RECLAIMING LAND. 121 



Agrriculture is a comlnnation of almost all the known 

 sciences, and consequently every student of science is doing 

 his part towards advancing and improving this great com- 

 bination of arts and sciences. 



The winter meetings of the. Board, and those of her chil- 

 dren the farmers' clubs, are the stages upon which words of 

 knowledge and advice can be brought usefully before the 

 farming community. 



To clearly ascertain the truth as to the adaptability of 

 crops to land or land to crops, systematic and business prin- 

 ciples play a most important part. 



In this prosperous and fertile town and county I am sure 

 that the immediate need of the strictest economical principles 

 of cultivation has not yet been forced upon the farmers, as 

 has been the case in many parts of the State ; but I am sure 

 that the best methods of management have been, voluntarily, 

 adopted here ; and have also been adopted elsewhere, wher- 

 ever the reputation for good farming is such as is that which 

 is well known to apply to Bari*e. 



In travelling through less fertile and less favored sections 

 of the State I have wondered whether the owners of such 

 poorer lands do not wish that reliable farm doctors existed, 

 who could be called to those les^ profitable farms, and be 

 sufficiently well trained to advise in what way they could 

 be treated or cultivated to better advantage, both in the 

 interest of the owner and indirectly in the interest of the 

 State. 



In 1870 I went about half-way in getting such advice in 

 rcijard to the treatment of an obstinate field about which I 

 could not make up my mind just what it needed. I sought 

 the advice of a well-known chemist, but found that he could 

 not. view the field. He heard my stor}^ and then told me 

 to bring him a collection of samples of the earth taken from 

 different parts of it. 



This I did, and in due time I received his reply. A 

 liberal dressing of lime in late autumn was advised, with 

 })otash and other fertilizers in the spring, in quantities per 

 acre as stated to me for a specified croj). It was intended 

 not only to supply direct food to the crop by applying the 

 chemical fertilizers to the soil, but also to promote such 



