

 Co. (Introduction, p. 4.) 



