516 EEPORT— 1880. 



Brouglit forward 116 



In France 2 



In Switzerland ...... 3 



In Spain 1 



Total . . . .122 



Besides these 122 stations on the Continent of Europe, the United States are 

 credited with 1, and Scotland also with 1. _ 



Each of these stations is under the direction of a chemist, frequently with one 

 or more assistants. One special duty of most of them is what is called maiuire- 

 or seed- or feeding-stufi-control ; that is, to examine or analyse, and report upon 

 such substances in the market ; and it seems to ha-\e been found the interest of dealers 

 in these commodities to submit their proceedings to a certain degree of super\'ision 

 by the chemist of the station of their district. 



But ao-ricultural research has also been a characteristic feature of these institu- 

 tions. It is stated that the investigation of soils has been the prominent object 

 at 16 of them ; experiments with manures at 24 ; ^■egetable physiology at 28 ; 

 animal physiology and feeding experimt'uts at 20 ; ■\ine-culture and wine-making at 

 13- forest-culture at 0; and milk-production at 11. Others, according to their 

 locality, have devoted special attentiim to fruit-cidture, olive-culture, the cultivation 

 of moor, bog, and peat land, the production of silk, the manufacture of spirit, and 

 (>tlier products. 



Nor does this enumeration of the institutions established as the direct residt of 

 Liebio^'s influence, and of the subjects investigated rmder their auspices, complete 

 the list either of the workers engaged, or of the work accomplished in agricultural 

 research. To say nothing of the labours of Boussingault, which commenced some 

 vears prior to the appearance of Liebig's first work, and which are fortunately still 

 at the service of agriculture, important contributions have been made by the late 

 Professors Johnston and Anderson in Scotland, and in this country both by Mr. "Way 

 and Dr. Voelcker, each alike in his private capacity, and in fulfilment of his duties as 

 Chemist to the Roval Agricultural Society of England. Nor would it be fair to 

 Mr. Lawes (who commenced experimenting first with plants in pots, and afterwards 

 in the field, soon after entering into possession of his property in 1834-, and with whom 

 I lia^e mj'self lieeu associated since 1843) A\ere I to omit in this place any mention 

 of the investigations which ha\ebeen so man}' years in progress at Rothamsted. 



So much for the machinerj' ; but what of the results achieved by all this 

 activity in the application of chemistry to agriculture? 



As I have already intimated, and as the foregoing brief statistical statement 

 will have convinced you must be the case, it will be utterly impossible to give, 

 on such an occasion as this, anything approaching to an adequate review of the 

 progress achieved. Indeed, I have to confess that the more I have looked at the 

 subject with the hope of treating it comprehensively, the more I have been impelled 

 To substitute a very limited plan for the much more extended scheme which I had 

 at first hoped to be able to fill up. I propose then to confine attention to a few 

 .-special points, which have either some connection with one another, or to which 

 recent results or discussions lend some special interest. 



First as to the sources and the assimilation of the carbon, the hydrogen, and the 

 oxven of vegetation. From the point of view of the agricidtural chemist, the hydro- 

 gen and the oxygen may be left out of view. For, if the cultivator provide to the 

 plant the conditions for the accumulation of sufficient nitrogen and carbon, he may- 

 leave it to take care of itself in the matter of hydrogen and oxygen. That the hydro- 

 gen of the carljo-hydrates is exclusively obtained from water, is, to say the least, pro- 

 bable ; and whether part of their oxygen is derived from carbonic acid, and part from 

 water, or the whole from either of these, will not affect his agricultural practice, 



AVith regard to the carbon, the whole tendency^ of subsequent observations is to 

 confirm the opinion put forward by De Saussure about the commencement of the 

 century, and so forcibly insisted upon by Liebig forty years later- -that the greater 

 part, if not the whole of it, is derived from tlie carbonic acid of the atmosphere. 

 Indeed, direct expenments are not wanting— those of Moll, for example — from 



