Chemical Work in Canadian Agriculture. 31 



triumphs in mechanics — now in general use were not even 

 faintly foreshadowed twenty-five years ago. 



The science of agriculture first makes plain the reason for 

 and the results of the various operations we have just enumerated 

 and then studies the whys and wherefores of the changes brought 

 about by nature through plants and animals. If agriculture as 

 a whole may be said to have for its object the economic pro- 

 duction oi plants and animals and the materials elaborated by 

 them during their life, agriculture as a science endeavours to 

 ascertain the causes and conditions that lead to the consum- 

 mation of this object. 



Although Botany, Zoology, Physiology and Physics all lend 

 their aid, it will be apparent from what I have said that 

 Chemistry furnishes the basis and a large proportion of the 

 superstructure of scientific agriculture ; indeed, so interwoven 

 and intimately connected is chemistry with all branches of farm 

 work that agricultural chemistry and scientific agriculture may 

 be counted as almost synonymous terms, for it is difficult to 

 conceive an agricultural problem that does not make demands 

 upon chemistry for its solution. It is most certainly true that 

 agriculture is fast passing beyond the ranks of empiricism. 

 We recognize that it has entered the realms of science ; and the 

 hope for the future of agriculture, as has been well remarked by 

 an eminent English authority, lies in the larger adoption of those 

 methods which science with practice advocates. 



Interesting, however, as these considerations are, we must 

 pass to the matter in hand and show wherein assistance has 

 been rendered by the Dominion Government to Canadian 

 agriculture by the chemical researches carried on in our 

 laboratories at Ottawa. 



VIRGIN SOILS OF CANADA. 



The factors of a soil's fertility may be briefly enumerated 

 as follows : — 



1 The amount and availability of its plant food. 



2 Its mechanical condition or tilth. 



3 The conditions of climate, rainfall, temperature, etc. 



