October 4, 1895.] 



SGIENGE. 



445 



cease and determine. ISTevertheless, the 

 value of what little knowledge we now 

 possess seems almost tlie groundwork of 

 scientific agriculture. The micro-organisms 

 which nitrify organic nitrogenous com- 

 pounds, as well as those which act in the 

 opposite direction, viz., in reducing nitrates 

 to a lower form of oxidation, are of the ut- 

 most importance to agricultural chemistry. 

 It is not beyond the range of possibility 

 that a barren field may be rendered fertile 

 by securing conditions favorable to nitrifi- 

 cation and then seeding the soil with a few 

 active nitrifying ferments. 



Quite true it is, already, that any scheme 

 for an analysis of a soil which leaves out 

 of consideration the determination of nitri- 

 fying activity is far from complete. The 

 action of bacteria on the ripening of cream 

 and of cheese is a matter of but little less 

 importance. The fermentation of cream 

 and of cheese is already as much of an art 

 as the fermentation of malt in the manu- 

 facture of beer. In the curing of tobacco 

 the same activity is discovered and the day 

 is not far distant when commerce in high 

 br6d tobacco bacteria will be an established 

 fact. In short, we may look forward to the 

 day when the bacteria active in agriculture 

 will be carefully cultivated and the bacte- 

 rial herd book will be found along with 

 those of the Jersey cow and the Norman 

 horse. Agricultural chemisti-y makes de- 

 mands on every science which can aid it in 

 the production of food and in the advance- 

 ment of rational agriculture. 



But we may go still a step further and 

 follow the crude food into the factory and 

 the kitchen. From the knowledge of the 

 action of fei-ments mentioned above the 

 great art of food preservation has been cre- 

 ated. The sterilization of food products and 

 their preservation from the further action of 

 destructive ferments is one of the practical 

 developments of rational agricultural chem- 

 istry. This method of food preservation is 



infinitely preferable to that other simpler 

 process which consists in adding to the food 

 a substance which paralyzes the further 

 action of micro-organisms. Happilj^, agri- 

 cultural and analytical chemistry have pro- 

 vided a certain method of detecting chemi- 

 cals thus used for food preservation. 



The conversion of foods into appropri- 

 ate digestive forms and the study of their 

 nutritive power mark the final step in agri- 

 cultural chemistry in its control of food 

 products. In this relation it comes into 

 intimate contact with hygiene and animal 

 physiology, thus almost completing the cir- 

 cle of intimate union with nearly all the 

 leading sciences. Intimately associated 

 with this bi'anch of the subject is the con- 

 trol of the purity of the food itself and the 

 detection of the adulterations to which it 

 may be subjected. 



The thoughts suggested in the foregoing- 

 pages are those that have come to me 

 amid a multitude of distractions as those 

 suited, at least in part, to meet the views of 

 your presiding officer in asking me to intro- 

 duce the theme of agricultural chemistry 

 for discussion before the Section. I now 

 yield the fioor for a more particular treat- 

 ment of some of the branches of the sub- 

 ject. H. W. Wiley. 



PROCEEDINGS OF TffE BOTANICAL CLUB, A. 

 A. A. S., SPRINGFIELD MEETING, AU- 

 GUST 29th TO SEPTEMBER Sd, 1S95. 



The meetings were held in the room as- 

 signed to Section ' G,' in the State Street 

 Baptist Church. 



THURSDAY MORNING, AUGUST 29. 



In the absence of the President, Prof. D. 

 H. Campbell, and of the Secretary, Prof. F. 

 C. Newcombe, the meetings of the Club were 

 placed in organization by Prof Geo. F. At- 

 kinson. Hon. David F. Day was made 

 Chairman pro tern., and Prof. H. L. Bolley, 

 Secretary. 



