June 12, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



925 



economic bearing of the plant-breeding in- 

 vestigation was shown. The efforts being 

 made to increase the protein content of 

 corn, and the creation of new varieties of 

 corn for special purposes, were described in 

 detail. Some of the new creations in the 

 matter of fruits were also discussed. The 

 work of the bureau in the matter of foreign 

 explorations for the purpose of securing 

 new plants for use in this country was de- 

 scribed. Finally there was given an out- 

 line of some of the important work of the 

 botanists in the matter of investigating 

 poisonous plants, and the results accom- 

 plished in finding antidotes where the in- 

 juries to stock, through the eating of such 

 plants, had proved serious. 



Economic Work of the Bureau of Chem- 

 istry : Dr. H. W. Wn.EY, chief of bureau. 

 The science of chemistry is the first 

 mentioned in the organic act creating the 

 Department of Agriculture. Chemistry, 

 botany and entomology were the three 

 fundamental scientific divisions recognized 

 in the establishment of the department. 

 And the chemist was the first man ap- 

 pointed to investigate the economic prob- 

 lems relative to agriculture in which chem- 

 istry is concerned. I will try to give you 

 some idea of the extent and character of 

 this work. In 1886 as vice-president of 

 Section C at Buffalo I gave an address on 

 'The Economic Aspects of Agricultural 

 Chemistry. ' So you have on the records of 

 this association what I have to say on the 

 subject. There has been little change, and 

 I can only offer illustrations and use data 

 not then available. In the first place, chem- 

 istry has established the principles of scien- 

 tific crop feeding. The business of fertiliz- 

 ing in this country has grown enormously. 

 Until twenty-five years ago fertilizing was 

 altogether empirical. When a farmer had 

 any fertilizer to use he spread it all over 



his fields and used the same kind for all 

 parts of his farm. The patches which 

 yielded the poorest were of course most 

 treated. He had no idea of what was 

 needed or how it should be used. "When 

 commercial fertilizers came into vogue 

 many were of poor character and some 

 farmers were rather badly cheated. How- 

 ever, the general effect was good and lands 

 in almost every state in the union have in- 

 creased in value in consequence of the 

 adoption of the principles laid down by 

 agricultural chemistry. Much better re- 

 sults may yet be obtained when the needs 

 of the soil and plant life are given more 

 attention by the farmer. The researches 

 of agriculture in plant life show often that 

 only certain elements essential to plant 

 growth are lacking in a particular soil, and 

 that others, not always present elsewhere, 

 can be found here in abundance, so that 

 some constituents of the ordinary fertilizer 

 may be left out and others should be pres- 

 ent in even greater quantities. It is not 

 necessary to supply a complete fertilizer 

 for each field. The needs of the field 

 should be determined beforehand, and this 

 the agricultural chemist is doing. The 

 great problem is not only how to conserve 

 fertility, but how to increase it when it has 

 been diminished. There is no reason to be- 

 lieve that there will be any reduction in 

 the ratio of the food supply to the popu- 

 lation. The former will increase as rapidly 

 as the latter. I might refer to the address 

 of Sir William Crookes a few years ago 

 before the British Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science, in which he looked 

 forward to a period about thirty years 

 hence, when humanity would begin to 

 suffer very seriously from a lack of land 

 of the proper productive capacity to feed 

 all of us, until finally there would not be 

 enough food to go around. There is no 



