YALE SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL 85. 



agricultural instruction are comparatively nothing, and of 

 accurate experimental investigation absolutely wanting, it 

 remains to private or corporate enterprise to open the way; 

 and this is no unsafe adventure ; but, with no need of extrava- 

 gant outlay, will bring an ample return. The active minds 

 of Europe are united in their expressions of admiration and 

 astonishment at American progress, but here the means of 

 genuine advancement in agricultural knowledge are vastly 

 superior to our own. How long shall this be? 



In May, lie defined the limitations of soil analysis, 

 and refuted the popular error that an application 

 which should restore to a field all lacking elements of 

 fertility could be successfully prescribed by means of 

 deductions drawn from the results of chemical analy- 

 sis of the soil in question: 



The continued recommendation of soil analyses, as a guide 

 to the farmer, makes it proper to discuss at length their prac- 

 tical value. As a means of developing the natural laws of 

 growth and cultivation, chemical analysis must continue to be, 

 as it has been, of the very highest importance. A few years 

 ago, in the infancy of agricultural science, it was found in 

 many cases, that analysis indicated correctly what improve- 

 ments were needed by soils ; . . . The accumulation of knowl- 

 edge on these topics has, however, clearly shown that, although 

 it is often true that the analysis of a soil economically indi- 

 cates the amendments that are needful to make it productive, 

 it is frequently the case that an analysis fails altogether to 

 furnish useful indications; and if its results are valuable, it 

 is often the case that they cost more than they are worth, or 

 at least, knowledge equally good, perhaps better, might have 

 been far more cheaply and certainly obtained. . . . Soil 

 analysis, at the best, is a chance game; and where one ivins, 

 a hundred may lose. A soil-analysis is always interesting, 

 often valuable, rarely economical. It may amuse the amateur, 



