212 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



which exhausted nature demands, and must have. Tell us, 

 that we may not fiill into error, and involve our capital and 

 mislead our customers." You, as farmers, stand at the same 

 door and ask the same question, that you too may not waste 

 your capital, impoverish your land and fritter away your 

 time, — bolh seeking knowledge. Shall we have it? That 

 depends upon how liberally the State or the Nation endow 

 and support the Stations already established, how faithfully 

 the work is conducted, and how wisely and patiently we 

 study the results. 



Mr. BowDiTCH. I wish personally to thank Mr. Bowker 

 for one of the most able and instructive papers which I have 

 heard before this Board since I have been a member. 



Mr. Myeick of Springfield. The able essay that we have 

 had this afternoon has covered very thoroughly one side of 

 the case ; namely, that the plant is the main thing to have 

 in mind in manuring, — that we must feed the plant. Pro- 

 fessor At water of Connecticut some years ago originated, 

 or was one of the originators of, the theory that we should 

 test our soils and see if there were not some soils on the 

 farm that did not need so much phosphoric acid or potash as 

 others, or some soils that did not need but one of these ele- 

 ments ; and Professor Atwater prepared a plan for trying 

 such experiments on a small scale. That idea has come to 

 have a very strong following in this country, because the 

 farmers say, "If we can try experiments on parallel plots 

 with different fertilizers, and see what amount of each will 

 produce the best results, it will save us the expense of put- 

 ting on all three. If potash or phosphoric acid will produce 

 as large crops as a fertilizer containing both of those ele- 

 ments, and also nitrogen, it will save us the expense of 

 nitrogen, and that means a saving of from five to ten dollars 

 an acre." Mr. Bowker did not cover that point or consider 

 that part of the question at all. I would like to get his 

 opinion upon it. 



Mr. Bowker. I would like to ask the gentleman if he 

 really believes in Professor Atwater's theory of testing the 

 soil? I do not think he really believes in it, but I think he 

 has put the question to draw out discussion. 



