THE STATE AS FARMER 45 



is at one with the mechanical and chemical 

 ones. On the land that is well tilled and 

 suitably manured the bacteriological record 

 also is satisfactory. Good tilth is the resultant 

 of many forces ; but in difficult problems of 

 farming we are playing with edged tools, 

 and could easily destroy all chance of financial 

 success by mixing ignorance into any of the 

 above efforts towards the amelioration of 

 poor soil. The supply to farmers of leaflets 

 and recipes is of small avail. The need in 

 every direction is for joint work under supreme 

 science in the nation's cause. The wonderful 

 fixing of nitrogen is perhaps the most valuable 

 of the bacteriological discoveries up to the 

 present ; but the science is still in its infancy, 

 and can best be developed by the larger 

 experimental field available in State-directed 

 agriculture. 



The element of water seems to be the 

 fundamental condition of all life. But in 

 the study of bacteria we draw near to the 

 very beginnings of life itself. And we might 

 almost become theological in this study of 

 good and evil in their physical origins. It 

 is, however, of practical value to note how 



